Lady and the Tramp (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review

( Max score: 100 )

93

Film Synopsis:

Generations of fans have fallen in love with Disney's 15th animated masterpiece -- an irresistible song-filled adventure about Lady, a lovingly pampered cocker spaniel, and Tramp, a roguish mutt from across the tracks. When Aunt Sarah moves in with her devious felines Si and Am to baby-sit, the very protective Lady soon finds herself being fitted for the unthinkable -- a muzzle! In her bid for freedom, she meets and is charmed by Tramp, dog-about-town. Together with friends Jock, Trusty, and Peg, they share thrilling adventures on an enchanting evening as Lady learns what it means to be footloose and leash-free.

My Take:

A classic love story unfolds in the best Disney tradition as a lovely young pedigreed cocker spaniel named Lady, who lives a pampered life, finds herself falling romantically for Tramp, an amorous street-smart pooch without prospects. Although they have fun together on several dates, including a sentimental spaghetti dinner by moonlight at Tony’s restaurant, their relationship is strained not only by Lady’s loyalty to her human family and their newborn baby, but by Tramp’s devil-may-care attitude that eventually gets Lady in trouble and tossed into the dog pound. However, good-hearted Tramp redeems himself by saving the baby from potential harm and thus wins Lady’s love and the affection of her human family.

With Lady and the Tramp we get a beautifully told romance along with a little danger, suspense and touching moments (as Disney does so well). The integration of the music in the story’s telling is beautifully crafted. Lady and the Tramp like many of Disney’s classic animated features has easily stood the test of time and continues to touch generations of viewers since the 50 plus years since its release. Disney is a class act with an impeccable track record for wonderful family oriented films.

This Diamond Edition home video release of Lady and the Tramp is another example of their fervent commitment to the Blu-ray format as their high definition presentations have consistently yielded technically impressive results along with fan friendly supplemental material. I appreciate the attention to detail and implementation of features such as their enhanced menu navigation, BD-Live interactivity, Movie Rewards, Fast play, and in this case their Story Meetings-enhanced feature and Second Screen option which is innovative and just plain cool. Their willingness to digitally restore their films while carefully preserving the original source elements allows fans and newcomers alike to experience them looking and sounding better than ever. I am thrilled that this animated classic has finally arrived in high definition. I can assure you that the wait was well worth it.

Parental Guide:

This film is appropriate for all ages.

Audio: 86

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Video: 100

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Lady and the Tramp comes to Blu-ray Disc from Disney featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 29 Mbps and lossless DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio sound that has an average bitrate of 3.7 Mbps.

This film has undergone a restorative process and the results are impressive. Colors shine brilliantly with pleasing saturation and striking blues that look absolutely beautiful. The original film elements don’t have the highly polished gloss of today’s digitally enhanced animated films which is to be expected but this presentation isn’t far behind. On several occasions I found myself marveling at just how good this 50 plus year old animated feature looked. Fidelity is intact and images have excellent visual depth with deep, rich, color fidelity and stable contrast that enhances dimension. I can fully appreciate the attention to detail that went into design of each of the animated characters. Contrast and brightness is stable and strikes a wonderful balance that highlights the multi-layered grays and delineated chromatic elements within the video. Blacks have excellent depth and dynamic range while falling just shy of the ink like levels of the best discs available in high definition. Whites sparkle and appear crisp, bright and punchy. As fans I don’t think that we could ask for this film to look any better than this.

Disney provides a new DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 channel surround mix AND a DTS-HD 3.0 Master Audio restoration of the original recording which retains much of the feel of the original while adding a bit of polish. You can’t go wrong either way as they both sound quite good. I utilized the surround mix which is a well balanced presentation that features high level detail in a resplendent blend of dialogue, sound effects, and music that maintains a frontal perspective with wonderfully integrated rear channel atmospherics that seem to naturally broaden the soundstage. The film’s score/music sounds simply marvelous as the musical numbers take center stage and create an enriching surround experience. This isn’t a dynamically enhanced mix but it appropriately supports of the soundtrack’s elements. The audio is crystal clear, free of the edginess and never shows its age which says something for the care that went into the encoding. Chalk up another winner for Disney.

Bonus Features:

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• (HD) Disc Introduction by Diane Disney Miller – 2 minutes
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• Audio Commentary: Inside Walt's Story Meetings -
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• (HD) Diane Disney Miller: Remembering Dad – 8 minute retrospective
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• (HD) Deleted Scenes – 19 minutes
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• (HD) Never Recorded Song: "I'm Free as the Breeze"
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• (HD) Disney’s Second Screen App - Featuring "Inside Walt's Story Meetings" – Interactive option highlighted by behind the scene footage, art, storyboards and more.
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• Classic DVD Bonus features – Comprised of nearly all of the previously released DVD supplements, including the 53-minute multi-segment "Lady's Pedigree: The Making of Lady and the Tramp". Totaling over two and half hours there are storyboards, songs, the “Belle Notte” music video, trailers, and deleted scenes.
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• Bonus DVD: Lady and the Tramp

Final Thoughts:

Lady and the Tramp is among the beloved of the Disney Classic animated feature films. Seeing it again after so many years brought back fond childhood memories. Kudos to Disney on a spectacular Blu-ray Disc offering that presents this wonderful family film looking and sounding better than ever. Its complimentary set of bonus materials includes exclusive Blu-ray and interactive features that present fans with a great way to enhance the high definition experience while taking a peek behind the curtain to learn some interesting background on the film. This excellent Blu-ray release will make for a welcomed addition to your Disney Collection and comes highly recommended.