Favourite animated DVD menu?

Nowadays, DVD menus are just still images or iconic scenes from the feature presentation. But back then, innovation was actually placed into making creative DVD menus.

My favourite one is Unbreakable. It doesn't use any footage from the film, opting for script pages, audio from the protagonist, and simple concept art conveying the story of a reluctant man who steadily begins to accept his superhuman abilities. But James Newton Howard's score sold it for me.

Edited by The12thDoctor on Apr 7th 2019 at 5:08:21 AM

I know that Shrek 2 is one of my personal favorites.

Ah yes, that Brady Bunch reference. What's funny is Shrek's response to Donkey's annoying titles for Shrek 2: "How about this? Shrek 2: Dude, Where's My Donkey? Oh, There He Is, Cut From The Movie Because He Talks Too Much!"

With TV series, I would have to say the Region 4 The Walking Dead DVDs. This one still managed to have a consistent theme running through the menus of the eight seasons: the logo moving across the screen while the theme tune plays.

And the best thing is that seasons 1-6 and 8 display this feature while blur effects occur in the main location it takes place in (eg. The Atlanta City, the Greene farm, the prison, Shirewilt Estates, etc.). Despite season 7 using this promo art as the background◊, it still replaces the "Rise Up" text with a red moving logo, continuing the consistency!

I've been meaning to bump this thread with some menus that come to mind.

Well, there's Funny Factory with Mickey, which has a menu that takes place inside a "funny factory". There are several Easter Eggs, one of which shows a race between several "chattering teeth" toys.

I also like the "previews" menu on the aforementioned DVD as well as other Disney DVDs at the time. It shows a background from the "filmreel" bumpers where movie titles appear in unique ways. For example, the aforementioned DVD has Winnie the Pooh walking across that background, revealing one of the previews to be for Pooh's Grand Adventure.

I am also fond of menus with exclusive dialogue or scenes with the characters. For example, the DVD menus of Finding Nemo and Open Season have characters talking over the menus. For example, on the language selection menu of the latter, Elliot suggests watching the film in French. The VeggieTales DVDs of The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie and The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's take this a step further and have animated skits, complete with dialogue, that can only be seen on the menus.

I'd also like to mention the main menu of Over the Hedge, which takes place in the vending machine from the film's opening. There's even a bee in the vending machine, and clicking on it will show you a sneak peek of Bee Movie.

I really like this menu for the DVD release of Die Hard. It's mostly a Narm Charm enjoyment from the lightly-dated late 1990s-early 2000s CGI and explosion SFX, but it's cool nonetheless.

Edited by CosmicCat on Mar 19th 2024 at 2:12:50 AM

I've a soft spot for the menus provided for The Brittas Empire DVD releases by Eureka. Especially for Series 2 and 6 and their (if somewhat dated) CGI reconstructions of the Leisure Centre.

I also love the Red Dwarf DVD releases up to Series X because of their CGI reconstructions of the titular ship.

My favorite will always be Finding Nemo.

The menu for Ashes to Ashes series 2 DVD I have is pretty fun. It looks like you’re accessing teletext pages on a big boxy eighties TV. It even has some stuff you might actually have seen on teletext back then, like news headlines from around the time episodes take place.