DVD World Report

Having only been exposed to Guy Ritchie’s directorial talent through his movie RocknRolla with Gerard Butler, I was certain that his style would be far too askew to adapt for the most legendary fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. My expectations were mostly right; it was very askew. However, instead of becoming an alienating aspect, it was a very welcoming and refreshing take for the period. Most people describe his style as adding a “steampunk” element to Holmes, but you never quite get that. I suppose it could be related in the sense that steampunk really is about showing off the elegance held within a complex system of seemingly unrelated parts that create a beautiful web of twists and turns that leaves you in a sense of inspired awe. That’s about as far as it goes, though. You certainly won’t find Mr. Holmes using some modern gadget re-inspired into a clunky looking contraption, as is the most common use of the steampunk ideal.

Synopsis
The game is afoot – and astounding! Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law put memorable imprints on the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in a bold reimagining that makes the famed sleuth a daring man of action as well as a peerless man of intellect. Guy Ritchie directs this dazzling adventure.

Between the writing and directing, you find yourself immersed quite intensely into the mystery, to a depth in which you’ll most likely not be expecting. It’s seemingly simple in its setup, and even the start of the movie attempts to persuade you into thinking that you can predict the pace. However, once we meet Holmes’ feminine foil the movie starts to flex its ability to hide things from you in plain sight. It seems that director Ritchie certainly knew that we would attempt to be following along and catching things before their reveals, so every twist becomes more clever and unexpected as the film progresses. At times, this almost seems as though it’s about to backfire as the movie suddenly feels like the pacing has come to an abrupt and unwelcome stop. Admittedly, there are a couple times that this happens when it really does work against the movie, as I began to feel that it had finally lost its ability to remain fresh. Fortunately, though, it’s not frequent, and redemption is never far behind.

Of course, the clever writing or inspired directing wouldn’t be anything if the cast couldn’t pull off their roles well enough to keep things into a coherent perspective, even at the times in which they feel the most estranged. Robert Downey, Jr. was undoubtedly the main draw with his unwavering wit and crisp delivery of dialogue, and is a continued delight to any Downey, Jr. fan. Early into the movie we’re teased slightly as we’re given unsure evidence as to whether or not Ritchie will truly have Downey flex his cerebral muscle as Holmes’ involvement is downplayed to nearly being a complete bystander, but after some proper build up we’re finally introduced to the full blade of his rapier wit. His partners in crime, or rather anti-crime, Jude Law and Rachel McAdams aren’t to be left in mere afterthought, however, as their performances are certainly just as noteworthy with only the style in which they deliver them to be the difference. Jude Law is inarguably enjoyable as the silent but steady Dr. Watson, providing a more logical foundation to Holmes’ theoretical leaps. When I first heard of the casting I thought the film might suffer due to the back-seating of the actual Britain in favor of the American Downey, Jr. to play the lead, but never once did that feeling become perpetuated during the movie. The pair conveys an awkward chemistry that works without flaws, and never once do you grow bored with seeing them play off of one another.

Rachel McAdams’ eventual expanded involvement brings the group into an unlikely, but highly enjoyable trio, yet throughout she continues to pop in and out of the movie at times that can only be described as appropriate. She, like Law, also has some very pleasing chemistry with Downey, and never feels shoved into a scene to simply fulfill a token female role, nor to needlessly enhance the sexiness of the movie. Rounding out the cast with the last most prominent role is our cunning villain, Lord Blackwood, played by Mark Strong. Despite having seen RocknRolla, and Stardust, and a couple of his other previous movies, I really hadn’t remembered him very well. So, I had a bit of a concern that his villainous role would simply fall flat, and would be the weakest part of the movie, but I was found wrong. His role has some of the strongest material throughout the movie with clever mystery, and never coming across as contrived throughout his evil plan, and he brings this character to life in a way that makes you like the bad guy. I may not have remembered him well from other movies, but this performance will certainly stand out for a long time coming.

