Remember When DVD Menus Were Actually Good... 

2000s DreamWorks and PIXAR had the BEST home menu screens, I'm glad to have grown up collecting these DVDs and watching these iconic films

Remeber When PIXAR Had Bloopers during the Credits inagine if they kept up this Traditional the only movies that had Bloopers A Bug's Life Toy Story 2 and Monster Inc i wonder why they stop doing it

"Remember When DVD Menus Were Actually Good" Back when DVD menus aren't lazy? Yes.

I spent HOURS as a kid playing around with the special features section of the Incredibles DVD menu. If you remembered the password on Syndrome's computer (Kronos) you could go into the files he had on all the known supers. There was SO MUCH DETAIL. I also remember on the first (I think it was the first) Harry Potter DVD menu, if you could correctly recreate the brick tapping sequence Hagrid used, you unlocked the special features section in Diagon Alley. What I really liked about both of these was that you needed information from the movie to fully unlock everything the DVD had to offer. It was a reward for paying attention to the film.

I loved exploring DVD menus, as a kid! My personal favourites were Shark Tale, the live-action Scooby-Doo movies, Garfield 2, Madagascar 1 and 2, Over the Hedge, Cars, Open Season, Flushed Away, Happy Feet, Toy Story 2 and 3, Kung Fu Panda, and Monsters, Inc. 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩📀

God I miss physical media, unfortunately we took it for granted and I wish I’d kept more…

The early 2000's selection menus were the best. Cool animations, creative displays, tons of behind the scenes and bonus features. Shrek 2 was by far my favorite. "Far Far Away Idol" is a classic. I miss this kind of effort.

FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT!!! DVD menus back in the day felt so unique and with personality (The 2003 2-Disc Collector's Edition Finding Nemo DVD was my favorite among others lol) but now they feel so empty and monotone, WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM 😭

I love the Cat in the Hat (2003) DVD menu !! It had the two main characters (Conrad and Sally) talking directly to the audience and arguing over which side they should choose (both had behind the scenes content) Also if you took too long to select something, they would start having a disco party :))

Yes ! I remember when DVD menus were actually creative and had personality but somewhere down the line they stopped trying with DVD menus and also special features are dying too like I actively check and see if DVD and Blu-rays have special features and most of them don't like what happened 😭🤦

I really enjoyed the Surf's Up menu. I was always amused when one of them says "Maybe they lost the remote." And I think it was Cody that asks "Did you check under the sofa?" Idk exactly, its been so long since I've watched it the movie, but I still love it.

That Shrek DvD Menu screen thumbnail and the Incredibles Menu gave me heavy nostalgic whiplash because I remember booting up those DvDs and seeing those screens a lot, along with the Two Disc Finding Nemo DVD's, loved seeing the Fish Tank and Ocean theme they had on the seperate disks

I remember in I believe the 2nd disc of Monsters Inc, there was a screen you could reach with multiple unlabeled doors, most having special behind the scenes stuff but one cruelly featuring a jump scare of Sully roaring from the film, it gave me nightmares as a kid that went into my teen years.

Surfs up had special dialogue from the actors, they would discuss why you hadn't started the movie yet. And remark maybe you lost the remote. And where it could be. I also remember Scooby Doo 2 having the case of the missing pants. You would have to hunt around the menus to find more "clues" about what happened to Shaggy's missing pants.

Over the hedge actually came with a GAME in the dvd screen, it was a laser dodge minigame (I only beat it like once)

I loved the Lion King 2004 special edition menu. A CGI Zazu flies across the Pridelands most iconic locations, faces the audience and then guides us thru the menu options.

The FIRST Shrek DVD menu was bomb as well!!!!! What rings in my head all the time is the pig that insists, "Play da mooovie!!!" Engrained in my brain. The first two Harry Potter DVD menus hold a very special place in my heart as well. So wonderous!!!! True experiences into the Potter-verse.

