MGM did another good job as they did with the Blue Velvet disc. But it's not a spectacular 5.1 mix either. Yet, this isn't an awful mix, and it does have some nice effects, such as the opening title words themselves. In addition, the dialog is pretty muffled at times. But I would have made a few different choices, such as moving the background music in the Cape Fear sequences to the rear channels, especially when they go into the restroom while the orchestra plays in the other room. Not that I'm saying sound should be bouncing around the room like your typical action film mix. There's very little to no action in the rear speakers for most of the film. I found myself getting up half way through the film to double check that my rear speakers were still connected. Though this one is almost a bit too subtile for my tastes. As with most of Lynch's films, the 5.1 mix is very subtile. Honestly, there's really not much difference between the two WAH mixes. Purists will be happy to see the inclusion of the latter, though there's nothing in the new 5.1 mix that will probably prove to be as controversial as the Fire Walk With Me mix did.

The disc sports a brand new 5.1 dolby digital transfer, as well as the original dolby surround mix. Major kudos go to MGM for caring enough to pay for all the work that went into the new transfer, especially considering Wild At Heart isn't likely to be breaking any dvd sales records. Minor nitpicks aside, it's a really beautiful transfer.

The film itself is in pretty good condition, though there are some scratches visible every now and then. Thankfully gone are the horrible halos that plagued the r2 disc.

There's unfortunately still some edge enhancement in the image, but it's nowhere near as bad as the r2 disc was. The bitrate on the film itself is a bit low at times, and it might have been better to make this a two disc set to allow maximum rates for the film itself.

This is the first video version of the film I've ever seen where the last shot of Sailor and Lula and the next shot with them where the credits start actually match in color. The darker scenes now hold up much better and don't disappear into murkiness as previous video versions did.

David lynchs wild at heart poster