The story itself is full of twists, and turns, and clues in which it’s best for the viewer to remember. However, you’re not simply left sitting there and left to your own accord to remember a few seconds of dialogue; you become enamored with the way they explore scenes, and clues, and fully envelop your fascination with each one. This leaves a lasting impression each time and you never feel left behind. The story starting off with Holmes no longer working had me very worried for a bit that there would be unwelcome inflation of token drama to provoke him into applying his keen intellect and detective skills once more. Of course, it was highly surprising that the villain didn’t turn out to be Holmes’ most notorious foil, Moriarty. I’m not much of a Holmes follower, or connoisseur, or aficionado, but chances are that if you know of Holmes then you know of Moriarty. At the very least, however, the movie gives us plenty of hints that we do have his devious presence to look forward to, and he is wonderfully alluded to in seemingly inconsequential scenes.

Overall, I Highly Recommend picking up this movie. The wonderfully done styling of the time period surprisingly manages to enhance not only the mysterious flair of scenes, but also the chemistry between each actor as they never fail in their flexing their brilliant skills. The comedic element that was present throughout the trailers had noticeably made people nervous, as their reactions suggested, but fortunately it is never used in a manner that becomes dangerously close of being present for cheap laughs. The humor is just as cleverly written as the rest of the movie’s elements, which all come together to make, arguably, one of the top greatest films to be released in 2009.

The Blu-ray
Warner brings Sherlock Holmes to Blu-ray in a standard two-disc Elite Blu-ray case with a high-gloss slipcover to help it stand out on the shelves. Of course there’s a sticker on the front to designate that it includes a DVD and Digital Copy in addition to the Blu-ray, so that will probably help move more than a few copies regardless. Though I’ve yet to personally make use of these combo packs, they’re still a nice bonus for those not yet ready to adopt the Blu-ray format fully. Nothing else about this set stands out, as the inserts inside are just firmware upgrade notices and redemption codes.

Video arrives in a VC-1 encoded transfer and, as per usual with Guy Ritchie productions, it looks fantastic. There is a decidedly great deal more grime and muck on the picture (obviously on purpose) and with the film being a rather dank and dark production altogether, the transfer doesn’t exactly fill the screen with life and color. The color palette is largely muted and unspoken, but whenever the film does speak up to make itself known (such as whenever McAdams character pops on screen in some kind of vibrant dress) it does such with great success. Despite the laid back color palette, however, the video still boasts an incredible amount of detail. While I was disappointed when I went to the theaters that this was a 1.85:1 film, on the home video format it works out much nicer since it floods nearly every inch of your screen with detail that you can just gawk and gaze at.

Audio is a DTS-HD MA 5.1 powerhouse. Yes, I overuse that term but Holmes earns it with ease—the surrounds kick up at every fight and the subwoofer never seems to sleep for more than a few minutes. Every punch, every weapon drawn, every explosion…they all resonate in the room with a resounding thud into ones chest and anytime the film has to stop and catch a breath with a flood of dialogue, the soundtrack is there to pick it up as well. Some of the rapid speech, a staple in Ritchie films, can be a bit difficult to understand completely, but that’s an issue with the original source audio, not the mix here. Although it’s not even really a source issue—the accents are just so thick and delivered with such gusto that it can be difficult to hear solely because of those reasons.

Extras don’t exactly bedazzle the viewer from the start, but once you realize that there’s quite a bit of footage packed into the Maximum Movie Mode bit then it’s a lot more exciting. The full list of extras:

Maximum Movie Mode (2:11:42, HD)
Focus Points (31:17, HD)
Sherlock Holmes: Reinvented (14:06, HD)

Anyone who has seen the Movie Mode bits on previous Warner titles know that the director isn’t ever-present; it tends to taper off in segments and as you can see from the runtime it doesn’t differ much from the actual runtime of the film itself (2:08:24), but Ritchie only pauses the film a few times so there’s no real cause for the runtime to be that much longer. It’s really a neat piece and I’m quite impressed with them whenever Warner tosses one of these onto a film, so it’s nice that the tradition is kept up for their big blockbuster style films. The “Focus Points” are merely the behind-the-scenes clips from the Movie Mode in case you don’t want to sit through it all (although please do—if you enjoyed the film or are a fan of Ritchie, you’ll be interested to see how he presents the behind-the-scenes clips and other additional insight into the film). The final extra is the “Reinvented” piece is which is a bit EPK-y in nature, but still worth checking out since it features cast and crew interviews.