I remember my Thomas DVDs as a kid were really nice. The relevant engine for the episodes included on the DVD would steam in with light narration and the UI even had a nice station themed aesthetic to it, so nice

I miss DVD menus all together, they were fun, creative, a new environment

I have the entire script of the Finding Nemo DVD Menu memorized. "WHERE IS IT?! WHERE IS IT?!" "Oh, there's the menu. I knew it was around here somewhere."

I miss the good old days

I remember back in the day we Madagascar 2 dvd where the menu had the main four dancing while I like it move it was playing and me and my siblings and cousins would dance along to it as well, such a fun time.

My favorite was Ice Age 2 the meltdown. The amount of times I’ve rewatched that movie and spent time on the DVD menu outdoes my time spending outside as a kid. It was so much fun going through that menu, watching the simpsons movie preview, the scrat short, and the bonus mini games and trivia they had in the extras

DVD menus used to be so fun. I remember the Elf DVD that had the pop-up book Easter egg and the Jimmy Neutron menu that had Goddard looking for Jimmy’s parents.

The Treasure Planet DVD menu is awesome. A cinematic CG intro of opening and exploring the map, with every menu option taking you to a different planet on said map. I especially loved the RLS Legacy tour bonus feature, you get to explore the entire RLS Legacy with an in-universe tour with Mr. Arrow, an in-depth explanation tour with someone on the movie’s team (I do not remember who though) talking about how they made the ship specifically for the movie, and a treasure hunt where the directors give you an alternate scene to one used in the movie as a prize for winning It’s worth a look! A super fun menu!

Please do a part two of this. Like the Incredible where you can go through Syndromes computer with all the info. Or The Madagascar where if you find all the penguins hidden footprints you get a secret code. If you entered the code into a section on the menu you could play a game where you had to navigate the penguins as they hijacked the boat. Or my favorite one and PLEASE mention this one if you do a part two was the Pirates Who Don't Do anything. Where before the movie began you got a full scene of the three main characters doing what they do. Which was a full on like 2 minutes scene that seamlessly restarted. You also had hidden gems in it like a Sign that said Deja Grape which if you clicked on it you would see a clip no tin the film that takes place after the events of the movie. Or the other more hidden one where if you found the hidden button on the plank you got a scene about the list that Elliot talks about throughout the film.Not to mention all the scenes you got whenever you hit Bonus feature play movie and almost any button throughout the menu

There's a few that I'll go on and on about (fair warning): A Series of Unfortunate Events: Utilising the almost monochrome animation from the film's end credits this perfectly sets the tone for the grim movie ahead. Both on the standard DVD & special 2 disc edition (which I obtained more recently), there's plenty of extra features, some hidden behind icons that blend into the background. My favourite detail is when hovering over the main options: Play, Set Up ect, it adds extra text to make it say: Please don't Play, and A trap! Otherwise known as a Set Up. It's so in-keeping with the story it's brilliant. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Sadly I had 1 & 2 on video, but I got to experience 3's bonus DVD features. The layout of the Marauder's map is a great choice, with a solid amount of behind the scenes footage. A fun painting traversal game to find Sir Cadogan's frame, and a quicktime Catch Scabber's game. Then there was the excellent tours (which were also in 1 & 2 it seems), where you explore in universe locations Lupin's classroom & honeydukes. There's areas to select to find out more information all narrated by Jim Dale (who did the audiobooks, even though I prefer Stephen Fry's), with even some of the film's actors appearing in the clips: David Thewlis giving a lesson on boggarts, James & Oliver Phelps sneaking through the basement of Honeydukes. It's a great display of the well detailed sets made for the film, showing off all the book accurate details they included. Little surprised you didn't include The Incredibles, since you named plenty of other Pixar films: The display of Syndrome's secret computer is the perfect pick with those wispy sound effects of it whirring and loading. Obviously Jack Jack Attack being one of the best shorts ever, and Boundin' being a fun addition too. The National Supers Agency secret files, with audio of supers explaining their powers, with Rick Dicker detailing their deaths. 'Mr Incredible and pals' short with Synchro-Vox animation (still frames with live action mouths) mimicking the 60s style, complete with a commentary by Mr Incredible & Frozone, with Samuel L Jackson getting angry how white/tan he looks and how they made him sound like a Beatnik, it's so funny and a great bonus that fleshes out the world better than Incredibles 2 did.

