It’s been awhile since my last proper Blu-ray column (a little longer than I’d like to admit, in fact), but it’s been really busy around here at the Bullz-Eye office, and when it comes to priorities, well, Blu Tuesday ranks pretty low on the list. Still, with the holiday season just around the corner, the studios are beginning to make an early push with plenty of great new Blu-ray titles that simply can’t be ignored any longer.
Many people will tell you that “Up” is one of the best films of the year, but I’m not one of those people. In fact, though I did like Pixar’s latest film about a cantankerous old widower named Harry Caray – er, I mean, Carl – who goes on an adventure through the jungles of South America, it just barely cracks my Top 5 favorite films from the Disney-owned animation studio. Still, there’s plenty to love about the four-disc Blu-ray release, including three copies of the movie, the “Partly Cloudy” short that ran in front of the film, and an all-new short that details what Dug the dog was up to before meeting Carl and Russell. There are also some cool production featurettes on things like character design and the different endings devised for Muntz, as well as an alternate version of the opening montage, but the best of the bunch is a documentary about the Pixar crew’s trip to Venezuela and how it inspired the look and feel of the film.
“Monsters, Inc.” (Walt Disney)
“Monsters, Inc.” was probably the best film that Pixar had put out at the time, and though it might not seem quite as good when compared to more recent films like “Ratatouille” and “WALL*E,” it’s just as charming as you remember it. Even though its story is pretty straightforward (based on the original treatment included on the Blu-ray, it’s amazing they were even able to stretch it into a full-length feature), the movie shows hints of the raw emotion that director Pete Docter would later inject into his sophomore effort, “Up.” Because the original DVD release was already jam-packed with bonus material, however, the new Blu-ray edition is more about owning the film in high definition than the extras that come with it. As you can probably imagine, “Monsters, Inc.” looks incredible in 1080p, and even with the changes in technology, you could still hold it up to any Pixar film released in the last three years. The few new special features that have been included also serve as a nice complement – particularly a filmmakers’ roundtable that looks back at the making of the film and a sneak peek at the “Monsters, Inc.” attraction at Tokyo Disneyland.