Overall Sherlock Holmes isn’t your normal “blockbuster” in any real sense, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun and this Blu-ray portrays that more than well enough. The A/V transfer especially is a blast to watch and listen to—and having the surround system at full blast to listen to that end credits score pound out from the speakers is quite an enjoyable aural experience indeed. Highly Recommended.

Sherlock Holmes arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on March 30th.

Movie review by Andrew
Blu-ray review by Zach Demeter

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While I wasn’t always a fan of director Wes Anderson’s previous works (though I’ve since warmed up to the majority of them), his most recent production took an even stranger turn than his films usually do: into stop-motion animation. Fantastic Mr. Fox saw a return to the animation style of old that few even bother with anymore. But for Anderson’s first foray into PG rated fair, he opted to take his usual cast of actors (with an addition of George Clooney and Meryl Streep) and toss them into a world of hairy puppets with some decidedly strange looking animation at times. But that’s all part of the charm with Mr. Fox, which is probably the most edgy and entertaining “kids” movie that adults will see for quite some time.

Synopsis
Academy Award-winning Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney (Up In The Air) and Meryl Streep (It’s Complicated) lend their voices to the hilarious, heartwarming and dazzling stop-motion animated adventure from visionary director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenebaums) Fantastic Mr. Fox, arriving as a Blu-ray Disc/DVD Combo Pack and on DVD March 23 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. In there-imagined classic family tale, Mr. and Mrs. Fox (Clooney and Streep) live a happy home life with their eccentric son Ash (Jason Schwartzman: The Darjeeling Limited) and visiting nephew Kristopherson. That is until Mr. Fox slips into his sneaky, old ways and plots the greatest heist the animal world has ever seen. When mean old farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean join forces to surround Mr. Fox and his family, they don’t realize they are not dealing with any old fox – it’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and he has a fantastic master plan to save the day!

My first reaction to trailers for this film was “wow that is some weird ass stop motion going on.” The models were very basic and almost thrown-together looking. But when I actually sat down and watched the movie I realized that, yeah, while the puppetry is crude at times, it also has a certain beauty about it. Everything may be thin and gangly for the most part, but the animation of it all is also quite magnificent to look upon. The quality and fluidity of it is quite astonishing; on one hand it looks budget-made but on the other you can tell it was intentionally done this way (which may have cost more to do it like that, who knows). But overall it doesn’t really matter—the film has legs simply because of the story and as quirky as it may be, you’ll quickly realize why it’s the way it is once you realize that it’s from the same writer as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

It’s interesting to see how much this film adapted from the book and what Anderson himself added. I was shocked to find out it was surprisingly little—some extra backstory on Mr. Fox himself and a bit more coherency in the ending, but as far as I could tell from the research I did it was pretty faithful to the story. I shouldn’t be too surprised through—Roald Dahl’s childrens books have always had some quirkiness to them so the fit between the original story and Anderson’s stop-motion version were probably not all that different to begin with. Anderson has always had some of the most eclectic and interesting characters adorn his movies and Fantastic Mr. Fox really seemed to fit his way of story-telling like a glove.

The story itself in the film is rather straightforward, but it deals with very adult issues at times which really surprised me. The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Fox is surprisingly strained and the things that their son Ash and nephew Kristopherson go through are rather mature in nature. It’s great that the film doesn’t dumb itself or talk down to the audience, but considering how mature some of the content was in 80s and 90s children’s’ films that went right over their head, I doubt what we get here is going to harm any young ones minds—they’ll likely just be bored during the more serious discussions and instead await for the antics of Mr. Fox on the screen and his revenge against Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. Which, admittedly, the antics are pretty hilarious—especially the finale, which does seem a bit contradictory to the whole theme that the film was getting across as they once lived above-ground in trees and whatnot and now they’re forced to live in the sewers…a decidedly different fate that one would have imagined for them, but as random as the ending seems to be, it’s presented in such a way that it still feels as if it fits with the rest of the production.