Even though Shrek 2 is an enduring classic and will forever be looked at as the magnum opus of DvD menus Ratatouille will forever be my favorite. I loved they adopted the artstyle from the credits and crafted the cleanest (literally and visually) kitchen imaginable

Man I wish I still had a DVD copy of over the hedge because that iconic vending machine menu brings me back

The dvd menu for the Finding Nemo collectors edition. Has two disc's disc 1 Wide-screen, disc 2 Full Screen. They are the same movie. But both disc's have different disc menues

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban's DVD menu was one of my favorites. It altered the Night Bus scene- one of my favorite sequences in the film, without giving away anything in the movie like it would if it was just showing clips in the menu. If I remember correctly there was a sub menu in the DVD menu that switched to the Marauder's Map complete with animated footsteps running around it, but I might be mistaken with that because my copy of the movie was lost so I haven't been able to watch the movie on physical medium in over a decade. I think most of the Harry Potter movies had decent to good movie menus. I also really like all of the Lord of the Rings DVD menus. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy had a very memorable DVD menu as well. Both Into and Across the Spiderverse movies have nice menus. Tron Legacy and Tomorrow Land both have unique menus that fit their very own style. I think Blu Ray has kept the energy that DVD menus used to have, it feels like Blu Ray menus are more animated than modern DVD menus and I've also noticed that DVDs will cut out bonus features whereas Blu Rays will have them which doesn't make any sense to me when DVDs have always been capable of having tons of bonus features in the past. Now you're lucky enough to get a commentary track with a DVD, if you want interviews and documentaries you have to buy the Blu Ray or 4K version because streaming rarely offers what physical media does when it comes to bonus features.

I had thought of a couple: Pink Floyd's The Wall has a menu where it's not about selecting and then hitting a button, but every bit has four things you can go to, corresponding to one of the directional buttons on the remote (though there are hidden bits for if you select certain diagonals), and it feels like a bit of a maze of sorts, due to needing to go pretty deep to find some features. Girls Will Be Girls, a drag comedy, has the three main characters hanging out over each option on the main menu (Play, Special Features, and Scenes), arguing over who has the best button. I mean, it's a whole comedy routine that was recorded specifically for the DVD, and that's nifty.

While i had some serious issues with the execution of the Jim Carey "Series of Unfortunate Events", i really loved the dvd selection screen, where you could cycle through several shadow puppet segments that all looked really cool

All of those more creative DVD Menus man. I remember playing the games on the Thomas and Veggietales DVDs all the time. Modern DVD menus feel more soulless

10:20 My mum has told me she used to put these on for HOURS for me when I was younger, I'd just sit infront of the screen entranced hahaha. I'd love to see you cover more DVD menus!!

The Simpsons had some pretty good disc menus (especially from Season 5 on). But the 6th season has the best menus. They really lean into the “Who Shot Mr. Burns” theme, with a bunch of characters standing for their mugshots. The interactions the characters have with each other and the environment is cool, but the real highlight are the individual mugshots for the episode menus. Each episode has one of the characters from the main menu pose for the mugshot or do something funny. And the cards they hold for the picture are the episode codes for the individual episode in question.

DVD logo is great.

I was thinking about this because i started buying DVDs again (big believer of keeping physical media alive) and I was thinking about how interactive the menus were. Shrek 2 menu is absolute GOLD!😊

the one i remembered was the “BUZZ LIGHTYEAR of STAR COMMAND featuring TIM ALLEN” movie (2000) it was the most fun i had with that one…try checking that out

I don't remember many DVD menus from my childhood (except Spirited Away, that one's burned into my retinas), what I really spent hours on were those little games that came on the DVD. We had a DVD with a bunch of disney shorts on it that had a game where you match up character in love by clicking on their houses. Another game was on a Barbie DVD where she was a fairy, and had this little blue fluffball companion, and in the minigame you could make it dance.

