The City of Lost Children (1995)
La Cité des Enfants Perdus
Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure • 1h 53m
Directors: Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro
Cast: Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon, Judith Vittet, Daniel Emilfork, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Geneviève Brunet, Odile Mallet, Mireille Mossé, Serge Merlin, Rufus, Ticky Holgado, Cris Huerta, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Joseph Lucien, Mapi Galán, Briac Barthélémy, Pierre-Quentin Faesch, Alexis Pivot, François Hadji-Lazaro, Dominique Bettenfeld, Lotfi Yahya Jedidi, Thierry Gibault, Marc Caro, Ham Chau Luong, Frankie Pain, Enrique Villanueva, Dominique Chevalier, Lorella Cravotta, Éric Houzelot, Philippe Beautier, Marc Amyot, Jean-Philippe Labadie, Raphaèle Bouchard, Rachel Boulenger, Michel Motu, Nane Germon, Léo Rubion, Guillaume Billod-Morel, Bezak, Hong Mai Thomas, René Pivot, Daniel Adric, Christophe Salengro, René Marquant, Michel Smolianoff, Lili Cognard, Angélique Philibert, Marie Piémontèse, Antoinette Dias, Zak Russomanno, Djamila Bouda, Lauren Geoffroy, Cyril Aubin, Bruno Journée, Jérémie Freund, Joris Geneste, Julie Bernard, Valentin Simonet, Eglantine Blanckaert, Gaëtan Bouyala, Mickael Bussinger, Jonathan Gatinois, Joshka Kaufmann, Morgan Mariac, Caroline Marsily, Geoffroy Morange, Sébastien Thaissart, Charlotte Bienfait, Camille Dufeu, Robinson Fouille, Alysia Hoffeurt, Sandy Kontargyris, Andrew Laupen, Théo Madueno, Arthur Mazet, Fackry M'Saidie, Gabriel Pierre, Bérangère Pivot, Charlotte Ribaud-Chevrey, Laura Robert, Caroline Rochand, Carolane Yvan, Margot Tostivint, Buster Verbraeken, Mathieu Kassovitz
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 9 months ago
UHD tiers
currently only available in the Sony Pictures US set
Overview
A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Directors: Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has DNR and inconsistent encode but still superior to the decade-old earlier Blu-ray. Severin 4K Blu-ray probably better encode?
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Frank Capra
Director: John Carpenter
Sony 4K Blu-ray or Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode)
Sony 4K Blu-ray and France Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode) are similar
Director: Michael Arias
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
GKIDS 4K Blu-ray is a sharpened upscale. Caps
GKIDS 4K Blu-ray has a true lossless English dub and correct volume levels for the Japanese audio
Director: David Fincher
4K Blu-ray has exclusive “unrated” audio with a small change to one line under the request of David Fincher (removed the poor dub over of frickin’ in the line “Screw it, let’s gut the f**kin’ nerd.”).
Director: Martin Scorsese
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook
Sources: blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding
Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Director: Michael Apted
Video format: HD Streaming
Director: Richard Linklater
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Criterion Blu-ray uses the same transfer as Sony but the encoding is slightly worse than Sony and barely noticeable see caps
Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray in viewing looks very similar to both the Criterion and Sony caps, but no side by side comparison available
Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray is part of a 3-film box set like the Criterion
More Fantasy on Blu-ray
Director: F. W. Murnau
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray
Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score
Both Eureka and BFI Blu-rays are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC Blu-ray is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made Blu-rays of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber Blu-ray!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray remains one of the worst Blu-rays of all time for this reason.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
2026 Japan Studio Ghibli (remastered) Blu-ray
Only included as a pack-in with the 4K Blu-ray. Includes English subtitles and a dub, which the 4K Blu-ray does not.
Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray
UK StudioCanal Blu-ray for the English dub
4K Blu-ray includes the original 5.1 mix in its unaltered form, all other releases after the LaserDisc had its dynamic range lowered.
For the English dub, the UK StudioCanal Blu-ray is the least limited mix.
Director: Tommy O'Haver
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray (includes Extended Cut on regular Blu-ray)
Original theatrical 6.1 mix: 2009 Warner Bros Blu-ray Ultimate Edition (Theatrical Cut only)
Extended Cut 5.1 mix: Warner Bros Blu-ray
DTS:X remix: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray
The film is titled Sorcerer's Stone in the US, India, and the Philippines.
Wizard's/Hogwarts Collection has all the bonus features for all the 8 films.
The lossless version of the original 6.1 mix is only available on the ultimate edition blu-ray not to be confused with the ultimate collectors edition blu-ray.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
See chris's review
1991 Daiei LaserDisc
Director: Guillermo del Toro
WB 4K Blu-ray teased by Guillermo Del Toro
CA Alliance Blu-ray or dutch Blu-ray are the same masters but have additional sharpening.
The original DVD has an isolated score and a exclusive easter egg
Director: James Cameron
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
Fox Blu-ray for original cuts without the extra scene added in the re-release and AI upscaling
Newer Blu-ray/4K has the extra scene, but is poor and has excessive AI upscaling
An additional scene was added to the ending of the movie in the 2022 re-release: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=493908
Director: Mariano Llinás
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