There are a lot of moral lessons wrapped up in this films entertainment, which I honestly have no complaints with. As I’m sure the original Dahl book did the same kind of treatment to the story (as all children’s books often do), but Anderson must also be praised for his truly exceptional work on the film. It’s under an hour and a half long, but it is an amazingly entertaining hour and a half, with a unique bit of visual shenanigans going on at various turns (that cut-away bit of the animals digging through the ground was a very, very interesting cut-away shot) to keep things interesting. Plus the all-star cast was always great to hear from; while I’m usually a proponent of “use voice actors for animated productions!,” in this case the entire cast just worked out magnificently.

Overall Fantastic Mr. Fox is just that—fantastic. It’s both an entertaining children’s movie and a satisfying tale for adults and while it might be difficult to get over the very strange visual effects at first, it’s worth it in the end as the story is something that is truly superb. Highly Recommended.

The Blu-ray
Fox releases Fantastic Mr. Fox in the greatest combination pack ever to be invented: Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy. Yes, it’s kind of a waste that Fox put the digital copy on a separate disc so you end up with a three-disc set, but it’s still nice that they’re following the trend that Disney started (and a trend that Warner has gone full-bore with, doing it with all of their films and not just with children’s movies). The set boasts the usual amount of inserts inside the packed case and no exterior slipcover.

Video is an AVC encoded 1080p affair and…well, its modern stop motion, did you expect anything less than perfect? The clarity is astounding and all of the little hairs on the stop-motion dolls are so crystal clear that you feel like you could reach out and touch them. True, this clarity does bring to life some of the visual peculiarities that comes with stop-motion, but I’m willing to forgive those for a transfer like this. Colors are vibrant and pop off the screen and just about every frame of this film is flawless in nature.

Audio is a DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix and it too is quite good. There is a lot of surround work here (although really only in the most subtle of ways—rarely does it make its presence known) and a surprising amount of LFE output too—gun shots and explosions and the like all thunder about in the room. Chickens clucking, doors unlocking, the pitter-patter of critter feet…it’s a very diverse sound field on this film, but sadly it’s not quite as spread out in the sound field as they are usually on Fox releases. Still not a bad soundtrack by any means, but not quite as exciting as the on-screen action is.

Extras include:

Disc One
• Making Mr. Fox Fantastic
o The Look Of Fantastic Mr. Fox
o From Script To Screen
o The Puppet Makers
o Still Life (Puppet Animation)
o The Cast
o Bill And His Badger
• A Beginner’s Guide To Whack-Bat
• Fantastic Mr. Fox: The World Of Roald Dahl

Yup, that second disc is literally just the single disc DVD release of this film—guess that’s why Fox didn’t want to cram the digital copy on there. It’s curious that there are repeat extras between the two discs, but I guess Fox just didn’t want to print an entirely new DVD disc for this release. Of course the third disc is just the digital copy, so nothing overly exciting there.

The extras themselves are quite great to watch, as the making-of on the Blu-ray side is quite in-depth and covers a whole series of different elements of the film. Plus they’re all in high-definition (majority in 1080p, although the Dahl extra is in 1080i) and look about as good as the film itself does.

Overall Fantastic Mr. Fox is a great package on Blu-ray and a Recommended outing.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

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How George Clooney manages to do it nearly every time I’ll never know. His track record for movies of late has been pretty excellent, and Up in the Air is probably one of his most sublime pictures to date. Directed by Jason Reitman (of Juno fame), Up in the Air is a bit of a surprising picture. Now, it’s not a perfect movie by any means, but I find the accolades thrust upon it are completely justified.

Synopsis:
In Up in the Air, George Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham, a corporate hatchet man who loves his life on the road but is forced to fight for his job when his company downsizes its travel budget. He is required to spend more time at home just as he is on the cusp of a goal he’s worked toward for years: reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he’s met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams. With multiple award nominations and critical acclaim across the board, discover why critics and viewers alike have been calling Up in the Air arguably the defining movie of our times.

Now, it’s impossible to imagine anyone else but Clooney in this role. It’s the perfect marriage of the role and the actor. Flawless casting. No one other than Clooney could make this character, one the audience should really, really hate, likeable. Clooney plays a guy who flies all over the country firing people. That’s his job. Remarkably, we don’t hate him for it. We really, really should. But we don’t. He’s also a motivational speaker, telling people to free their lives of baggage be it people or possessions. Again, we should hate the guy. We should hate Bingham. But with Clooney, we can’t. We get interested in his life, and get sucked in when he finds his way of life complicated by the introduction of two new women to his life, one a new co-worker and the other a love interest. Hilarity and problems ensue, as you can imagine.