My favourite dvd menu easter egg was on the cars dvd, if you let it cycle five times it adds a option for a short video of a carified version of boundin’. (the pixar short film)

Haunted house’s intro was something I buried deep deep down because it scared the life out of me and now Daz has invited it back into my life

The Ghostbusters DVD menu always stuck out to me as a kid It was a way of listening to the Ghostbusters song whenever I wanted to hear it and I used to think the CGI New York City was pretty cool looking Though, now it just looks like a Sega Dreamcast game to me

The DVD menu that stuck out the most to me from my childhood was Mickey Around the World In 80 Days. Bcus the menu was a place you returned to throughout the course of the movie to play little mini games as the movie was a more interactive experience than a regular movie and I adored it as a kid

I still remember one of my 'The Little Mermaid' DVD also include a little quiz about who you related to among Arial's sisters, it's a little fun game after watching the movie, that is still one of my favorite DVD movie until this day. Edit: The movie I was talking about is 'The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning'

Besides Shrek 2s DVD menu, my favorite as a kid was Over the Hedge’s. I distinctly remember RJ climbing inside the vending machine and using his tools to select various options which were displayed as snacks.

My all time FAVORITE DvD menu is _definitely_ a Muppet Christmas Carol. I feel so much nostlagia seeing that menu with the cheerful festive music, the snow falling in the background outside the window, and Kermit constantly popping up around the scene impatiently trying to convince you to click on one of the menu options using head movements and facial expressions.

God this video makes me feel so nostalgic for my childhood. I’d half forgotten most of these! 🥺😭

Remember when DVD menus _existed?_ Remember when… DVDs in general existed?

I recognize most of these menus. You are a man of taste, my good sir.

Loved the old DVD menus. It's so much more apparent when you own an older copy of a movie/show and a newer copy. For example, the 4 kids DVD menu for TMNT 03. One that was my jam. Compare that to the most recent re-release the "Ultimate" collection. Has nothing it's just the list of episodes that are on that disc. Other menus that weren't mentioned here that I l enjoyed Over the Hedge menu with the vending machine, treasure planets menu. Definitely enjoyed that each menu back then were unique. I may still have alot of my DVDs from back when I was a kid, but I did end up losing some cause my siblings couldn't be trusted to take care of things.

Finding Nemo was always by far the best for me, all of the extra shorts on how the movie was made, the science behind all of the creatures videos, and meta shorts were rlly cool and would entertain me for hours

Anyone else remember Home on the range’s menu? The characters would realise you were watching them and judge your living room. The art style was nice too. Slightly separate note: can we talk about DVD games please!? Timon and Pumbaa’s virtual safari was surprisingly fun, even if it just had simple choices.

Back when technology was simple

The original Lion king dvd release with the double dvd (one was red and one was blue) is up there for me. The blue one has this cool Jeremy irons narration and so many different interactive selections to chose from

I'll always remember the Jurassic Park and the Lost World DVD menus. They instantly put you in the movies' atmosphere.

Madagascar 2 menu was endless loop of the gang dancing to I like to move it and basically any dvd menu with some original animation and original song will always be the most memorable

I dont care what anyone says, or how small it may be, but chicken run's panic button kept little child me (and my brother) laughing for long long time, we always pressed it before AND after watching the movie

We need to bring DVDs and blu-rays back in the market and we need creative main menus back

Just list a bunch of DVD menus I remember fondly, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc. Tron (20th anniversary edition), the first 3 Harry Potter films, Beauty and the Beast, the first Iron Man film, Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas, Treasure Planet, The Terminator and Terminator 2 Judgement Day, the 35th anniversary edition Blu-ray of Alien, the 30th anniversary edition of Schoolhouse Rock, and I'm probably forgetting a bunch more

my favorite was the monty python and the quest for the holy grail had a lot of animated bits and easter eggs

My favorite was the live action Scobby Doo 2 because it literally had an interactive choose your path game on the bonus features and followed the story of the movie it was a legit game on a dvd it was very cool

Dude I miss the behind the scenes, games, and animation loops from back then. It was legitimately engaging and fun. Sucks to see stuff like that being phased out so fast :( It was nice to see someone talk about it!

