A selection of movies on Blu-ray for November 2009.

Up (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)

Overall enjoyment: 4.0
Picture quality: 4.5
Sound quality: 4.5
Extras: 4.0

If you watch any of the extras that come with this edition of Up, you’ll know why Pixar has such an unparalleled success rate at producing feature-length animated films. The people involved are caring, happy folks who love what they do for a living. There’s also no small measure of genius among staff members, and there’s a willingness to hone a good idea to perfection. And good ideas seem to come as naturally to Pixar artists as breathing comes to most of us.

This year’s Pixar hit was Up, a movie whose hero is a senior citizen. Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner) is a crotchety old man who is left alone when his wife, Ellie, dies. They had a long and wonderful life together, as we’re shown in a delightful and lengthy opening sequence, and Carl is now bitter that she’s no longer there. The couple had a dream of going to South America to follow in the footsteps of famed explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), so when Carl loses his temper at a construction worker and is ordered to go to a rest home, he pulls up stakes, literally, by attaching over 10,000 helium balloons to his house and flying away. Unknown to Carl, Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai), a zealous and lonely Boy Scout, has hitched a ride. The two land in South America, where they find Muntz, who has become a villain, and meet Dug (voiced by co-director Bob Peterson), an amiable dog who can talk, thanks to a collar invented by Muntz. My description might make the film sound a little too serious; it really is a comedy and there are some huge laughs in it, especially in the second half.

As in all great animated films, especially those from Disney and Pixar, masterful storytelling is at the heart of each movie, and that’s certainly the case here. The audience quickly comes to love the characters and gets swept up in their story. There are good messages about friendship, growing older, and the nature of success, and these themes evolve with the story without ever becoming preachy and sanctimonious.

All of Pixar’s transfers to Blu-ray have been exemplary, and Up is no exception. They do, however, have a built-in edge, since their images can be transferred to the digital realm without degradation. The detail in Up is so perfect that it allows the viewer to experience every small facial tic of the characters, even the dirt on Russell’s face and Carl’s white stubble at the end of the film. Most of the shots have great depth, and the colors are rich. The balloons that lift Carl’s house are a marvel of color and depth. The balloons appear transparent, and one of the extras on disc 2 explains that new balloons are transparent, but when they age they become opaque. The Pixar artists understand this difference, and the Blu-ray transfer shows it well.

Speaking of transparent, the audio is just that. There are loud parts in this movie, but overall the sound design is quieter and very subtle. The placement of sound within a 360-degree soundfield is precise, and the music has wonderful presence without any angst or unwanted distortion in the louder parts. Dialogue is easily understood, even in fast-moving action scenes, and the DTS-HD Master Audio is demonstration caliber.

The extras are interesting and include lots of small production featurettes about various aspects of character development and storytelling, but they feel a little light by Pixar and Disney standards. The best one is the short animated feature called "Partly Cloudy," which shows us how storks get the babies they deliver from clouds. One cloud, however, has problems, and every baby animal it creates, including a porcupine and an alligator, has the ability to injure its stork. But the stork comes up with an ingenious solution. The personification of storks and clouds and baby animals is nothing short of miraculous. You’ll want to see this extra more than once, so it’s good news that it’s as meticulously transferred as the feature film. The picture-in-picture feature with co-directors Bob Peterson and Pete Docter is also enthusiastic and informative.

Up is available in this four-disc edition (two Blu-rays plus a digital copy disc and a DVD of the film), a single-disc Blu-ray edition, and a deluxe collector’s edition, which contains a reproduction of the Luxo Jr. desk lamp. (That edition is contingent on Luxo losing a lawsuit against Disney.) There are DVD-only editions as well, but I’d opt for one of the Blu-ray copies. Even if you don’t have a Blu-ray player now, it seems inevitable that there’s one in everyone’s future, and then you’ll be ready with a first-rate Blu-ray for showing off your new player. Rest assured that whatever version you choose, Up is an uplifting and thoroughly enjoyable film.

Contact (Warner Home Video)

Overall enjoyment: 4.0
Picture quality: 4
Sound quality: 4
Extras: 4

One of the most intelligent science-fiction movies about extraterrestrial life, this 1997 film has made the transition to Blu-ray in style. Many critics liked it, but audiences were less enthusiastic, preferring such nonsense as Independence Day. The White House might not get blown to bits in Contact, but it’s anything but a boring movie. Jodie Foster stars as Eleanor Arroway, a radio astronomer who has wished since childhood to talk to extraterrestrial beings. After years of monitoring, she picks up messages from another galaxy that could come only from intelligent life. Along the way, she falls for Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey), a handsome, spiritual young man who ends up on the committee tasked with selecting the person to make physical contact with the alien beings. Joss has faith in a higher power, while Arroway believes only in what science can prove. The intelligent script, written by James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg and based on Carl Sagan’s novel, lays out an exciting adventure while examining the age-old struggle between faith and science.

