Animation on Blu-Ray

Wednesday Wishlist – Batman Mask of the Phantasm

Tommy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:34:07 +0000

Welcome back to another edition of Wednesday Wishlist, where I waste time blogging about animated movies that aren’t currently available on Blu-ray, but should be. Today’s title may be the best movie version of a TV show ever made: Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm.

As much of a fan of the Batman animated TV show I was growing up, I missed out on seeing Phantasm on the big screen. I finally caught up with it on VHS, and I’ve been a big fan ever since. Out of every Batman film made, I would say it’s my third favorite, beating out all the Tim Burton movies.

I think Warner Bros. knows that they have a loyal fanbase of young adults who grew up with this show (Superman/Batman – Public Enemies is a good example), so maybe someday in the next few years we’ll get to see this on Blu-ray.

Ponyo Review

Tommy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:09:53 +0000

I am a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, and last summer while on vacation I got to see him speak at the Center for Japanese Studies at UC Berkeley, and attend a sneak peak of Ponyo. Ever since then, I’ve been dying to have it on Blu-ray. Thankfully, it doesn’t dissapoint. It is honestly one of the most visually amazing Blu-rays I’ve ever seen.

The Movie

Ponyo isn’t your typical Miyazaki film (if there is such a thing). It has a simple, child-like feeling to it, and feels more like a fairy tale than any of his previous movies have. The backgrounds look as if they’ve been done in colored pencils and the screen bursts with primary colors.

Ponyo is a goldfish who wants to be human, especially after falling in love with a five-year old boy named Sosuke. She is the daughter of a powerful wizard and a sea goddess, and her interest in humans creates a dangerous storm that threatens the village where Sosuke’s family lives. His mother has to venture out to help some stranded seniors at the care center she works at, leaving Ponyo and Sosuke to save the day while Ponyo’s father tries to get her back.

Oh, and there are lots of jokes about ham.

Ponyo may seem geared towards a younger crowd than Princess Mononoke or Nausicaä, but it is a great film and I highly recommend it.

Presentation

Ponyo looks fantastic on Blu-ray. The beautiful backgrounds and animation look great in high definition. The audio sounds great too, but like I’ve mentioned before, I don’t have the best sound setup yet.

Special Features

I really wasn’t expecting much in terms of special features on this Blu-ray, but they included quite a bit! When you navigate to the special features section of the menu, you’re given two choices, but they lead to many featturettes and behind the scenes clips. Disney put some love into this release, and recorded nice HD interviews with Miyazaki.

There is even a section about his other films containing interviews. That really made me wonder why Disney didn’t go ahead and release his other great films on Blu-ray instead of coming out with new DVDs. Hopefully, that will mean better transfers when they finally do arrive.

There are features on everything from the characters, to the voice acting, music, and story. I would have bought Ponyo on Blu-ray if it only contained the film, so all the bonus features was a pleasant surprise.

The Verdict

I’m glad Ponyo got a Blu-ray release as good as the film, and that is about as high of a recommendation I could possibly make. If you liked the film, pick it up, and if you missed it in theaters, you won’t be disappointed.

Ponyo (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Price: $24.99

26 used & new available from $17.87

Animated Blu-ray Releases for March 2nd

Tommy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:26:33 +0000

Today we’ve got three more titles added to the animated Blu-ray database. First up is Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film Ponyo, which I just reviewed today. It’s a great family film that got a surprisingly awesome Blu-ray release, and I hope it means we’ll see Miyazaki’s other films in HD sometime soon.

Also out today – two new releases from Bandai.

We didn’t get any review copies of these, so let us know your thoughts in the comments if you’ve been able to check them out!

In the next few weeks we’ll have reviews of Planet 51 and The Princess and the Frog. March is going to be a busy month. If you’re wondering why I keep saying we, I’d like to welcome John to the Animation on Blu-ray team. He’ll be tackling Anime reviews for the site. Welcome John!

Justice League Crisis on Two Earths Review

Tommy — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:34:04 +0000

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is the latest direct-to-video DC Universe film from Warner Premiere, featuring both alternate universes as well as an alternate voice cast than what you might expect from these familiar characters. In short, it was surprisingly good, second only to Superman/Batman: Public Enemies in my list of favorite DCU animated films.

When I say an alternate cast, I am referring to the voices I grew up with on TV, and the voices that were reunited for Public Enemies; Tim Daily, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamil, and Clancy Brown.

When I heard the lineup for Crisis, I was less than enthused, but the film is good enough that the alternate voice cast didn’t bother me at all, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I was going to.

