| DVD Roundup August 2007
Recent HD Releases of
Interest
 Bridge to Terabithia (2007,
Walt Disney, Blu-ray) ****
A bittersweet coming-of-age story, Bridge to Terabithia
will remind many of what it was like to be a child. Jesse Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) is an
underachiever who is bullied at school and denied the close relationship with his father
(Robert Patrick) that he desperately needs. Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb) is Josh’s
new neighbor, a wild spirit with liberal parents who write books. Together they imagine
Terabithia, a fantasyland to which they escape from their daily lives. The script is not
condescending, and rings true at every point. The photography is laden with deep colors,
but it’s almost too good to be true -- at times the reds and oranges seem unnatural.
But the detail is first-rate, and the blacks and contrast are too. The surround sound is
very effective during fantasy scenes, and the dialogue is always clear and easy to
understand. There are two better-than-average commentary tracks, a couple of production
features, and a throwaway video.
The Cowboys (1972, Warner Home Video,
HD DVD) ***1/2
It is perhaps difficult, after all the recent school
shootings the US has been through, to condone this film’s lack of morality. Cattleman
Wil Anderson (John Wayne) hires ten youngsters for his cattle drive, and when he’s
killed, they cry revenge and shoot all the bad guys. If you can get around that, it’s
a fine experience to be able to watch a 1972 widescreen film that looks as good as The
Cowboys does. The colors are rich and deep, and the detail is exemplary much of the
time. In one scene, the boys see the bad guys ride by on horses, way off in the distance.
In this hi-def transfer the background is in such sharp focus that they don’t look
like little blobs of darkness, but like horsemen. The music score is one of John
Williams’ early efforts, and the transfer of the original magnetic multitrack
elements is impressive. The orchestra is spread the full width of the front stage, with
focused bass, a clear midrange, and highs that are commanding but not shrill. The dialogue
is easily heard from the center speaker. There are a couple of interesting extras, one of
them a commentary track by director Mark Rydell.
Daylight (1996, Universal, HD DVD)
***1/2
Universal has brought this better-than-average disaster
flick to HD DVD with generally good results. First, it’s refreshing that it
takes place in a tunnel rather than on a boat or plane, and Sylvester Stallone was just
the right man to play the hero. The film was made in 1996, so it’s impressive that
the HD DVD has such rich and steady colors. Only the skin tones vary from time to time;
the rest is rock solid. The detail is quite good -- close-ups of faces, the sheen on
metallic items, and details in shadows are among the benefits that put this HD version way
above the standard-definition edition. The sound is surprising for its day, with more
surround effects than one might expect, and it’s presented here in outstanding Dolby
Digital Plus 5.1. Who could ask more? There are enough extras to keep the average viewer
happy.
Dragonheart (1996, Universal, HD DVD)
***1/2
Dragonheart, starring Dennis Quaid and David
Thewlis, was the first film to have a character that was completely CGI. It looked okay in
the theater 11 years ago, but a lot has happened since then, and this hi-def transfer
clearly reveals the flaws. Draco, the last living dragon (voiced by Sean Connery), now
looks good only in daylight; often, at night, he looks rudimentary and intrusive, as if
not really part of the scene. On the plus side, the textures are great, especially the
dragon’s hide, and colors are, for the most part, rich and steady. The sound is even
better. The original surround track has been made into a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 track with
excellent frequency response and dynamic range. The beating of Draco’s wings sounded
particularly good as he seemed to fly around my room, and Connery’s voice has never
sounded so commanding. The extras from the SD version have all been transferred to this HD
DVD.
Planet Earth (2006, BBC Video, HD DVD)
****
Costing millions of dollars and five years in the making,
the Planet Earth series, narrated by David Attenborough, was first broadcast in HD
earlier this year, and attracted one of the largest audiences ever for a documentary
series. Each of the 11 episodes lasts 50 minutes and is devoted to a particular aspect of
Earth’s geography: "Caves," "Jungles," "Shallow Seas,"
etc. The main point of the series comes home with each episode: Wherever you go, even in
the most unlikely, barren places, there is life. It may take a form that seems completely
alien to us, but it is life. I found "Caves" and "Ocean Deep" the most
revelatory -- in those segments I saw creatures so strange they seemed extraterrestrial.
All of the photography is superb, whether of a tiger in the jungle or of penguins in the
Antarctic. The colors are rich and deep. The sharpness varies, not because of the
transfer, but due to the original filming conditions, and just barely keeps the series
from being listed as reference -- though much of it is of that quality. The Dolby
Digital Plus 5.1 sound is quite adequate. George Fenton’s orchestral score sounds
good, and there is some adroit use of the surrounds in some scenes, such as a flock of
birds flying overhead. In fact, the only drawback of this five-disc set is its cost:
$79.98. It would make a wonderful gift to receive or give, and the holiday season is only
six months away. The visual quality of the Blu-ray version is, frame for frame, the equal
of the HD DVD. The Blu-ray, however, has only regular Dolby Digital sound, which is
not quite as good as the Dolby Digital Plus on the HD DVD, especially when the
soundtrack is a bit complicated. There are no extras.
The Untouchables (1987, Paramount,
HD DVD) ****
One of Paramount’s best-selling titles, Brian De
Palma’s The Untouchables, starring Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner, and Sean
Connery, has been transferred to HD DVD with stunning results. The print is in near
immaculate condition, with just a pinhole here and there that you wouldn’t notice if
you weren’t looking for them. The colors are very rich, and the picture always has a
great sense of depth. The interior shots, many featuring the ornate décor typical of the
1920s, when the film is set, are really sharp, and the detail in shadows in exterior shots
is no less so. Skin tones are excellent throughout. My only complaint is that the master
seems to have been juiced up a bit to give it a more modern look, with slight edge
enhancement here and there. Some monitors might not reveal this at all, and the problem
will be minimal for those that do. The audio transfers (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX and
DTS-ES 6.1) are surprisingly robust. The explosion near the beginning has a solid bass
foundation, and the surrounds are used very effectively, if not all the time. This version
contains all of the extras from the latest SD Special Edition. The Untouchables is
a classic that everyone with an HD DVD player will want to own. It’s on Blu-ray,
too, with the same audio tracks.
...Rad Bennett
radb@hometheatersound.com |
