The Beauty Of Home Media

 

We are currently in the age of digital media, where we can watch movies on streaming sites like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, or Crave. I will say that they do have some benefits, like how some can have Audio Descriptive Service (if you like those sort of things), they can contain captions that not only show the words but even the verbs and it could be great fast entertainment, especially for gatherings like sleepovers or parties.

However, as good as they can be, they also have some downsides and pretty big ones. They can cost a lot of money, which isn’t fair for those that cannot afford it and some shows or movies disappear which can be frustrating especially if it was your favourite or if you were planning to see it at a gathering.

Before streaming sites came along, we had a different way to watch movies or TV shows and they were, home media! You could watch them on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray. While it is true that these cases do take up a lot of space, one good thing about them is that they only cost money when you buy them, either online, at Best Buy, movie stores (though those are hard to come by these days) or, if you’re lucky, at thrift stores but once you do, you have your own copy of the home media release and you can watch it anytime you want to, unlimited and maybe enjoy some bonus materials. I was not happy when Full House was removed from Netflix, thank goodness I’ve got the full series on DVD at home, so now I can watch it anytime I want to.

Previously, I talked about the benefits of VHS tapes on another page, but here’s a quick recap. I mentioned that VHS tapes had some really neat things, like the ability to go back to where you left off, entertaining previews, logos, bumpers, bonus material and more! Some things you would never find on DVDs, Blu-Rays or streaming sites, though some of those things are on the DVDs and Blu-Rays and Disney Plus does have some bonus materials.

DVDs and Blu Rays also have a lot of things, like bonus features, however here, I’m going to be talking about DVDs mostly here. if you grew up in the 2000s, like me, you probably remember seeing bonus material, on DVDs like Shrek, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Cinderella 3, The Incredibles, etc.

 

Shrek

The Shrek DVD had a lot of bonus material like, a trivia game, a morph game where you could combine the body parts of the characters, and get funny results, music videos for I’m A Believer and Best Years Of Our Lives, some behind the scenes footage like Tech Of Shrek or an HBO special, storyboards of deleted scenes, character interviews, and of course, I can’t not mention The Shrek In The Swamp Karaoke Dance Party, where the characters sing songs like, Just The Way You Are, Baby Got Back, Staying Alive, Dance To The Music or Happy Together, it was a great bonus after the movie was over. My goodness, that DVD was a hit for me and my parents when I was little and whenever I revisit it, it brings back memories, and I hope it brought back memories for you too!

Since I mentioned, Shrek I cannot do this without mentioning Shrek 2, this whole DVD is a work of art. The best part of it of course, is the DVD menu, where you get a Brady Bunch like menu, where all the characters have their own menu or selection, the icing on the cake of course, is Donkey being his usual annoying but funny self, trying to come up with different titles for the movie with his own name in them, much to everyone else’s annoyance, it’s just comedy gold, the fact that their voice actors actually took the time to record for that, that’s true dedication! It also had a variety of bonus material like favourite scenes, Fiona’s jukebox, the Far Far Away map, Meet The Cast (as seen on a lot of DreamWorks DVDs), meet Puss In Boots, a music video for Accidentally In Love, behind the scenes footage for the soundtrack, and of course, everyone’s favourite, Far Far Away Idol. This bonus had Shrek, Fiona and Simon (yes, the Simon Cowell) as the judges, while different characters perform different songs, even Shrek and Fiona get a duet, ending with you selecting your favourite to be the next Far Far Away Idol, and well, I’ll let you do it and see the results. All these bonus materials, make this already great DreamWorks DVD worth the purchase. It definitely makes it worth having to sit through the unskippable opening previews (probably the only complaint this DVD received), though I do like the Madagascar behind the scenes trailer. I hope to see this movie when it gets re released in theatres next week, and I hope you can too!