The Movie

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is based on the idea of parallel Earths, and involves an alternate Lex Luthor (who’s like Superman in his Earth) coming to ask the Justice League for help defending his world from the evil Crime Syndicate.

Lex’s universe contains evil versions of all the Justice League heroes, and their organization is much like the mafia, organized by families. Owlman, voiced by James Woods, is constructing a device that will let him travel between (and enslave) all of the parallel Earths, and it’s up to the League to stop him.

Like I said, this film was a lot more enjoyable than I was anticipating. I thought it was put together better than Superman: Doomsday and Green Lanter: First Flight. I still haven’t seen Wonder Woman, so I can’t compare those.

The Presentation

In the days of VHS and DVD, I wouldn’t have ever gotten too excited about direct-to-video 2D animated movies, but with Blu-ray, I look forward to seeing the animation and art in glorious high definition. Since we’re not lucky enough to get very many 2D movies in theaters anymore, it’s a treat to watch these films in HD at home.

The video quality is great, but the audio is Dolby 5.1. I’ll be the first to tell you that I am not an audio guru, and sadly only have the speakers that are built into my Panasonic plasma, but I know enough about it to know that a lot of die-hard Blu-ray fans expect more than 5.1 these days. That said, the audio is fine for me, but I’m sure as soon as I upgrade my setup, it will seem disappointing compared to some of the TrueHD releases.

The Bonus Features

One thing you can always count on with these DCU animated films is a heap of bonus material. Crisis on Two Earths is no different, and it includes:

DCU: The New World
First Look: Batman Under the Red Hood
4 Bonus Episodes of Justice League

Also, a pleasant surprise is the inclusion of a DC Showcase new short film, The Spectre. It is a fun, 70s-syled short introducing the character, and is a nice addition to the Blu-ray.

The Verdict

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is a definitely a step in the right direction, and combined with Public Enemies, shows that DC and Warner Premiere can make a good direct-to-Blu-ray movie. I look forward to the next entries in the series.

You can pick up Crisis on Two Earths at Amazon today.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths [Blu-ray]
Price: $19.99

26 used & new available from $14.98

Disclaimer: This review was based on a free review copy. Read my blog disclosure statement for more.

Halo Legends Review

Tommy — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:55:09 +0000

Halo Legends is a new episodic collection of animated films taking place in the Halo Universe. Even though I’m way more of a Halo fan than an Anime fan, I was still excited to hear about this release, and especially looked forward to the Blu-ray. Halo is a game franchise with a deep mythology, and these seven animated films expand the universe and make that mythology even deeper.

The Episodes

Any of the problems I had with Halo Legends can probably be tied to my lack of experience with Anime. I enjoy Hayao Miyazaki films, but other than that I am not much of an Anime fan (That’s why I’m bringing on an Anime specialist to the site soon). That said, the variety of stories and styles within the seven films was very cool. I expected the whole Blu-ray to be about Master Chief, but that definitely not the case.

Each episode has it’s own style, some are strictly 2D, some mix 2D and CGI. The seven episodes include:

Origins
The Duel
Homecoming
Odd One Out
Prototype
The Babysitter
The Package

Special Features

On the Halo Legends Blu-ray, each episode comes with it’s own making-of featurette, but there are also two 25 minute featurettes about the Halo Universe.

Halo: Gaming Evolved takes you behind the scenes of the entire Halo phenomenon, and Halo: The Story so Far explains the story-line of the Halo Universe. As much as I thought I was a Halo fan, it filled in a lot of information that I didn’t know and was pretty interesting.

And if you’re a gamer, you’ll enjoy the trailer for the upcoming Halo Reach game.

The Verdict

I wouldn’t watch every episode of Halo Legends again, but the ones I liked are definitely worth owning, as well as the bonus features. While I’d love to see a longer series focusing on campaigns from the Halo wars (kind of like Roughnecks).

I would recommend Halo Legends on Blu-ray if you’re a big fan of the universe like I am, but if you’re not, it probably won’t be your cup of tea.

Wednesday Wishlist – The Secret of NIMH and Cats Don’t Dance

Tommy — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:01:33 +0000

Well, it’s time for the second installment of Wednesday Wishlist, where I discuss titles that need to be released on Blu-ray ASAP.

The Secret of NIMH

I’ve always considered The Secret of NIMH to be one of the greatest non-Disney animated films of all time, right up there with The Iron Giant and Princess Mononoke. The story is simple, but there is a sense of danger that Disney films always feel like they’re missing.

