Bee Movie

HD Video Quality

DreamWorks has produced an absolutely first-rate disc. Bee Movie may represent the pinnacle of animation on Blu-ray, easily equaling the likes of Happy Feet and Ratatouille, and arguably surpassing them. Regardless, this is first-rate demonstration material, and for the moment should be the de facto "go to" disc in Blu-ray displays around the country. The audio is solid as well, a bit underwhelming, but the overall presentation is acceptable. This disc is also crammed with high-quality and high-definition supplements, easily enough to keep any Bee Movie fan busy for the better part of the day. Even though Bee Movie will never be a favorite of mine, it's an easy watch, entertaining at times, and fantastic to look at. This disc is a winner from DreamWorks and should earn a spot in your collection. Recommended.

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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe

HD Video Quality

One of Disney's most eagerly-anticipated Blu-ray catalog releases yet, 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' does not disappoint. This is an excellent 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode that can easily stand as a demo disc.

Aside from a few darker moments of slight stylization (which display a decidedly desaturated and blue cast), the majority of 'Narnia' is bright, bold and lush. The sense of depth is simply fantastic -- the "picture window" effect is on full display. The color palette is very pretty, with wonderful pastoral greens and oranges (a rarity, it seems, with most transfers today, which look all hi-tech and "edgy"). Saturation is excellent, with a super-clean look and no chroma noise or fuzziness.

Blacks are rock solid throughout, and contrast is strong enough to deliver the required detail while never sacrificing realism. Even the widest shots are alive with detail and sharpness, and the source print is spotless. Disney has also produced a clean encode, so compression artifacts are not a problem. 'Narnia' looks smashing.

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Ratatouille

HD Video Quality

In my recent Blu-ray review of 'Cars,' I raved about that disc's five-star video quality. It's a tough act to follow, but somehow 'Ratatouille' looks even better. Pixar and Disney present the film in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video at its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1, and every single pixel is, well, perfect. This is simply the best high-def presentation I've ever seen of an animated feature.

A direct digital-to-digital conversion, the transfer is as delicious as the greatest French feast you've ever had. The film's color palette is just gorgeous, with delicate shades of pinks, blues and greens contrasting wonderfully with deeper crimsons and purples. The finely-tuned shadings and gradients are so smoothly rendered that the image leaps off the screen. This is gloriously three-dimensional animation, and the sense of depth and texture to the image is exactly what high-def is all about. All other elements of the presentation are superb as well -- blacks, contrast and sharpness are spot-on. Likewise, the encode looks perfect, with no pixelization, macroblocking or banding/posteriztion.

Simply put, the picture quality of this Blu-ray edition of 'Ratatouille' absolutely flawless...

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The Simpsons Movie

HD Video Quality

I have to admit walking into this one with relatively low expectations. Visually speaking, "The Simpsons" is certainly a step up from "South Park," but let's face it -- the TV show is a far cry from Pixar. However, the creative team behind the 'The Simpsons Movie' clearly put a lot of effort into upgrading the show's visuals for the big screen, and the results are often downright eye-popping. Likewise, this Blu-ray presentation looks way better than I expected it to.

Fox presents 'The Simpsons Movie' in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video. The most striking aspect of the presentation is certainly the colors. Hues are wonderfully vivid and smooth, with bold uses of primaries and subtle shadings and gradients that far exceed anything seen on the TV series. As you would expect, the source is immaculate, with not a whiff of grain or any other imperfections. Blacks are rock solid, with contrast expertly modulated across the entire grayscale. This image really pops with depth and detail, and it's sharp as a tack. I was continually surprised at how three-dimensional it all looks -- even "dark" scenes have a richness of texture that's faultless. Finally, despite the bold animation style, I noticed no posterization or macroblocking.

I'm going to go out on a limb and award 'The Simpsons Movie' a five out of five stars for video. Not because I think this one replaces 'Ratatouille' as the greatest animated movie yet to hit high-def, but simply because I can't find a single thing wrong with this transfer. It appears to be a perfect representation of the source material, and you just can't get any better than that. So don't have a cow, okay man?

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The 6th Day

HD Video Quality

Sony presents 'The 6th Day' in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video (2.40:1), and this nearly eight-year-old film looks surprisingly sprightly. This is certainly one of the better upgrades I've seen for a recent but not factory-fresh catalog release, with a clear improvement over the standard DVD that's sure to please.

The source is in absolutely pristine shape -- it's as good as any new release I've seen. Blacks are dead-on, and contrast is excellent as well -- the image has great pop but is not over-tweaked. Colors are rich, clean and eye-popping, with nice uses of bright reds and blues, and a slightly paler use of accents like deep purple and green. It's all represented with great stability and, aside from some intended stylization, accurate fleshtones.