The DVD release of this movie was relatively unexciting, with a picture that lacked detail and depth. Thankfully, both are restored in this Blu-ray release. Whether the scene is an interior chamber in Washington, D.C., or a vast desert sprouting dozens of huge radio antennas, the picture has satisfying detail that contributes to a sense of depth and space. The star fields in the scenes of space are the best I’ve seen, and the colors seem vibrant and natural. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio has good frequency response and is intelligently plotted, reserving the most frequent use of the surround channels for Foster’s journey into the unknown. There are lots of extras, including three commentary tracks, a music-only track (Dolby Digital 5.1), and a breakdown of four scenes showing how their special effects were executed. You can find this title new or like new for less than $20, which, in my book, is a great bargain.

The Dark Crystal (Sony Home Entertainment)

Overall enjoyment: 3.5
Picture quality: 4
Sound quality: 4
Extras: 3.5

Jim Henson’s dark fantasy was considered an absolute marvel when it appeared in 1982, and its special effects have both dimmed and improved with time. Let me explain. I’m no fan of mind-numbing digital effects (G.I. Joe is the most recent offender), especially those involved in creating characters. Jim Henson used puppets instead of people, but they were filmed as if they were people and the results are very impressive. I felt more comfortable with this movie than with many that are overloaded with digital actors. But the crisp and clean Blu-ray transfer reveals some flaws. The characters mouths don’t always move with the words being spoken, and though the eyes blink, they seem vacant. The characters that have suffered most from the march of time are the two Gelflings, Jen and Kira, the hero and heroine of the story. With their smooth skin and doll-like eyes, they really do look like puppets. Fortunately, the villains and older heroes still look amazingly complex, and the sets are imaginative and fresh. For those who don’t know the film, it’s your basic fantasy good-versus-evil plot. A planet’s different races have collided, and with one race nearly wiped out, Jen and Kira must save the day by replacing a shard in a gigantic dark crystal at a precise alignment of the three suns of the planet or the evil race will take over.

As mentioned, the Blu-ray picture is very detailed and has depth the DVD could only hint at. The sound is mostly up front, but it’s clean and rich (certainly by 1982 standards), with Trevor Jones’s score sounding quite magnificent. The extras explain the making of the film, and there are also some special Blu-ray extras, including a game and an excellent picture-in-picture experience that shows the storyboard and conceptual art along with the finished product.

Drag Me To Hell: Unrated Director’s Cut (Universal)

Overall enjoyment: 4.0
Picture quality: 4.0
Sound quality: 4.0
Extras: 3.0

After directing three big-budget Spider-Man movies, director Sam Raimi went back to his horror-film roots to create this little masterpiece. Alison Lohman plays Christine Brown, a loan officer at a bank who is itching for the vacant position of vice president. She’s in competition with Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee), an office slime who is determined to win the position by using unethical methods. When an old gypsy woman named Sylvia Ganush (Lorna Raver) comes in for a loan extension, Christine denies her, hoping her fortitude will impress the boss. Instead, it prompts a curse from the old woman, who unleashes a demon that will kill her in three days and "drag her to hell." The young woman then suffers attacks from the demon that drives her to desperate means. Raimi knows how to keep the pace up and make a film terribly scary and thrilling, but he also knows when to let up and let the audience catch its breath. He also deploys liberal homage to previous horror films, from the old gypsy character and a séance to a scene in a typical Universal horror graveyard.

This Blu-ray offers both the theatrical cut and a director’s cut. The main difference is in the "here, kitty" scene, which is more explicit (and over-the-top horrible) in the director’s version. If you’re a cat lover, or maybe even if you’re not, opt for the theatrical version. The Blu-ray picture is right on the money most of the time. The shadow detail and delineation are perfect, the blacks are inky, and the flesh tones are natural. The surround sound adds a lot to the terror, with nasty little sounds coming from behind and all around, and it works for Christopher Young’s excellent score as well. There are many violin solos (to further the gypsy effect), and they have good presence. But there aren’t many extras. Instead of a director’s commentary, there’s just a series of featurettes explaining how the special effects were achieved, though many of these show Raimi at work. There’s a digital copy as well as access to BD-Live.

