Yellow Submarine

Rating:
Summary: The Same but Better
Review: I have both VHS and the DVD version of this film. The main reason for my previous letter was the 16x9 situation but the movie is presented in 1.33:1 ratio. Even so it was release in 1.66:1 you can still tell by looking at the Formatted VHS version that they cut the top and bottom off. The two sides are exactly the same as the VHS version.

Unfortunately, most of the DVD released in 1.85 or less are nothing but black bar cutting into a 1.33 version of the film. I have found some exceptions and when I did it really stands out. "Cocoon" by Ron Howard is one of them. When I got the movie I was expecting it to be the same but I was wrong and you can easily tell.

I also stand corrected when it comes to Ron Howard's "Apollo 13." Someone stated that it was film in 1.33 because they knew it would be release on TV in this format but made the 1.33 version look like a 2.35 cut for the theaters. I apologize for the mistake.

When it comes to the "Yellow Submarine" though it is the 1.33 with black bars cutting into the 1.66 version of the film. Yet, I would still advise you to purchase this movie if you do not have a 16x9 TV set.


Rating:
Summary: DVD release is true blue original aspect
Review: For the people who have commented on this..Yellow Submarine was filmed with an aspect ratio of 1:66:1. That is exactly what the DVD offers. You are not losing any part of the picture. You will with the VHS

Rating:
Summary: you decide.........
Review: This film can be veiwed in many ways. I found it quite entertaining, and the song quality was fantastic! 2 of my siblings loved it, while my older brother tought it was stupid. It really is something you have to decide for yourself on, chances are youll either love it, or hate it.

Rating:
Summary: New but still Old Style
Review: Sorry for bringing the bad news but I have made some discoveries about the "Yellow Submarine" on DVD. First, the movie has not been transfer from 1.33:1 (Formatted for TV) to 1.85:1 Letterbox. It is the Formatted Version with black bars cutting into the top of the picture. If you compare the DVD to a videocassette version you will see it.

Second, the only DVD release of this film was in 1999. Back then many movies were transfer to DVD to fit the 4x3 TV screen. If you do not have a 16x9 TV or a DVD that lets you compare the difference you cannot notice it. Yet, when you do finally get a 16x9 TV the black bars will appear on the left and right side of the picture instead of the top and bottom.

The picture is a lot clearer and the 5.1 surround sound is beautiful. Most of the films that are transfer from a 1.85 format are not 1.85 but it is 1.33. It can still be a 16x9 image but a 1.33 version. I found only a few exceptions.

So, if you buy yourself a 16x9 TV you may find a lot of your old DVD collections in the 4x3 format and black bars. I have replaced mine. This is the first movie I have come across that never upgraded it to fit a 16x9 TV.


Rating:
Summary: They don't make films like this anymore...
Review: Well, they don't. This film's psychadelic colors and great music make it well worth viewing. It is also fairly amusing, with some great ideas and puns. The Blue Meanies are funny with their pseudo-Mickey Mouse ears, and Jeremy the Nowhere Man is just barely on the side of tolerable in his incessent rhyme-speak. But that's why I love Jeremy. This film is amazing for the time, and one of the better Beatle films. The DVD is very good quality, and a very worthwhile investment if you like the Bealtes.

Rating:
Summary: Kids Flix
Review: Although perhaps not the original target audience, I believe this to be one of the best children's videos ever made. The colors are vivid and enchanting for even the very young. The good versus evil conflict resolves with the realization that "all you need is love." There is no ultra-violence, and no testosterone-laden super heros. And parents can tolerate, even enjoy, repetitive listening.

Rating:
Summary: Classic 60s pop nostalgia...Beatles in Surround!
Review: I remember seeing this one on TV when I was a kid in the 70s, then it disappeared for years. It resurfaced on videotape, and finally, DVD.

First, the film itself. It's one that could be enjoyed by little children, although older kids used to current animation will be kind of bored by it, but anyone who likes the Beatles will love the visuals that go along with the songs. It's not "groundbreaking" animation, but it IS vivid and colorful. It's also in widescreen....

The storyline is a pretty thin one: Beatles need to go save "Pepperland" from the Blue Meanie and get there on a Yellow Submarine, and have (mis)adventures along the way. Some of the Fab humor is there, even though other people did their voices (who are on the extras).

The orchestral music sounds great in surround, and for those watching it in surround, you get to hear The Beatles for the first time (and so far, nowhere else) in Surround. You can take out all the talking and just put the music on.... The effects like the flying glove are also fun to hear in Surround as well... I like it a lot, you hear things you haven't heard in their songs before. The CD soundtrack for the film is also a nice remix of the original tapes.

The addition of "Hey Bulldog" made it an even better treat to watch it on DVD. However during the time they put the DVD out,they also found the clip of The Beatles doing "Hey Bulldog" in the studio (the footage of which was used instead for "Lady Madonna"), which was shown on MTV one time, for the release of this DVD. I really wish they put that clip on here on later pressings.

The commentary and documentaries will be of interest to fans of animation more than Beatle fans, although John Coates does give a lot of info out without being boring whatsoever. It gives you a lot of backstory on the film, such as Al Gore's college roommate Erich Segal (who also wrote Love Story, supposedly based on Al and Tipper) wrote the story. There are some storyboard sequences worth checking out, and a storyboard for the alternate ending, which was never filmed.

Pick it up. A splendid time is guaranteed for all....

Rating:
Summary: lovely journey through modern art
Review: It seems fitting that The Beatles, the sort of band appreciated by the young and old, by the indie and the pop-focused would be the hosts to a journey through modern art history. This music-laden journey into Pepperland is indeed a bit more than it seems in that respect.

On the surface it seems to be a vehicle for Beatlemania and a visual feast of drug-addled insanity, but it is actually quite a bit more interesting than that. In fact, George Dunning managed to gather together such an interesting group of animators the Beatles decided to participate in the project as well, offering a snapshot of sixties culture coupled with a journey through modern art.

The film pieces together a witty but forgettable plot in which Beatles save Pepperland from the Blue Meanie takeover. Plot sequences feature cutely stereotypical Beatles as they prance about in groovy psychedelic art. Human forms in these sequences are very influenced by techniques of art nouveau in addition to the obvious psychedelia seething from the frame.

Other styles are exhibited in music sequences, the most predominant of which is pop art. In the truly glorious Eleanor Rigby, cut-outs and rotoscope are employed to appear as products of pop art's silkscreen technique. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is presented as a kinetic impressionist piece, with paint leaping out of lines to make a very human and visually focused treat for the eyes. Op art is later explored in early sequences with the Nowhere Man, and surrealism rears its wonderful head as the sub searches for Ringo in the sea. The Beatles themselves later appear in a nod to motion developments in modern photography.

The Yellow Submarine is a useful, educational, and completely trippy capsule of the sixties. A pleasurable art history lesson, this film is a love letter to a truly great band at a time in which it was steeped in pure genius, and, while sometimes overstimulating, a nevertheless remarkable feature animation.