Reitman’s Up in the Air is the perfect movie of our times. As we continue to weather the storm of our current economic climate, Up in the Air accurately portrays the uncertainty and worry that comes with the current job market, and the devastating sense of unemployment. Now, by no means is this a dark, depressing movie, far from it. But it feels real. As we see Bingham do his job, we feel for the characters, even for the briefest of moments we see them on screen. It just has that extra punch to it that really gives his movie the weight it needs to work.

What we have here is a great movie that seems to be perfectly handled in nearly every way. While there are a couple teeny problems, mainly the more than a couple painfully predictable and obvious twists that deflate this flick a little, everything else just falls so perfectly into place. The story, the characters, the actors, the directing, the skillful editing, it all just syncs up as it should. It seems like every moment is perfectly telegraphed to tell us something about Bingham and his supporting cast. Whether it’s them crashing a corporate party, Bingham attending his sister’s wedding, or him sitting at his desk, it tells us more than any worthless expository dialogue ever could. And that, to me, is the mark of a great film. We’re not force fed every little moral or every little character tick. We see it unfold naturally, and the film is better for that.

A timely movie, one that may hit closer to home than others, Up in the Air is a movie that is full of surprises. Yes, it has one of two obviously telegraphed moments, those are so miniscule in the grand scheme of things. Everything about this movie feels so effortless and smooth, which, to me, shows just how much work went into it making appear as such. Coming Highly Recommended to own, as it definitely warrants multiple views, is a smart, funny picture that perfectly captures life today. With nary a weak performance to be found, and an engaging and interesting protagonist, Up in the Air is worth getting lost in.

The Blu-ray:

Beyond the bland cover art for Up in the Air, you’ll find a rather well-rounded packaging, both in terms of presentation and bonus content. A respectable presentation by Paramount Home Entertainment, this Blu-ray release serves up a solid viewing experience.

Looking at the audio and video quality, both are crisp and clear. The video looks rich and deep, with even the muted palette of the film popping out. Black levels are deep and the detail is very noticeable, particularly during many of the overhead shots where we see cities from far above ground. Audio is appropriately center-heavy, considering how dialogue-heavy the film is, and crystal clear. Every single word comes out crystal clear, even in the odd scene with noticeably loud environmental cues. All the audio seems well balanced among each channel, bringing a perfect balance between the dialogue, score and environmental cues. Well done, Paramount.

For extras, we have a nice helping of extras. Not overwhelming, but a good balance I find. First up is an audio commentary by writer/director Jason Reitman, director of photography Eric Steeberg and first assistant director Jason Blumenfeld. It’s an informative track laced with some great details on the film’s shooting, but Reitman comes off a little too strong at times. Still, that doesn’t really deter from a worthwhile listen. The remaining extras are a mish-mash of bonus features, ranging from the standard featurettes to deleted scenes. We get a close look at the company responsible for the opening credits for all of Reitman’s pictures to date, a behind-the-scenes music video, a look at rehearsals, a brief prank video, a collection of theatrical trailers (thank you, Paramount!), and a wealth of deleted scenes. The deleted scenes, roughly 24 minutes in total, are all worth checking out and come available with optional commentary.

Paramount Home Entertainment has whipped up a very solid release for Up in the Air, striking a nice balance between the main feature and the bonus content. An excellent movie housed in an equally pleasing high-definition package, Up in the Air definitely comes Highly Recommended. It’s probably one of the quintessential movies of our time, despite the odd flaw here and there, providing a frank look at our current way of life. Despite the quick turnaround between its theatrical run and home video, this title doesn’t feel rushed or hastily plopped together. A surprisingly well-rounded package, Up in the Air would make a worthy addition to anyone’s collection.

Up in the Air is now available to own on Blu-ray and DVD.