 

Monsters Inc

Disc 2 of Monsters Inc had a variety of bonus material, from a tour around Pixar Animation Studios, showing the storyboards, the cast, the art and design and showing the process of the animation, from storyboards, to layout, animation and the final frame. You could also see the original concept, see the trailers or TV spots, like the teaser that was on the Toy Story 2 VHS or the one where Mike and Sulley play charades, and Sulley acts out Harry Potter (that trailer actually did play before the first Harry Potter movie), you could also play some fun games, like Peek A Boo, Boo’s Door Game, where you have to find Boo’s door pieces in different rooms, I played that game a lot when I was a kid, it’s worth playing for some of the funny jokes and puns Mike makes in the game, from making up a rhyme to the classic nursery rhyme, “A Tisket, A Tasket” or saying, “Go fly a kite.” You could also read and play with an interactive storybook, join an orientation for the Monsters Inc company, you can even see the bloopers and the company play, but this time without the credits. Honestly, I could go on forever with this DVD, in short, it’s worth buying for seeing the movie and looking at the bonus material.

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo was a critical and commercial success in 2003, no surprise that it got bigger when it got released on home media. I forgot to mention that when Shrek got released on DVD, it had two discs, both played the movie but Disc 1 was in Full Screen and the bonus material was the fun and games, while Disc 2 was in Widescreen and the bonus material was some interesting behind the scenes. In the Nemo DVD, it’s the same except in reverse, the full screen, fun and games disc was Disc 2 while the widescreen behind the scenes disc was Disc 1. Anyway, I’m getting off topic, back to Finding Nemo.

There was a lot of bonus material. Disc 1 showed a documentary about the making of Finding Nemo, some art and design galleries and a rather unique commentary. This commentary not only had the filmmakers talking about how they made the movie, but they would also cut to more things like deleted scenes, cast audio recordings, director Andrew Stanton telling a story about a time he spent with his son and a tribute to one of their filmmakers Glenn McQueen. It’s just great! When it comes to filmmaking, you can never go wrong with Pixar. Disc 2 had fun material like two short films, Knick Knack, which played before Finding Nemo when it was released in cinemas, and a short called, “Exploring The Reef,” where Jean Michel Cousteau tries to teach viewers about the ocean only for Marlin, Nemo and Dory to interrupt, though they do join him in talking about how to keep the coral healthy. There was also, fisharades, story time and you can see trailers, like the teaser that was on the Monsters Inc VHS and DVD, and some TV spots, some that include fun facts about sea creatures. Plus, the DVDs included a fish icon, where when you touch it, the text disappears and the menus become virtual aquariums, especially on the main menu of Disc 2, that had the tank gang and Nemo swimming in the tank, it’s like looking at a real aquarium. Speaking of menus, the menu of Disc 1 is a hoot. You hear Marlin and Dory talking, Dory’s singing and being her bubbly forgetful self and Marlin gets really impatient when you just sit there and not choose anything, it’s just hilarious! You can always count on Pixar to take you to another world.

The Incredibles

The Incredibles DVD, is great too. You can see the bonus material on Disc 2, like Nemo it has two shorts, there’s Boundin’ the short that played before the movie when it came out, and Jack Jack Attack, a hilarious short that was made for the DVD, showing what was happening during those phone calls from Kari. There were also some deleted scenes, like an alternate opening, or some different versions of scenes, like in the plane scene, the guy Helen was on the phone with, Snug, was supposed to fly the plane, but he didn’t survive the explosion. Some have pointed out, that had that been the case, it would make Dash’s panicking not so funny and Violet would’ve probably beaten herself up more, since she wasn’t able to save Snug, such a terrible burden for a teenager to feel and I have to agree. Having Helen fly the plane made it more intense, having to be a pilot and a mom at the same time, I can’t even imagine how scary that could be, it made it more tense but once they do escape the plane as it gets blown up, we feel a sense of relief that they’re alive. Some more bonus material includes behind the scenes videos, showing how they made the movie, more art and design galleries, Sarah Vowell, the voice of Violet showing her skills as a writer, the trailers, character interviews and even some top secret things like files of the supers and a cheesy cartoon that Mr. Incredible and Frozone starred in, I recommend you see the commentary where Bob and Lucius talk, get ready for your angry Samuel L Jackson, it’s a hoot!

