Finally had the full Cine-Explore experience today, and it’s awesome. The integration of documentaries, deleted scenes, and other extras into excellent commentary by the Brads really does work remarkably well.
That said…
I understand it would cannibalize BD sales, but I would like to see a Ratatouille Special Edition multi-disc release with at least the commentary and some bonus materials.
The quality, especially on a nice screen, is still exemplary, and does help justify buying a BD player, though having seen the commentary at this point, and owning a pretty well-tuned 480p DVD setup on not-too-big a screen already, it will take a bit more of a price drop for me to take the jump.
So, when Cars and Ratatouille were released on single-disc DVDs with an astonishing lack of bonus features–most notably lengthy documentaries and commentaries–I wanted to curl up in the corner of my room and weep. I was so confused. So scared. What was this? My Pixar would do this to me? The same Pixar who presented a plethora of special features on their past 2-disc DVDs? And then I figured… Blu-Rays! @#$^%!
My mom bought a new VAIO, which was advertised as being able to play Blu-Ray discs but ended up being unfortunately misleading. However, before I was aware that the software designated to play Blu-Ray movies would not actually WORK (and it costs about $100 to upgrade… makes sense!), I went on a spending spree at Best Buy. Basically, I got the majority of the Disney/Pixar exclusive steelbooks and this magnificent and bulky Snow White collector’s gift set I had been eyeing for some time. I was pretty crushed when I couldn’t watch any of these!
But! This weekend, my dad surprised me with an offer to buy me a 1080p flatscreen TV for my dorm and a Blu-Ray player as my birthday gift, which I was planning on doing at the end of the year with leftover money from summer work (and I woulda been broke afterwards fo sho). He knew I was dying to watch all the special features and hear the commentaries. And I finally, FINALLY got to watch Ratatouille with Bird’s commentary! YESSSSSSSS! The picture was a delight, as well. Also, did the RIP deleted scenes make anyone else laugh so hard it hurt?
Now, I’m not going to switch over all of my movies to Blu-Ray, as that would cost quite a pretty penny considering how many animated movies I own (100+). But I will definitely purchase all future new Disney/Pixar releases on Blu-Ray. Not sure about other films yet… It has to be something that’s beautiful and/or has special features I want to watch.
Watching Ratatouille with Cine-Explore is really a must. In fact, all the Pixar movies with Cine-Explore (i.e. Up) should be a staple for any Pixar fan.
This is a question for anybody who has the Ratatouille Blu-ray, which just got rereleased with new cover art and a BD/DVD combo. Does anybody else have trouble playing the cine-explore features, as it the video only plays about 1/6th the size on the upper left hand corner of the screen? I emailed Disney Home Entertainment customer support and they told me to get an update for my player even though it was already fully updated, and then told me that the video was supposed to play in the corner of the screen, but I don’t think it is. I just want to know if other people have the same issue.
Ratatouille is amazaing on Blu-Ray. It looks great on DVD but it is much better on Blu-Ray. @TheIncredible. I only watched a little bit of Ratatouille wih Cine-Explore but I did see it get into the first documentary which should (and did on my one) cover as much of the screen as the film itself (maybe with a slightly less Widescreen aspect ratio). But I have the release that is released in New Zealand and only has a Blu-Ray disc without the DVD. But I would assume that the Cine-Explore features (Documentary Shorts, Animation Briefings, so on) would play the same and be the same size on all the different region releases.
@pixarmilan, interesting. I contacted Disney, and they said that there wasn’t any known issues with the Ratatouille Blu-ray. I think the issue is with my Blu-ray player; although it’s fully updated and a recently purchased, I did read something about some players having the special features playback issue. Thanks for your help!
Perhaps it’s my biased point of view, but Ratatouille and WALL-E are by far my favorite Pixar movies to watch on Blu-ray. ;u; We got a new TV last year, a 52" LED Samsung Smart TV (it’s 3D capable, but we don’t have any glasses yet - too expensive!), which makes watching these films on Blu-ray that much more spectacular. I had only watched Ratatouille once on Blu-ray before we got our TV, on my mom’s Blu-ray-compatible computer, but it wasn’t nearly as clear or smooth of a picture as on the TV.
I also had never used the Cine-explore feature before, either! A few months ago, I had the house to myself for a few hours and decided to put Ratatouille on with the Cine-explore option. What an absolute treat! It makes me appreciate every aspect of this movie all the more. I’d like to get around to using Cine-explore with some of our other Pixar Blu-rays (I think we only have Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3).
I still get really sad watching the deleted scenes with Gusteau, though. Still lamenting the fact that Pixar had to “kill him off” and he couldn’t be a bigger part of the movie! ;__;
I have the Ratatouille Blu-Ray. I don’t know how to upload videos, but if you’re willing settle for descriptions I can give you those. Though it might take a few days for me to get to writing them up.
Though, you might want to check your DVD copy, if you haven’t already. I could swear it had deleted scenes on it. That, or double check Youtube. I know for a fact I’ve seen Ratatouille deleted scenes somewhere long before getting the Blu-Ray.
Edit: I checked; they’re on the DVD! I presume you have that. If not, do you still want descriptions?
I have Ratatouille on blu-ray and it’s very good. It comes with tons of bonus features and is HD! However, it’s a bit expensive and should only be purchased by ultimate Ratatouille fans.