Dinosaurs Alive! (Image Entertainment)

Overall enjoyment: 3.5
Picture quality: 4
Sound quality: 3.5
Extras: 3.5

Dinosaurs fascinate us. It seems that every bookstore I pass is displaying a new book featuring the prehistoric beasts. There are fact-laden volumes, pop-up books, and coloring books for kids. And it’s been that way as long as I can remember. Only when I was a kid, we had to depend on book illustrations or museums to get an idea of what the gigantic creatures looked like. Now we have HD discs like this one that show the critters moving, eating, and fighting in excellent CGI renditions. Dinosaurs Alive! is narrated by Michael Douglas and alternates shots of scientists unearthing fossils with CGI renditions of their finds. The short film is intelligently constructed and offers some interesting information. The hypothesis that many dinosaurs had feathers and are ancestors of our bird families is discussed, and a few dinosaur myths are debunked.

The movie was shot in IMAX, and the Blu-ray picture (presented in 1.78:1) has excellent detail. If the color doesn’t seem as rich as in other titles, it’s because most of the movie was shot in the Gobi desert and the arid sections of New Mexico. The 5.1 soundtrack makes occasional use of the surround channels and has very good upfront imaging, with the soundtrack orchestra spread from left to right and the narration dead center. There are a few extras, including a "Meet the Creatures" section, where you can find out about a particular dinosaur and then click to see it in the film, and there’s also a production featurette in HD that demonstrates the difficulties of filming with the unwieldy IMAX cameras. Brief yet entertaining, this Blu-ray would make a good purchase or rental for family viewing.

Labyrinth (Sony Home Entertainment)

Overall enjoyment: 3
Picture quality: 4
Sound quality: 3.5
Extras: 3

Jim Henson was reportedly unhappy with the lack of commercial success of The Dark Crystal (1982), so when he made this movie four years later, he tried to avoid the darkness and weird characters of the previous film. He cast David Bowie, then at the height of his popularity, in the lead as Jareth, the Goblin King, and he made the puppet characters friendlier than they had been in The Dark Crystal. He also spent a lot of money to make sure they were realistic, in a fantasy sense. The amount of money spent in bringing the story to the big screen was probably the reason that it, too, wasn’t a huge commercial success. But audiences really liked it, and many people have a soft place in their heart for this movie about a teenage girl (Jennifer Connelly) who suffers the tricks and turns of a mighty labyrinth in order to rescue her baby brother from the Goblin King. It’s all a little creaky but still fairly entertaining.

The Blu-ray picture is excellent, with enough detail that you can see some of the puppet strings if you’re on the lookout for them. There’s a welcome amount of grain, and the detail adds depth to many shots, making close-ups as clear as you could wish. The audio is particularly robust for an ’80s film, probably because Bowie was on hand to sing several rock songs. The bass is tight and clean, delving deep enough to set off the subwoofer from time to time. There aren’t many extras, and they vary in quality. The production featurette ported over from the DVD edition is quite good, but the only new extra for Blu-ray, a picture-in-picture deal, is not so hot. The small screen within the screen appears in the same place every time, and there are long stretches where it isn’t active.

Monsters, Inc. (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)

Overall enjoyment: 4
Picture quality: 5
Sound quality: 4
Extras: 4

When Pixar’s Monsters, Inc., first came out in 2001, it had to live up to the Toy Story movies and A Bug’s Life, which preceded it. Critics at the time didn’t give it the high marks of its predecessors, but in viewing this amazing Blu-ray, I can’t help but wonder why, since it has appealing characters, stunning visuals, and miles of heart. It stars John Goodman and Billy Crystal as Sullivan and Mike Wazowski, two of the top talents at Monsters, Inc., a corporation that turns out frights that hide in kids’ closets. Sullivan accidentally lets a child come back through the closet door with him, and Boo, as he calls her, wreaks havoc on the factory. But all of their antics and chases uncover a sinister plot to make more money at the expense of children’s lives. The movie makes good statements about friendship and the consequences of lying and is great family-oriented fun.