Detail is ample and holds its own, even with a new release. The transfer is almost always three-dimensional with great pop, for that "picture window" effect of the best high-def. This is also a slick encode with no major compression artifacts. My only minor nitpick is that the sharpness has been ratcheted up a notch, to the point that it borders on the artificial -- I was not bothered by ringing, but a more natural appearance would have been welcome. No matter -- 'The 6th Day' looks great.

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Across the Universe

HD Video Quality

A film like 'Across the Universe' demands to be seen in high-def. Regardless of its flaws, it's a singular visual achievement, and this Blu-ray is pure eye candy. Sony offers a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer that met my expectations, which is no small compliment, as I had set them pretty high for this one.

There is virtually nothing to complain about here. The source is pristine, as you would expect from a new release, with slight grain keeping the image film-like yet still slick. Colors are vibrant and lush, though at appropriate moments (largely the dour "real world" early scenes) they are kept more natural and subdued. The hues are rendered with precision throughout, with no chroma noise and great clarity and consistency. In terms of detail and apparent depth, this ranks among the best Blu-ray transfers I've seen, with moments of eye-popping three-dimensionality that easily rate as demo material. This is also a clean encode, with no obvious artifacts such as banding or macroblocking.

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The Game Plan

HD Video Quality

Disney brings 'The Game Plan' to Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer, framed at 2.40:1 widescreen, that proves to be quite wonderful, and is actually one of the studio's finer efforts.

Typical of a new release, the source is flawless, a great print that's free of blemishes. Blacks are excellent, and contrast is nicely modulated, with little blooming or excessive whites. Colors are warmly reproduced, resulting in strong primaries and nice, even fleshtones. Though much of 'The Game Plan' is a domestic comedy, the visuals open up for the big football scenes, which are finely detailed and three-dimensional. Some of the widest shots have that “you-are-there” quality inherent with the best high-def -- I could see whipping out this disc as a demo. Some sporadic noise and slight edginess keep this from earning five-stars, but in almost all respects, this one is a real winner.

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High School Musical 2

HD Video Quality

'High School Musical 2' definitely offers a huge leap in quality over the original film. It's brighter, far more polished and it's in widescreen, to boot (this Blu-ray is the first presentation of any 'High School Musical' to be presented in 1.78:1 and not full screen). The result is a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer that truly assaults the eyes with its cotton candy visuals -- I don't think I've ever seen this much Bubbalicious-pink in a film in all my life.

The kids of 'High School Musical 2' live in a world that is as production-designed as Willy Wonka's factory, so if nothing else, colors leap off the screen. Saturation is fantastic, with incredibly vivid primaries that retain great clarity and are free from noise and bleeding. The source is immaculate, with perfect blacks and excellent contrast that pops but doesn't bloom. Seeing as the vast majority of the film takes place in sun-drenched exteriors, shadow delineation is hardly an issue, but the film's few dark scenes also hold up with excellent detail. Indeed, there is nary a second of 'High School Musical 2' that doesn't look completely three-dimensional.

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Meet The Robinsons

HD Video Quality

Presented in 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec, 'Meet the Robinsons' is another gorgeous high-def CGI transfer. Colors are bold, black levels are inky, and an abundance of texture details are a real visual treat. Jump to any scene with the tyrannosaurus rex -- take note of the crisp scales, the nicks on its claws, the imperfections in the grass beneath its feet, and the fabric in the bowler hat on its head. In fact, throughout the film, clothing textures not only showcase the filmmakers' extraordinary eyes for detail, but they reveal the proficiency of this transfer. The Bowler Hat Guy makes for an excellent demo reel of every texture the film throws at the screen, from his pants legs and cloak, to his oily eyebrows and mustache.

The only minor issue (if you can call it that) is that the visual look of 'Meet the Robinsons' is intentionally softer than that other CGI animated features. Scenes that take place in the present are filtered with a sepia-toned haze that's designed to artificially imbue the picture with a filmic quality. By contrast, the future scenes really pop and leave the film feeling a tad disjointed. Likewise, the filmmakers employ some visual tricks to toy with depth focus. The effect isn't entirely natural and distracts on occasion.

To be fair, the "issues" are certainly not a fault of this transfer. I only mention them because at times they make the film just a wee-bit less impressive than other CGI-animated films currently available in high definition. Still, it's hard to imagine anyone being genuinely disappointed by this visual pleasure of a transfer.

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