Shoutout to the Rocky and Bullwinkle dvds, each season came with a uniquely animated menu based one of the cartoons featured.

My favorite was Monster House. The doorbell sound effect was so cool and so was thr rug/tongue pulling you in. I loved how the house would flip to dormant to a scary face after you watch the movie.

i love the dvd menus man, can we keep at least ONE thing from the 2000s?

I REALLY loved the DVD’s of the 2003 Lion King Platinum Edition. Disc One had the epic intro with the “Busa” theme as Zazu flies around the Pride Lands, and each segment of bonus features is split into regions of the movie like the Elephant Graveyard and Rafiki’s Tree of Life, with the characters greeting you at each spot. Disc Two is even MORE epic, with King of Pride Rock playing as the globe rotates, and Jeremy Irons introduces the disc’s divisions in SUCH an epic way. And there’s sooo many bonus features about the making of the movie, the Broadway adaptation, deleted scenes, segments about animals, and of course, the one and only Timon and Pumbaa’s Virtual Safari that continued into the DVD releases for the sequels. I really feel like I’m in a whole other world when I’m using the DVD. It’s amazing.

DreamWorks Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - since it was still in the early days of using computer animation and cgi, it was really neat to see in the DVD menu that they animated the rough sketches / models transitioning into a fully-fledged animation.

The 2000s Star Wars DVD menus to this day remains as my favorite.

Another element to DvDs I loved was when they'd have a lot of extras. Like Shrek 2 having a whole bonus animated musical number. To simply having games.

I vividly remember restarting the DVD player for the Star Wars movies multiple times in a row just to get my favorite menu. The prequels had that too.

I remember constantly going through the Over the Hedge DVD menu at my Grandparents house.

I loved the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Daddy Day Care because of the games that they had on those DVD menus. I wish they did that nowadays. You watch the movie then play games on the DVD, now most DVD menus are 'Play Movie', Scene Selection, Language Settings and like one behind the scenes or bloopers and some don't even have bloopers or behind the scenes and just have 'Play movie', Scene Selection and Language Settings. DVDs used to be so good back in the 2000s

The Jurassic Park and Scooby Doo Menu is permanently engraved in my mind

I remember as a kid always playing around in the dvd menu cause there was always some cool extras that although I couldn’t real care for, was still interesting. Now we’re lucky if we get a developer commentary for a movie

Imagine a vr pre-movie interface like dazz said but with horror movies. Unsuspecting people just about to play the movie but if you turn around there's something/someone is behind you.

The menu screens I remember the most is Shrek 2, Over the Hedge, Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, X-Men the Last Stand and The Santa Claus Movie.

I’d love to see this be discussed more. My favorite was the Shrek 2 DVD menu

It isn't really a stand-out amongst the other menus, but when I say I have the Bee Movie menu ingrained in my mind, I am not joking! I used to watch the Bee Movie over and over as a kid, I used to just play around with the menus and the options on it. I will never know why little me used to be so obsessed with the Bee Movie of all movies, but I can't deny the menu was always a fun little game for me

I wish we could just go backwards sometimes, I remember that the extras/bonus features option for the DVD menu of Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed takes you to The Faux Ghost where we can see Scooby dancing.

My DVD menu as a kid was the aladdin one mainlly due to the game in it where you were on the carpet exploring different places

hey dazz been subbed since pikmin 4 rumours first started, glad to see you are still around and doing great in youtubes current climate! keep it up

I remember the dvd menu for the Star Wars movies varied across devices. Like Revenge of the Sith could be Coruscant of one TV, Mustafar on another, and Utapau on my Dad’s Laptop. Yes I did mess around with these menus a lot as a kid because I wanted to see all the variations.

One DVD menu that stands out to me is the one from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie for a couple of reasons. One, the entire structure is based on the Guide's interface as seen throughout the movie. Two, there was an Infinite Probability Drive button that when pressed, would randomly play something on the disc. Namely, a bonus feature that was not visible anywhere else on the disc, the cartoon Deep Thought was watching towards the end of the movie. The cartoon is nothing special, but the fact that the only way to see this bonus feature is to try your luck with the Improbability Drive is very entertaining to me. to the point where I often try to get the cartoon to play whenever I watch the movie.