The Don Bluth film was recently rumored to be coming out on Blu-ray, but I think that was the will of the director, and not the studio. Hopefully Fox will release it soon enough, once there is a larger market for animation on Blu-ray.

Cats Don’t Dance

Cats Don’t Dance is a film I had never seen until a week or so ago. I’m slowly but surely making my way through Jerry Beck’s list of full-length animated features (the films I haven’t seen), and Cats Don’t Dance is a film that I totally missed when it came out. I was surprised that it was actually pretty funny, including a lot of satire about Hollywood. I can see how the time period of the movie didn’t resonate with kids in the 90s, but it’s still a fun film with a great visual style. I watched it in full screen, but would love to see it in HD on Blu-ray.

That’s this week’s Wednesday Wishlist, stay tuned for more, and don’t forget to leave a comment with the titles you can’t wait to be released.

Animated Blu-ray Releases for Feb. 9th

Tommy — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:23:01 +0000

Release Details for Dante’s Inferno

There’s only one animated Blu-ray release today, and that’s Dante’s Inferno. It’s the animated film that’s being released in preparation for the anticipated video game, and I haven’t had a chance to see it yet so I can’t comment on the quality.

Next week we’ll get another video game related Blu-ray with Halo Legends, and I’m pretty excited for that, being a Halo fan.

Are any of you planning on buying Dante’s Inferno?

New Disney Blu-ray Schedule: Dumbo and The Lion King in 2011

Tommy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:38:41 +0000

Ultimate Disney is reporting that Disney has restructured their upcoming Blu-ray release schedule, including pushing back Dumbo to 2011 for it’s 70th Anniversary. The report mentions the following titles and dates:

Beauty and the Beast: October 2010
Fantasia and Fantasia 2000: December 2010
Dumbo: February 2011
The Lion King: October 2011

I’m sure The Lion King would sell like hotcakes on Blu-ray, and I hope that would encourage them to release Aladdin the following spring.

I expected Dumbo was being pushed back since there was still no sign of it on Amazon, but now there seems to be a gap in Disney’s two-a-year Blu-ray release schedule of their classic films. I guess with the Toy Story films, The Princess and the Frog, and Ponyo, they have enough releases to last them a while.

Via Ultimate Disney

Wednesday Wishlist – Flushed Away and The Iron Giant

Tommy — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:57:12 +0000

Welcome to the first of many Wednesday Wishlists, a series where I write about titles that aren’t available on Blu-ray yet, but definitely should be. I’m going to try to avoid the obvious choices for a while, and I look forward to the comments section hosting a healthy conversation about what titles you are looking forward to.

The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant is one of my favorite films. Even with The Incredibles and Ratatouille under his belt, I really think it’s Brad Bird’s masterpiece. A lot of you probably know the story of The Iron Giant’s troubled release as far as promotion, so I don’t know how much to hold my breath for a Blu-ray any time soon.

It has a huge cult following though, and with Brad Bird’s name having a lot more recognition these days, I hope Warner Bros. sees the value in releasing this title in high definition for the first time. The Iron Giant is definitely the animated film I want on Blu-ray the most.

Flushed Away

I’m not the biggest Dreamworks Animation fan. Besides Kung Fu Panda, any film of theirs that I enjoyed was due to the involvement of non-Dreamworks people. Bee Movie was very much a product of Jerry Seinfeld, and Flushed Away was in partnership with Aardman.

I’ve been an Aardman fan ever since I was young and saw the Wallace and Gromit shorts for the first time. Their sense of humor is a perfect fit with mine, and even though I was leery about Flushed Away being CG instead of stop motion, I still love it. I could easily make this into a wishlist for the whole Aardman/Dreamworks library, but I think Flushed Away would be a good start.

Animated Blu-ray Releases for Feb. 2nd

Tommy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:53:51 +0000

Hellboy Animated Release Details

There are two animated Blu-ray releases today, and unfortunately I haven’t picked up either yet. This is probably because March is going to break the bank with releases like The Princess and the Frog, Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 2, and Ponyo.

I’m a big fan of Guillermo del Toro, but I’ve never seen these two animated Hellboy features. They sound promising, especially with the actual cast from the films supplying the voices.

Planet Hulk Release Details

The other release today is Planet Hulk, the latest in the direct-to-video mini-features from Marvel. Hulk Vs. was pretty cool, so I look forward to checking this one out.

Have you seen either of these yet? Would you recommend picking them up on Blu-ray?