Thanks for the feedback.
After messing with it some more, you can do one of two things, until the issue is resolved:
1) you can literally UNSELECT the "Disable Intro" option under the "Extras" section of the Skin Settings. I know this sounds backwards, but this will kill both the splash screen and the intro video, and you'll go straight to the main menu. This is the option I'm now using. If you're frozen up, log in and edit SkinSettings.xml and flip the selected state of that option.
2) you can edit Startup.xml surgically and comment out the video startup condition.
I can't find anything in the logs but I'm only just getting started with it so maybe I'll see something.
Cheers.
** EDIT **
Ok I lied. The state of the "disable intro" toggle in settings appears to be somewhat inconsistent. You CANNOT ALWAYS rely on the SkinSettings.xml to get you unfrozen, if you flip things there. So, if you get frozen, you comment out the correct line in the Startup.xml file and reboot. This then lets you proceed the next time. You may have to click to see the main menu after a black screen, but it works. Once I got back into my main menu, I can flip the state of Disable Intro (regardless of what it was set to). Upon reboot, Kodi starts up ok. At this point, I can uncomment out the Startup.xml video and it won't play any more. It's almost as if something is cached there with respect to the state of that option AND the video, if it plays, causes a hang.
This sounds totally confusing I'm sure, but that is what is happening.