I'll forever remember those mini-games from the Barbie Mermaid Fairytopia DVD Extra menu. That was the best thing ever.

I distinctly remember laying in my bed when i was like 10 or so just watching the play screen for Toy Story I believe 3 where you just have the toys doing there things walking past some holding Lego towers others just running past with this music playing that is engraved in my head and i would just watch it for hours cuz i was too lazy to find the remote as a kid I didn’t really do that but i did for that one so it sticks out

The Transformers and Iron Man movie DVD menu's went so hard

The Hot Fuzz section playing with Smash Ultimate's battlefield theme was not something I was expecting

you hit the nail on the head with this vid. It made the movies live beyond those 2 hours in my head

One thing to note about the DVD Menu is it brought with it the Set-Top DVD Games and, while most were made for the younger audience, there are a few adult-only ones out there. For instance, the entirety of the Special Features disc for Saw II is one big Set-Top DVD Game based entirely around the trap house

I absolutely LOVED when DVDs had special menus. Maybe you could do a video about certain DVDs special features. I remember spending hours in some of them. Ones I remember specifically are Lady amd the tramp having a full virtual board game. Peter pan 2 having a treasure hunt game. And of course, Shrek 2 far away idol game.

I specifically remember the Shrek 2 one as that was the one my nieces and nephews absolutely loved and wanted to watch it all the time.

Harry Potter Disc 2s used to have some of the best DVD menus and interactions back in the earliest films.

I was just talking about this the other day. My Collection of 1907 animated shorts is JUST a menu tab that says "Play File 1" Compare that to my Charily Chaplin DVD that at least has a still frame of the movie poster and a menu that says "Play, Scene selection , Bous" When the technology was new these movies were full of animated interactive stuff. Ever since Blu-Ray this feature has stopped I could easily rant at this point... but the short of it, Blu-Ray is a Gyp.

Damn I remember the little games they used to have in them Like in shark tale they had a mini game in which you had to dress up Lenny

I had the Muppet Show on DVDs as a kid, and the main menus would have usually two muppets onscreen introducing everything on the menu and just having general banter with each other, and if you waited too long, they’d be like “hey, you can click the play button anytime now!”

The absolute kings of disc menu easter eggs were the VeggieTales DVDs. I remember that every disc had multiple menu screens--and each one had something hidden to discover! In the case of An Easter Carol, the hidden icons were literal Easter Eggs--a nice touch! The most thoughtful, luxurious, and "extra" DVD menu I've ever seen was for Nickelodeon's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" feature film. Each menu screen blended perfectly into the next one with a unique art style, clever animations, and iconic soundtrack borrowed from the end credits and thus hinting at the events of the film, without giving too much away. I was unbelievably disappointed to discover that the menu was completely destroyed and decimated on the Blu-ray disc version of the same film. To this day, "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is the only film for which I will put in the DVD, look at all of the menu options, then eject the DVD, insert the Blu-ray, and watch the film. 😊

I had Shrek & Shrek 2 on VHS. Wall-E's menu screens are as imprinted in my memory as Shrek 2 is for you.

Some of my favorite DVD menus are from the Jim Carrey version of the Grinch movie, Disney's The Haunted Mansion, Shrek, the Back to the Future Trilogy, X-Men the Last Stand, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Cat in the Hat, and any of the Muppet movies, mainly Muppet Christmas Carol.

This is one of these things you only really cherish when it starts decline and you look back at it with nostalgia. Back then as kids we didn't really expect this to change, you thought these DVD menus would stay forever. I remember a lot of those shown here, this is some peak late 2000s childhood nostalgia. Another one I remember having a nice menu was the Brother Bear DVD, it had a lot of special features and some quiz minigames as well. Honestly I would wish for a comeback of these menus on steaming services. Atleast special features could be added on steaming services as well, along with little animations for them and maybe for the language selections.