The Blu-ray picture is eye popping; at times the image was so sharp in presenting both foreground and background in perfect focus that I thought I was looking at 3D. Sullivan has blue fur with streaks of purple, and its detail is positively amazing. A few of the extras are in HD, and though they’re good, the fur doesn’t have the same texture and presence as in the main title. The colors pop, the contrast is right on, and at this stage of Blu-ray and HD development this picture is as good as any top runner. The sound is excellent too, having been remixed with home theater in mind. The surround tracks are active most of the time, and the placement of music and effects is quite imaginative. Most of the extras from the DVD set have been carried over, including the short animated features "Mike’s New Car" and "For the Birds." New for the Blu-ray are a roundtable retrospective discussion of the film, a sneak peek at Disneyland Tokyo’s new ride, Ride and Go Seek, and a new interactive game. The first two discs contain the movie and extras. Disc 3 is a DVD copy of the movie, and disc four is a digital copy.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Diamond Edition (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)

Overall enjoyment: 5
Picture quality: 5
Sound quality: 4
Extras: 4.5

Shortly before its 1937 release, the trade papers labeled Walt Disney’s first feature-length film a disaster, often calling it "Disney’s folly." But 70 years later, the joke is clearly on them. From its premiere, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was, and has continued to be, praised as a landmark film. Many speculate that without it, MGM would not have gone ahead with The Wizard of Oz and that fantasy films in general wouldn’t be on the same exalted level that they are today. But this beautiful, perfect film is much more than a historical relic, and I urge you to watch it again. In this gorgeous Blu-ray edition, I found the movie just as moving and entertaining as ever -- it’s surely more appealing than 95 percent of today’s junk. And this movie isn’t just for children, as many seem to assume. (Nor were the grisly Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, which so many animated films use for plots.) From the outset, Walt Disney made movies that would appeal to children but also touch the child in each of us without ever insulting our adult sensibilities.

The Blu-ray set is virtually perfect. The picture has been cleaned of any debris, its colors refurbished, and the contrast ideally set. I simply cannot find any fault with it. You can watch the video in the original aspect ratio either with black bars on the side or in Disney View, for which artist Toby Bluth has created complementary art to fill the screen (it’s not bad, but I prefer the original movie by itself). The music was something of a surprise in its 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio presentation. For most of the vocals, the somewhat tinny sound from previous home-video editions of the film is gone. Though there are no startling stereo or surround effects, there’s focused bass and an overall sheen to the musical score that I wouldn’t have believed had I not heard. Disney’s current technicians have created an audio miracle. The extras start on the disc that contains the feature and spill over to an entire second disc. They seem short if you look at them in print, but each category, when searched, begets many subcategories, which will keep you busy for hours. There are complete versions of the early Silly Symphonies "Steamboat Willie," "The Skeleton Dance," and "The Old Mill," which aren’t restored but are in very good condition. There’s also a DVD copy included (with some extras), so you can purchase the set, enjoy it now, and be ready when you purchase a Bu-ray player. There’s no digital copy, however. If this release represents the studio’s attitude toward its new Diamond Edition series, we can eagerly look forward to 2010’s announced releases: Beauty and the Beast, Fantasia, and Fantasia 2000.

The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Warner Home Video)

Overall enjoyment: 4.5
Picture quality: 4.5
Sound quality: 3.5
Extras: 5.0

We’re off to see the Wizard again, this time in Blu-ray with new transfers and even more extras. This timeless classic has been on home video, in one format or another, for a long time. I remember the Criterion laserdisc edition, which at the time was the ultimate copy. That changed when MGM and then Warner Home Video realized they owned the material and could create their own special editions. Each new edition for home video has been a little better than the last, and this one is no exception, as Blu-ray allows more detail than ever before. When Dorothy and her friends go skipping down the Yellow Brick Road, her ruby slippers now sparkle all the way into the distance. Details of characters’ faces are very realistic, and the improved image reveals an extra rivet in the Tin Man’s face and that the Scarecrow’s makeup is an extension of his burlap body. Overall the colors are even richer and often bizarre, as in the scene in Oz with the horse of a different color turning garish shades against contrasting backgrounds. The audio has been refurbished too, and it sounds a lot better than any 70-year-old optical track should. There’s a tiny bit of surround panned in and some stereo up front, but a production featurette explains that the engineers were reluctant to spoil the classic movie by adding anything too modern. The most noticeable improvement is the solid and focused bass line in the musical numbers.

The extras are simply astonishing. All of the extras from the last special edition are there, plus many more. The set comes in a large emerald-green box that probably won’t fit on anyone’s shelf, but inside, the discs themselves (excepting the digital copy) are housed in a standard foldout. There’s only one downside: though the outer case is the same emerald green as the mother box, the innards are silver, and I found it impossible to handle the foldouts without leaving fingerprints all over them. Perhaps white gloves are in order. This set also offers a handsome coffee-table book with exquisite color photos, a promotion book that was sent out to theaters urging them to "exploit" the movie, and a commemorative crystal watch!

. . . Rad Bennett
radb@hometheatersound.com