Review: Pride and Prejudice (Restored Edition)

Monday, December 27, 2010

For Christmas, I got Pride and Prejudice: Restored Edition, which is pretty much what you would get if you bought Pride and Prejudice on Blu-Ray but on DVD. Here, I'll be reviewing the quality of the DVD, not the miniseries itself. For the story itself, click here.

Box Art

Picture Quality
The colors are fantastic! Where in the original the colors appear to be washed out, here they are much more vibrant. You get to see more colors that you otherwise would not have seen. This greatly improves the wide views of the scenery and makes it even more wonderful. I have pictures below because, especially in this instance, a picture can speak a thousand words.

Audio
You will notice upon first viewing that the sound is a little bit different from the original release of Pride and Prejudice. The soundtrack sounds lower than the original, and even some of the speaking parts might sound a little lower, though the speaking parts are less noticable. I have read elsewhere that people have found Mrs. Bennet's voice very high and shrill, so they like that her voice isn't as piercing as it was. I didn't mind Mrs. Bennet's voice in the original release: if I did think it was high, I would have thought that it would be in her character to sound shrill (and maybe even a bit hystarical). Some of the singing parts have a noticable lower pitch compared to the original. It is a bit different from the original.

Comparison
Personally, between the original DVD release and the restored edition, I prefered the picture quality of the restored edition, but the audio of the original. I probably prefer the audio from the original because I personally never found anything wrong with it in the first place, though now I know some people thought Mrs. Bennet's voice was a little high. I do love the improved picture quality; it does the scenery a great justice.

Overall
I would recommend this DVD. Though I am still partial to the original audio, the new audio isn't bad at all; people new to Pride and Prejudice would most likely not find the audio a problem. The picture quality is very stunning and a great improvement. You get about the same quality of picture as the Blu-Ray version but for the price of a DVD. It's really great if you want Blu-Ray quality, but don't have a Blu-Ray player nearby.

Pride and Prejudice: Restored Edition is available online and in the stores. Below are the screenshots comparing the original to the Restored Edition.