Based on the beloved Maurice Sendak story of the same name, Where The Wilds Things Are is an utterly stunning movie. The visuals, the story, the acting, all of it comes together in such a sublime and moving way. I know this is a film that divided so many when it first hit theatres last year, and I can see why. While the movie stays true to the book, as far as I’m concerned, it also expands and adds new angles to it. I can honestly see how that could take away from the movie, I really do, but, to me, it seems like a natural evolution and expansion of one of my favorites stories from my youth.

Synopsis:
Innovative director Spike Jonze collaborates with celebrated author Maurice Sendak to bring one of the most beloved books of all time to the big screen in , Where The Wilds Things Are, a classic story about childhood and the places we go to figure out the world we live in. The film tells the story of Max, a rambunctious and sensitive boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to where the Wild Things are. Max lands on an island where he meets mysterious and strange creatures whose emotions are as wild and unpredictable as their actions. The Wild Things desperately long for a leader to guide them, just as Max longs for a kingdom to rule. When Max is crowned king, he promises to create a place where everyone will be happy. Max soon finds, though, that ruling his kingdom is not so easy and his relationships there prove to be more complicated than he originally thought.

I can honestly say I’m a bit at odds with Where the Wild Things Are. I adored this movie and thought it did the source material justice, but I can see why many people would have a hard time stomaching it. If you’re expecting a movie that you can just shut off your brain to, look elsewhere. Where The Wild Things Are is definitely something to invest yourself in, but it can be easily mistaken if just watched idly. The main character can be easily misconstrued as an unlikeable brat if you don’t understand where the boy is coming from. After that, the trip to the island is a considerably dark affair. It’s an artsy flick, in all honesty, and I have no idea how this would even hold up as a children’s movie. To me it just works as a movie, plain and simple. No labels or pre-conceived notions. Just…a movie. And a damn fine one. It’s no wonder Warner Bros. tried to market this film more toward the older crowd than the younger set. And it makes sense, since Where The Wild Things Are plays out like a farewell to one’s childhood.

I know I say Max could be considered an unlikeable character, and that’s true to some given the impression he gives off, but his character is one that’s all too familiar. Max, played by Max Reconrds, is an exceeding gifted, smart child who is frustrated at a world that can’t really keep up with him. He loves his childhood, but he cannot share that world with his family. He has all this creativity within him, yet no one to share it with. He tries, he stumbles, he gets upset, and that inevitably leads him to the island of the Wild Things.

As we meet these Wild Things and their island adventures start to unfurl, we easily see what each beast represents in Max. While Jonze makes it easy to understand how these beasts embody different aspects of Max and his complicated being, he allows it to unfold as a gradual pace. Sure, anyone who has read the original book knows this, but the way Jonze does it makes it seem fresh and original. He expands upon it in stunningly creative ways. We get a solid look at each beast, with Carol (voiced by James Gandolfini) easily taking the spotlight above of all of them. Carol is the easiest to identify with Max, struggling to hold on to how things are, resulting in a rather moving moment toward the end of the picture where the only thing the two can do is stare at each other as they literally drift apart. The bond between Carol and Max feels so real and utterly heartbreaking at the same time. When one feels pain from the other, you feel it, as it is so convincingly relayed. And as bizarre as these Wild Things may look, you’ll quickly forget each one of them is a puppet/CGI hybrid and just see them simply as characters. Even utterly heartbreaking characters at times.

I have to admit, upon first watching this, I breathed a huge sigh of relief knowing they pulled off this adaptation. They pulled off Where The Wild Things Are. Now, my comments above only lightly touch upon what this film has to offer. I have to stress that this film may require an additional viewing just to take it all in. It’s a multi-layered movie, one that will likely be dissected for years to come, but one that’s easy to misunderstand as a grey, dreary mess if you don’t commit yourself to it. It’s a challenging and stunning movie, one that will get to you if you let it. There are a couple scenes that actually got to me and just caused me to sob just a little. That last scene between Max and Carol? Beautiful and crushing all in one blow. It seriously, seriously is.

Everything about this movie is given just the right amount of approach. Nothing is heavy-handed or overwrought. Even the final scene between Max and his mother is perfect. There’s no bothersome or eye-rolling monologue about morals and such, since all of that is taken care of through the actual story itself. It’s never overdone. It’s just…obvious, in a natural way.

