Buyer Beware

Perhaps I should have written this before Christmas but it didn’t occur to me till now. This is a warning for anyone out there who likes the extras with the movies that you watch on DVD. I for one love to watch the extras but like many people times are tough for me and I have to watch every dollar I spend. When I got Polar Express I notice that they had two different prices. One said it was a wide screen special edition and cost $19.21. The second said it was full screen and cost $12.49. Thinking the only difference was the wide screen I thought I should buy the $12.49 and save myself $6.72. To my dismay this was not the only difference. The full screen version had virtually no extras. Nothing behind the scenes on how they made the movie and this is one movie that I wanted to see how it was done. Actually I like to see that on nearly all movies that I watch. I later found out that the wide screen edition had all of the extras. I know some of you might be saying that the words “special edition” should have tipped me off. Well I would have thought that too at one time but I have seen special editions that the only thing special about it was that it was wide screen. From the 1980’s to today most movies are filmed to look good on TV. Meaning, that they try to film them like they were made for TV movies. That way they can make more money off the video rights. Shoot them this way made sure that they don’t cut off anything important on the side. So I thought I wasn’t really missing anything. Turns out I was wrong. Here is what was extra on the wide screen special edition:
Region (unknown)
Double Amaray Case
Widescreen 2.40
Audio:Dolby Surround 5.1
EnglishDolby Surround 5.1
FrenchDolby Surround 5.1
SpanishStereo 2S
EnglishAdditional Release Material:
Deleted Scenes
Featurette Interviews
Music Video
Behind-the-Scenes
Interactive Features:
Challenges
Now here is what came extra on the edition that I bought.
Region (unknown)
Keep Case
Full Frame
Audio:Dolby Surround 5.1
EnglishDolby Surround 5.1
FrenchDolby Surround 5.1
Spanish
Last year I waited to buy the Fantastic Four DVD as I heard that they were going to release another edition with more extras like interviews with the creators and people who knew Jack Kirby. So I waited till this Christmas and they did release a second edition. The problem was it had virtually no extras. Yes it was cheaper but I wanted the extras. My Mom asked me for a list of what I wanted for Christmas. I put the FF edition with the extras on the list. That is what she gave me on Christmas Eve.
So if you don’t care for the extras then save some money and buy the cheaper version. If you’re like me you may find that an extra five or six dollars is worth spending to get what you want.