Those of you hunting around the site late last night might have caught me posting that The Jungle Book review, but here’s an official reminder: it’s up now!

I’ve already had an email taking me to task over my points scoring, so let me explain. The movie itself is nigh on perfect for any number of reasons, but for one or two I mention in the review, it doesn’t quite sustain its pace for the duration, so I knocked off one mark, to make that point. If we could go with half-point scores, The Jungle Book may well have made it to 9.5! On the supplements, rated at 6, I just didn’t feel enough had been brought in from previously available or known material, especially flat standard trailers, to warrant any higher than that. I almost went for a 7, but that started to feel too much…so think of this again as wavering between the two. A point was lost for the awful new music video that I frankly never wish to see or hear again – I couldn’t even bring myself to scan it for a screen capture!

Video and audio marks are pretty self explanatory: this would have warranted a perfect 10 in each case had we gotten a choice of screen formats as we have in the past, and if the songs in the fancy new remix didn’t sound so infused with inexplicable background noise. That the image looked so clear gave it a solid 7, but anything more wouldn’t have taken into account the questionable aspect ratio conversion, and the audio would have gotten higher with the inclusion of the previously released Stereo Surround mix, which had none of the issues I picked up on in this new track.

Finally, with all the issues mentioned in the review and above, I couldn’t give the set a staright 10, even though the sum of its parts are nipping at those heels. I think the disc would have gotten full marks across the board even with a handful of the improvements I’ve hinted at, but even though this is a heck of a release, it’s not a standout 10 and, truth be told, I questioned if it was even a solid 9. Again, given half points, it would have been 8.5, but due to its importance and as a generally good presentation overall, I gave The Jungle Book the benefit of the doubt!

The switching to two Platinum Edition releases per year, the strain does seem to be showing on these titles, and with high-definition formats taking longer to take off than anticipated (not that The Jungle Book is available as such anyway), I wish the Studio had stuck to their guns in running just the original series of 10 annually released titles as proposed. Certainly since Bambi we’ve seen some half-hearted attempts at “definitive collectors’ sets”, of which these latest Platinums are anything but. The Jungle Book raises the game somewhat, but isn’t a sure fire winner, as has been proven by early sales having to rival Fox’s Fantastic Four sequel. Though it is a bare necessity, by default (and therein, perhaps, lies the problem) the message to Disney is “must try harder”.

So, there you have it, the review of the review! Enjoy the rest of your week! – Ben.