Liquid crystal display having improved wavelength dispersion characteristics

A multilayer optical retardation compensation film for use in a vertically aligned liquid crystal display (VA-LCD) device comprising:

• (a) at least one first layer of optically anisotropic film having positive out-of-plane birefringence that satisfies the relation nz>(nx+ny)/2 (positive C-plate);
• and
• (b) at least one second layer of optically anisotropic film having negative out-of-plane birefringence that satisfies the relation nz<(nx+ny)/2 (negative C-plate),
• wherein nx and ny represent in-plane refractive indices, and nz represents the thickness-direction refractive index of the film,
• and wherein the wavelength dispersion curve of the multilayer optical film has a negative retardation and a retardance ratio, Rλ/R550, between 0.90 and 1.15 at each wavelength λ throughout the wavelength range of 400 nm<λ<800 nm, wherein Rλ and R550 are the retardances in the thickness direction of the LCD at the wavelengths λ and 550 nm, respectively.