 

Cinderella 3 A Twist In Time

I also want to talk about the Cinderella 3 DVD. Sure, there wasn’t much there but they did have the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo choose game, where you could transform things with the wand and learn about Cinderella’s true hearts desire. There was also a music video for the song “I Still Believe,” by Hayden Panettiere and even some Backstage Disney videos, including a featurette about a Cinderella stage play that’s on the Disney Cruise, a show called Twice Charmed, where the stepmother meets an evil magician and he uses his magic to go back to when the Grand Duke arrived at their chateau with the slipper and have one of the stepsister be the lucky girl, and Cinderella has to do whatever she can to get the happily ever after she truly deserves, that show might’ve been an inspiration for Cinderella 3, hmm. By the way, I was on a Disney Cruise last summer and I saw that show and it was so great, plus sometimes you might see the characters walk by your seats! It’s so magical! If you ever go on a cruise, I recommend you see at least one show there.

Plus, when classic Disney movies got released on DVD for the first time, you’d get some music videos where some Disney channel stars would sing one of the songs, like on the Lion King DVD, you had Raven, Hilary Duff (Lizzie Maguire) and Christy Carlson Romano (Kim Possible) singing The Circle Of Life and the Cinderella DVD has Raven, Kyla Pratt, Brenda Song, Ashley Tisdale, Orlando Brown and even the Sprouse Twins singing A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes, if you loved the Disney channel shows at the time, you’ll love those covers.

Toy Story

As a bonus, I would like to mention the first two Toy Story films when they got released on DVD in 2005, in honour of the first movie’s 10^th anniversary. Both DVDs were released in a two disc special edition DVD. Disc 1 played the movies while Disc 2 had the bonus material, and lots of them.

Before I continue, I am aware that there was a “Toy Box” DVD, which was a 3 DVD set, which were the first movie, the second movie and the bonus material in separate DVDs, and some of the bonus material on them are also on the 2005 DVDs, I’m just speaking about the latter because I grew up with them, if any of you had the Toy Box edition, please feel free to share your memories in the comments.

Anyway, back to the 2005 DVDs.

The first movie’s second Disc had so many bonus materials, especially since Toy Story is not only Pixar’s first movie but the first ever computer animated movie ever made. The DVD included, a video called, “Making Toy Story,” not to be confused with, “The Making Of Toy Story’ that was shown on the Toy Story VHS from 2000, the filmmakers reflecting (a bittersweet one seeing the late story artist Joe Ranft, that was probably not too long before he passed), a lot of deleted scenes, including some that were extended and animated and mostly ready and others in storyboards, some of which ended up in Toy Story 2, there was Joe Ranft doing a story pitch on The Green Army Men Sequence, some of the character designs, showing how the animation process went, for the bit when Woody came out from under the bed. There were also some song demos from Randy Newman for songs like Strange Things and I Will Go Sailing No More and even deleted songs like The Fool and Plastic Spaceman (you can also hear those demos on the Toy Story Legacy Collection Soundtrack. You can also see the Toy Story treats, where ABC and Pixar did some bumpers featuring the characters with skits like the toys watching TV, finding hobbies while Andy’s at school, Woody and Lenny the binoculars doing a staring contest the toys telling scary stories and more. Sure, they’re not canon, but they are fun to watch. You can also see the theatrically released trailers and the TV spots too, when you revisit them, you might feel like you’re going back to the 90s, if you grew up in the 90s, or even if you didn’t you could still feel like it, or smile if you saw any of those trailers on tape, like on the Cinderella 1995 VHS. There was even a game called, The Claw, where you can use the claw to fish out the aliens, Potato Head, Hamm, Rex and even Wheezy, it’s fun! Last but not least, there is a music video for You’ve Got A Friend In Me, which is more like a demo version as opposed to the music video that was on the Toy Story VHS, either way, it’s a great music video, just listening to Randy Newman and Lyle Lovett singing together, their voices make it sound even more beautiful because it does sound like two friends telling each other how much they mean to each other, it’s just so sweet!

