“I’m smart; you’re dumb. I’m big; you’re little. I’m right; you’re wrong. And there’s nothing you can do about it. ”
—Matilda (or maybe Sony/Columbia)
Okay, that’s it. That did it.
I have been waiting for months for Matilda to release on DVD in the US so I could buy a copy. I love this movie. I was in just the right mood to enjoy it. I reread the book. I even managed to convince my boyfriend that he might like watching it. The DVD was out of print for a couple of years and I could not wait for it to be re-released.
Sony/Columbia released the DVD yesterday. It is billed as a “special edition,” full of silly features that no one over the age of 8 would care about. That’s not why I’m mad. (Most DVDs seem to be like that, these days.)
This amazing special-edition DVD that I have been waiting for is full-screen, also known as pan-and-scan.
Because children’s movies don’t have to be in widescreen, right? Kids don’t need quality. Kids don’t want to see those nasty black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Who cares about kids? And only kids are going to want to watch something like Matilda, anyway.
Pan and scan. I mean, I might as well just watch my videotape of Matilda. There’s no point in buying the damn DVD. It’s a wonderful movie, it’s one of my favorites, and we could argue that slicing off the sides of the movie doesn’t significantly change it. However, these days it is established that most people buy DVDs, not rent them, and they want a little quality, a sense of value for money … and yet this movie is being released in full-screen, because DVD distributors have no respect for children’s movies. Even The SpongeBob movie was released in widescreen and full-screen versions, but I guess SpongeBob is considered cool and trendy. Roald Dahl, not so much. Or maybe Paramount isn’t quite as shitty to kids’ movies as Sony/Columbia.
The DVD of Matilda that released in the UK (Region 2) last year has the exact same cover as the US DVD, and the exact same features … except it’s in widescreen. Some idiot made a deliberate decision to whack off the sides of the movie for US release. It’s been mulleted, so to speak.
So I just went online and bought a multi-region DVD player. It should be here in a week or so.
I’m going to buy the UK version of Matilda, and while I’m at it, maybe I’ll buy the Holiday DVD too (even though I have a pretty good copy someone made from a recent TCM broadcast … and hey, Sony/Columbia is also responsible for not releasing that particular movie on DVD in the US). I’ve heard that the Charlie Chaplin movies suffered from a terrible transfer in the US, but the Region 2 DVDs are gorgeous. Maybe I’ll pick up some Miyazaki films too, if I can get someone (hi Greg!) to help me navigate Japanese Web sites.
I surrender. I can’t wait for US film distributors to get their half-assed act together anymore. I’m going multi-region. And as for Sony/Columbia, I wish I could send Agatha Trunchbull to take care of you. You guys might want to watch Matilda again and consider the implications of a story in which a little girl, feeling powerless against tyrannical authorities, figures out how to fight back.
I think you mean “YOU’RE wrong; I’M right,” don’t you?
Yep. Edited it. Thanks for noticing and letting me know … I guess I was a little spacey yesterday.
Now I am really, really glad we bought that Matilda DVD when we saw it on sale a few years ago.
You’ll love your multiregion DVD player. I get a little thrill from sticking it to the movie studios every time we watch one of our Japanese DVDs.
Wahoo! Asian cinema night at Jette’s house!
(The hardest part of ordering from Amazon Japan is deciphering the product info in Japanese. The actual shopping cart and ordering interface can be toggled in English. As for other sites, my secret weapon is Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC server at Monash University in Australia.)
So where do you get the widescreen version of Matilda? Do you have someone that you recommend?
The Region 2/PAL DVD that is available on Amazon UK is listed as being widescreen. If anyone knows a good European online retailer with cheaper prices than Amazon, please share … the shipping costs from Amazon UK can be downright painful, especially with the US dollar in the state that it is.
Actually fullscreen doesn’t necessarily equate to pan-and-scan. If it was shown in theatres at 1.85 (or thereabouts) ratio, they’ve probably used an open-matte print for the DVD, so you would in fact be getting the full width but also a bit more information at the top and bottom of the screen that actually shouldn’t be there. In theatrical projection these bits would be blocked out.
Either way it’s a bad move on Sony/Columbia’s part, and even worse, of course, if the film actually IS pan-and-scan (I’m not familiar with it so don’t know what it’s supposed to be).
Oh, and if you’re going to be importing DVDs from other regions, be sure your TV and/or DVD player can handle PAL video signals. Otherwise you’ll probably only be able to bring in stuff from southeast Asia…