I seriously hope you can pull something from the above paragraphs. Where The Wild things Are is a hard movie to describe, but an easy one to fall in love with. And it’ll stir up emotions. Where The Wild Things Are is a moving portrait of childhood, from the perspective of a child no-less, and the realities that come with slowly leaving that part of life. Coming Highly Recommended, Where The Wild Things Are touches on so many different themes and offer hope and reassurance to each. An excellent all-ages movie, this is one you may want to watch first before introducing it to a younger audience. But, that being said, it’s a movie that I’m sure any child would find incredibly reassuring. Daring, arty, and so natural, Jonze has crafted a loving film that, while dividing the critic base, will no doubt bring so many together. It’s an unforgettable movie that will stay with you.

The Blu-ray:

In what should be no surprise, Warner Home Video has given Where The Wild Things Are an absolutely great home video release, both inside and out. Not perfect, mind you, but an excellent one nonetheless. Whether it’s the nice touches added to the movie’s packaging (just look at the cool scribbling found all over the cardboard slipcase), or the absolutely great audio/video quality, Warner Home Video has given this great movie an excellent showing on the home video market.

Assessing the audio and video quality, Warner Home Video has served up stunning quality on both accounts. Given the sometimes tricky color palette of the movie, considering the movie jumps from day to night and suburban kitchen to a magical island, I found the quality to be consistent throughout. The VC-1 encoded transfer is stunning at times, with the detail absolutely staggering. The detail on the Wild Things puppet/CGI creations is amazing, they look so utterly convincing, and the surroundings are just as impressive. I actually found myself getting lost in the detail once or twice in the movie, whether it’s just looking at how amazing the Wild Things look or the amount of detail on the fort built later in the movie by Max and his beastly friends. I found the audio transfer to be really impressive as well, though lacking in one or two aspects. It’s a really great DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix, don’t get me wrong, but I found some of the dialogue was lost from time to time. The characters tend to mumble or whisper at times, and I found them difficult to understand on occasion. Nothing too detrimental, but be prepared to hit the volume button on your remote. On the other hand, the more action-intensive sequences, like the dirt ball fight, are loud and boisterous. I find all the speakers get a solid workout during the movie.

Moving on to the bonus features, we get a nice collection of extras, though I wish there was much more. This film had a pretty interesting and complicated history while in production, and it would have been great if there was a documentary or two on it. Or at least an audio commentary with Director Spike Jonze perhaps. Still, what we get it pretty good, admittedly.

The major extra is the new short film “Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or There Must Be More To Life,” a cute little tale based on 1967 book by Maurice Sendak. Running roughly 24 minutes, it’s a nice little short that drips with the same creative juices of the main feature. Hats off to Meryl Streep and Forest Whitaker for their voice work in the short. It’s a little dark at times, but the moral is excellent and the execution is pretty much perfect.

An “HBO First Look” featurette is next, running over 13 minutes and giving us a quick look at the film’s production. It’s a great watch, but it’s only a taste of the lengthy issues the film experienced during its long production. The remaining extras are a series short featurettes, usually running no more than six or seven minutes, giving short behind-the-scene glimpses at the film. They’re less fluffy, thankfully, and seem more intimate. The featurettes – “Maurice and Spike,” “Max and Spike,” “The Records Family,” “Carter Burwell,” “The Absurd Difficulty of Filming a Dog Running and Barking at the Same Time,” “Crew Pranks Spike,” “Vampire Attack: The Max Records Short” and “The Kids take Over the Picture” – seem to provide a more honest, sometimes humorous, look at the film’s production, though it will leave you yearning for more.

It’s a nice package, though the Blu-ray release for Where The Wild Things Are will leave you wanting more. The extras are good yes, especially the short film and the brief featurettes, but I feel as though we only touch the surface on what is likely an incredibly interesting production. Personally, I can’t help but give Where The Wild Things Are a stamp of Highly Recommended, though that is with a couple reservations. This film is incredibly divisive, there are those who adore it and those very disappointed, but this film is worth watching at least once. It’s an incredibly bold movie, especially for one considered an ‘all-ages’ flick, and really should be experienced.

Where The Wild Things Are is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.

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