Toy Story 2’s second disc had some bonus material as well, and they too were really great. One of them included a fun menu called the Toy Box, that featured the outtakes that were shown in the credits on the VHS and theatrical release (starting on Christmas 1999), a game where you can answer questions about your personality to determine which toy you are, a video called Ponkickies where you play Rock Paper Scissors with the characters in Japanese (that was also on the Monsters Inc DVD), the Riders In The Sky Medley from Woody’s Roundup, which you might remember from the Toy Story 2 VHS as well.

More bonus material includes a couple of deleted scenes, Joe Ranft storyboarding the nightmare sequence, a storyboard to final film comparison to Jessie’s song, another animation process except this time it’s the classic Schmoes scene, a featurette with the cast, Randy Newman’s demo for Jessie’s song, the trailers and TV spots and more!

Both the 2005 special editions for the first two Toy Story movies had great bonus material to share, which was the perfect way to celebrate a major milestone.

 

Bee Movie

Even in DVDs for not so good movies, there can be some good bonus material, one of them has to be Bee Movie. I have mentioned before that I’m not very fond of this movie (though I do like playing the game), I consider it one of the worst DreamWorks movies, but it does have decent bonus material, like the opening previews of what DreamWorks had coming soon, like the first Kung Fu Panda and a sneak peek at Madagascar Escape 2 Africa (with the alternate title, The Crate Escape) featuring Ben Stiller. There was also a game called the Ow Meter where you can learn about certain types of bees and rank how painful their stings are from 1 to 5 and also rank how deadly the objects we use to get rid of bees are for the insects themselves, like Italian Vogue or boots from 1 to 5. Plus, they can teach you about bees and why they’re important to our society. If you want DreamWorks to show us the importance of bees, stick with the bonus material and steer clear of the movie.

More

DVDs and Blu Rays have a certain kind of bonus material that seems to be a mixed bag for some, and that is commentaries. Some people find it boring while others would find it interesting, I fall into the latter. It is kind of interesting to hear some of the stories the filmmakers tell whether it’s about the cast, the original ideas, their inspirations and much more! Some ones I like to listen to include, the Pixar films, the first two Shreks, Rise Of The Guardians, Cheaper By The Dozen, Horton Hears A Who, just to name a few! Knowing that some of my favourite reviewers like Mr. Coat and AniMat like listening to commentaries makes me feel less alone. Some people might find it boring and might question others for it, my grandmother questioned me about it, but I don’t give a rat’s ass. I will admit that there are some I have yet to see and some of the ones I mentioned I have seen in bits but I still like listening to them every now and then, because it’s interesting and nice to see the filmmakers and sometimes cast members talk about it, showing how much they love what they do.

The non VHS home medias can also give you the option to see the movie in different languages or read the subtitles in different languages. If you have friends who are Spanish or French you can watch it in their language and have subtitles to translate it or the other way around. Also, growing up, I was fascinated with seeing English subtitles when watching movies and how sometimes, not only did they show the lines but they also used verbs too like, “sobs”, “laughing” or “screams”, those were usually on DVDs from Disney, Pixar, 20^th Century Fox, Universal, the pre Madagascar DreamWorks movies, while other companies from Warner Bros, Sony, Paramount, Lionsgate and DreamWorks from Madagascar to Rise Of The Guardians had only subtitles and no verbs, I don’t know why, but I always found them so fascinating. My best friend likes using subtitles too and it makes me feel less alone.

While DVDs and Blu-Rays now seem lacking in quality nowadays due to the increasing popularity of streaming, there is no doubt that they, along with VHS tapes are a great way to watch your favourite movies or TV shows because they have a lot of things that streaming sites don’t have (apart from Disney plus). If you love watching movies on home media, go to your nearest thrift store and find the DVDs or Blu Rays or even VHS tapes, to get many joyful viewings and fun bonus material to play and learn!

I hope this story helped you remember the joys of home media and brought back great memories!

What are your favourite DVDs, what memories do you have with them? Feel free to comment, your memories are great!