Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Tim Burton spins a tale of love and marriage in the worlds of the barely living and the hardly dead. Using stop-motion animation, Burton creates a world that is visually stunning and unlike anything else out there (except for his other creations). The voice acting, from the likes of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Tracey Ullman, is excellent.

Speaking of excellent, the 1.85:1 image is amazing. Shot using digital SLR cameras, the picture quality is pristine and, of course, free of grain. The amount of detail is fantastic, and its revealing nature makes the sets and puppets all the more impressive. The subdued color of the living world and the warm, vibrant colors of the dead are reproduced wonderfully. It’s truly reference quality. Audio, in the form of Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 EX, is of equal quality. Danny Elfman’s score sounds great, and there’s lots of use of the surrounds.

There are eight short featurettes on topics ranging from the music, the animation, the overall look of the film, the voice acting, and so on. They are fairly short in length, though. There is also a music-only track, which is a nice addition, given the quality of the score.

If you’re looking for a reference disc for your HD DVD collection, look here. It’s a great movie, to boot.