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November and December are peak times for studios to release DVDs as they try to target holiday shoppers. The season kicked off in style with the release of the most recent Pixar film, Up, and Monsters, Inc. making its debut on Blu-ray.
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DVD Features
- DVD Release Date: November 10, 2009
- Original Theatrical Release: May 29, 2009
- 1.78:1
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Blu-Ray: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- French and Spanish Language Tracks
- Subtitles: Closed Captioned, English Descriptive Video Service
- Suggested Retail Price: $29.99 / $45.99 Blu-Ray
The Movie
Ten feature films later, Pixar continues to amaze audiences with their depth of storytelling. Up continues that tradition. If you didn't catch it in theaters earlier this year, you missed something extraordinary. MousePlanet's Alex Stroup did a great review of the movie when it was first released. While, in my opinion, it it isn't Pixar's finest movie, it is a worthy member of the pantheon.
Since Pixar films are rendered directly from the computer, Blu-ray transfers are effectively flawless. The audio and visual quality are amazing.
Image Copyright Disney-Pixar
The Goodies
Disk One
Cine-Explore Audio Commentary
The Cine-Explore commentary isn't your typical commentary. Directors Pete Doctor and Bob Peterson talk about the film, but they also overlay a lot of images over the movie. They range from concept sketches, source material, video clips from the film's development and close-ups of details in the film's background. It is an informative commentary - one of the better commentaries I've listened to.
Partly Cloudy: Theatrical Short
Continuing the Pixar tradition, theatrical showings of UP were preceded by a Pixar short, Partly Cloudy. I've often suspected that the Pixar shorts are done in order to test new techniques for the longer feature films. If that's true, then it is obvious what Partly Cloudy was testing - clouds and lighting. This fun short explores where storks get the babies they deliver - and the trials of Peck, a stork who has to deliver 'dangerous' babies.
Dug's Special Mission: All New Original Short Story
The advertising for the DVD/Blu-Ray release of Up has heavily touted the new short: Dug's Special Mission. Watching it, I kept wondering where the story was going. It felt very disjointed and unfocused. But the last 30 seconds pays off and suddenly everything makes sense.
Adventure is Out There Documentary
Copyright Disney-Pixar
In the film, the landscape of Paradise Falls looks like a fantastic other-world. Surprisingly, the land and terrain is based on reality, the tepuis mountains in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. This short follows the film's creative team as they visit this forbidden world. Kids may quickly get bored, but I was entranced, watching them explore and share what they experienced.
Alternate Scene: The Many Endings of Muntz
Killing off a villain isn't an easy task for a filmmaker. This brief short outlines the different ways they considered for doing away with Muntz. More thought than you might think goes into the process.
Disk Two
Documentaries
The bulk of Disk Two is made up of the documentaries. Seven separate clips discuss the development of the characters, how they flew the house and the dirigible. Probably the best clip is Russell: Wilderness Explorer. In it you meet Story Artist Peter Sohn who was largely responsible for the development of Russell - all he had to do was look in the mirror. The documentaries are interesting, but don't have a lot of repeat value.
Alternate Scene: Married Life
Probably the most beautiful, and painful, part of the movie is the Married Life scenes, which follow Carl and Ellie from when they first meet through their married life. There was an alternate version that wasn't used, and Pete Docter shares it in this clip along with the reasons why they chose the final version instead.
Up Promo Montage
This collection of about a dozen 5 to 30 second clips that showcase the Up characters in a wide variety of circumstances. The DVD never makes clear where these were used from a promo perspective, but they are great fun to watch.
Global Guardian Badge Game
This game allows you to match state and country names with their locations on a map. While good for school-aged kids, I didn't find it all that enjoyable.
Worldwide Trailers
The most basic goodie on any DVD collection is the theatrical trailer. The Up DVD includes two different trailers that were used. Strangely, they are labeled as Worldwide trailers. The naming seems a bit odd, since there is nothing specifically international about the trailers.
The Final Evaluation
Adding this DVD to your collection is a no-brainer. Even if you don't have a Blu-ray player, I really recommend buying the Blu-ray edition. You get both the Blu-ray disks, and the same Disk 1 as the regular DVD release. This allows you to watch the movie on your existing DVD player and when you eventually replace it with a Blu-ray player, you will be able to enjoy the full version.
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DVD Features
- DVD Release Date: November 10, 2009
- Original Theatrical Release: November 2, 2001
- 1.85:1
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Blu-Ray: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- French and Spanish Language Tracks
- Subtitles: Closed Captioned, English Descriptive Video Service, French, Spanish
- Suggested Retail Price: $40.99 Blu-Ray
The Movie
The fourth film released by Pixar, Monsters, Inc. explores the monster world, where human children's screams are their primary source of power. The story is heart warming, while the animation is stunning, even today. The high definition quality transfer of the film shows off the animation beautifully, from Sulley's fur, to the doors flying through the warehouse the films details come to life.
Image Copyright Disney-Pixar
The Goodies
Disk One
Film Maker's Roundtable
In addition to the obligatory audio commentary, they pulled four of the original creative team (Darla Anderson, Producer, Peter Doctor, Director, Bob Unkrich, Co-director, Bob Peterson, Story Supervisor) together to talk about the making of the film and their memories of the process. It is a nice alternative to the traditional commentary because it feels more stream of consciousness. You can easily see yourself sitting around the table sharing a cup of coffee with them. It is well worth the 20 minutes to watch it.
For the Birds and Mike's New Car: Theatrical Shorts
The For the Birds short preceded the theatrical showing of Monster's, Inc. and won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short. I will never tire of watching the small blue feathers slowly floating towards the ground. This short was created specifically for the original DVD release of Monster's Inc.
Monsters Inc. Ride and Go See: Building Monsteropolis in Japan
Copyright Disney-Pixar
It sometimes seems like Tokyo Disneyland gets the best rides and attractions. This feature presentation doesn't help to dispel that belief, as it showcases the new Monsters, Inc. attraction in Tokyo. The premise of the ride is that Mike and Sulley have invited Boo to return to Monsteropolis to play flashlight tag. As a guest, you get to join in and play along with Boo. If you haven't seen much of Tokyo Disneyland before, this feature will be an extra treat.
Disk Two
Roz's 100-Door Challenge Game
A Blu-ray exclusive game, you get to take Roz's employee placement exam to determine your ideal job at Monster's Inc. It is a complex game of trivia, puzzles and challenges. It definitely has repeat value, and is one of the better Blu-ray games I've encountered to date.
Other Goodies
The rest of the bonus material was contained in the original 2-disk DVD release. They include features like deleted scenes (called banished concepts), promotional clips, story and image archives, and more. Most of the artwork has been re-digitized for this HD release, and you can better see the artists work.
The Final Evaluation
If you have the DVD already, and don't have a Blu-ray player, don't bother with the upgrade yet. Unlike new releases (such as Up) that include both the Blu-ray and the DVD disks, for movies you already own, it isn't worth the money. But, if you have a Blu-ray player, by all means, upgrade your collection. Few movies will ever show in HD the way Pixar films do, because of the direct digital transfer capabilities. Monsters, Inc. will be a showcase film for me when showing people just what 1080p means.
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