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Why I’m not buying Ratatouille tomorrow
So are you planning on buying Ratatouille when it comes out on DVD tomorrow?
I WAS going to buy it, but I’ve changed my mind.
Of course, this has nothing to do with the film itself. I adored Ratatouille and consider it typical Pixar - which is to say it’s one of the best movies of the year. If the film itself were the sole consideration, I’d snap it up.
Not this time, though. I smell a rat - and I don’t mean Remy or any of the gang.
Here’s the thing: up until Cars came out, Pixar used to put together terrific DVD packages that told you all about the making of the movie with a lot of hilarious little bits, like performing The Incredibles with sock puppets or seeing test animation of Toy Story’s Woody set to Tom Hanks’ lines from Turner & Hooch.
Not anymore. With Cars and now Ratatouille, Pixar has skimped on the extras. All you get with Ratatouille is the wonderful short Lifted that played with the movie, plus a couple of rudimentary featurettes. Cars’ package was similarly bereft.
Why? According to this post on the Disney-watching Web site Jim Hill Media, it’s because 95 percent of the people who buy the discs within the first couple of weeks are parents buying for the kids, and they never watch the extras.
OK, fine. I know most people aren’t animation geeks like me who love to know all that minutiae, which is just a fancy way of saying “worthless trivia.” If I knew this was going to be the only Ratatouille DVD ever, I’d buy it.
But here’s the thing. According to Jim Hill - Disney WILL produce more elaborate DVDs of Cars and Ratatouille - but will release them in two to three years - at a higher, price natch.
This is certainly not a new practice. But Disney’s methods make me mad for two reasons:
1) There WILL be a more elaborate version of Cars coming out this Tuesday, but it will be on the hi-def Blu-Ray format. So essentially Disney is saying “Sure, you can have more Cars features, but you have to fork over $500 for a player and $30 for the DVD.” Three words: Oh, HELL no! (And personally, I’m not convinced Blu-Ray in and of itself is actually worth all that extra bank, but that’s a topic I’ll tackle later.)
2) According to Disney’s research, parents complained about the two-disc editions because sometimes they would grab the wrong disc, and then Johnnie or Janie would get all upset because that wasn’t the movie.
(Blink)
You mean to tell me that one reason I can’t get my fully loaded Pixar DVDs is because some parents are too dense to tell one disc from another? Look, even if you are in a rush and make a goof, it doesn’t take THAT much time to switch the discs out. Don’t pull any muscles doing it!
To quote a reader in the Jim Hill comments section “Clearly Disney is surveying the worst parents in the world.”
This may seem like petty complaining to some, but as I see it, there’s a very simple solution that can make everyone happy: use the Steven Spielberg model or the Lord of the Rings model. Put out the simple, bare-bones edition for the parents, and then a more elaborate edition for us geeks. Either issue them the same day, as DreamWorks did for War of the Worlds and The Terminal, or release the deluxe package a few months later, but let us know that IS coming, like Peter Jackson and New Line did for the Rings discs.
I don’t think that’s too much to ask. My logic is pretty simple, really: Until you give me what I want, I’m not buying.
What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: On Video/DVD
Comments
By Kim
November 7, 2007 12:42 PM | Link to this
The extra stuff is the main reason I buy DVD’s! That is the good stuff - the rest I have already seen by the time I buy a DVD. The background goodies generally enhance my appreciation and enjoyment of the film - especially animated flicks! I won’t buy it without that.By Cali
November 6, 2007 5:37 PM | Link to this
Wow, that’s really interesting. I enjoy the DVD packages, and love watching the random trivia, it’s usually very funny and entertaining.By SRCputt
November 6, 2007 3:13 PM | Link to this
Well, approaching it from the angle of a parent, I will buy it in the one disc soon. However, I will not buy it again in another form. And if Disney gave me a choice this week, offering, say, the one disc for $20 and the two disc for $30, I would have bought the two disc. So Disney’s efforts to get more money from me will have the reverse effect.By Sir Critic
November 5, 2007 5:48 PM | Link to this
Your points are well taken, Zack, but I still think that Disney is being rather craven here. From Toy Story 2 through to The Incredibles, Disney/Pixar did yeoman’s work putting out deluxe DVD packages at FIRST blush. Many times these days, DVD extras are put together DURING production (or during post) rather than after the release. So time shouldn’t be a factor in that sense. On top of that, this is the same company that JUST put out a 2-disc Platinum Edition of Jungle Book, so their whole “it’s for the parents who don’t care” line doesn’t quite wash. I may pick up Ratatouille used for $10 somewhere down the line, but I don’t feel inclined to reward them now for being chintzy.By Zack
November 5, 2007 5:13 PM | Link to this
Well, I’m with you in principle, Eric, but actually Pixar’s first DVD — A BUG’S LIFE, was a totally bare-bones, non-anamorphic DVD. So this isn’t a brand-new practice, even though they’d been doing really well there for a while. I agree they should have at least ANNOUNCED the forthcoming 2-disc set, but with tightening theatrical windows and a low price on tomorrow’s release, I guess I can cut them some slack. You’ll be able to find RATATOUILLE for $15 most places, and a mere four months after it came out in theaters! Supplemental packages take time to cull together if you want to do them right, so really your wait for the 2-disc will just be equivalent to what we used to wait all the time to see movies come to video. Jumping to a different topic: I’m interested to see your upcoming post on the high-def formats. I made the jump a couple of months ago and I’m ASTOUNDED by the difference in quality, but I know lots of people are less impressed. Can’t wait to read your take.