Blu-ray Movie Reviews

When an enchanted kingdom and the most fair princess in the land fall prey to the ultimate mistress of evil, the fate of the empire rests in the hands of three small fairies and a courageous prince's magic kiss. Their quest is fraught with peril and a fire-breathing dragon if they are to set the Beauty free.

Disney delivers its first animated classic to Blu-ray in stunning form and debuts their “Platinum” line to the format. This was the last Disney animated film to be produced by Walt Disney himself and this is the first time anyone will ever see it in its true aspect ratio of 2.55:1. I’ve always been a fan of the classic Disney titles and this is no exception. The effort on display here is nothing short of stunning, making this a must own for the format.

As I mentioned before this is the first time Disney has released this film in its original wide aspect ratio of 2.55:1. The film was scanned at 4K resolution and digitally cleaned up at 2K by DTS Digital Images. There is no doubt that this film has NEVER looked even close to this good. The animation is nothing short of stunning in its color rendition and shear detail. Background and location animation is almost distracting in its level of detail and dimension leaving the character designs looking simple and rather bland in comparison. I was blown away by the color detail and depth of image this new HD transfer delivers; it was like seeing the movie for the first time. I did notice some inconsistencies in frame focus, especially with the character animations, and this did become a bit of an annoyance at times, but aside from that hiccup this Blu-ray is a sight to behold.

Disney delivers a 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack for this animated masterpiece, which is the first animated film to receive a DTS-HD soundtrack. The enhanced for home theater mix is not overly aggressive and stays mainly in the front soundstage throughout. There is some nice surround work but it mainly adds to the ambiance and subtle nuance of the environments. Dynamic range isn’t bad but don’t expect a thunderous mix. Voice work can sound a bit tinny at times but given the age of this production I’m surprised how natural the main soundstage sounded.

Disney has outdone themselves with this release and set the bar for future “Platinum” titles destined for Blu-ray release. This 3-disc set includes a complete DVD copy of the film in standard definition (VERY NICE) along with a second disc choked full of goodies. Disney employs Bonus View technology to deliver a visual commentary with John Lasseter, Andreas Deja and Leonard Maltin that includes retrospective footage of the film’s release. There are several interactive extras including a game, a walkthrough of the castle and a very interesting 7.1 experience with the dragon in the castle’s dungeon. This BD also marks the debut of Disney’s BD-Live experience with online chat features, trivia and the ability to send pictures from your phone into the viewing experience of online friends.

Disney has set the bar for future Platinum titles with this one. The A/V presentation is fantastic and the level of extras provided is staggering. Disney has gone all out with this one making it one of the best packages for the format yet. Highly recommended.