Did you get a chance to watch Disney‘s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Blu-ray yet? Isn’t it amazing? You might recall how I gushed about it in my review. Well, my feelings haven’t changed. I think it’s in the running for disc of the year. Great feature, great transfer, great extras. All available for a pretty great price (still only $19.99 at Amazon.com!) They’re practically giving the disc away over there!

And speaking of giveaways, I’ve got a nice little Halloween present to offer a couple of you Snow White fans with iPhones. Disney’s reps have been good enough to offer me a couple of codes for the “Magic Mirror” iPhone/iPod Touch application and I’ll be giving them away tomorrow! No trick necessary for this treat. Just leave a comment below before the Witching hour tomorrow night (uh…that’s 12 midnight, I think…and let’s say Pacific time, just for s#!&$ and giggles, ok?) and I’ll pick two winners at random, to be announced early Sunday morning. Here’s the catch – the codes expire on Monday, Nov. 2nd!!! So, winners, you’ve got to get on it quickly and redeem those bad boys in the iTunes app store ASAP once you claim your prize.

CONTEST RULES:

1. Leave comment below (say anything you like)
2. 2 winners will be chosen at random from comments below
3. Contest open to all
4. Prize codes will be awarded Sunday morning, Nov. 1st!
5. Prize codes expire on Monday, Nov. 2nd!

PLEASE NOTE: iPod Touch users will need external earphones and microphone for speaking your questions to the Magic Mirror.

Inspired by one of the most iconic scenes from Walt Disney’s Original Animated Classic SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS comes Disney’s Magic Mirror for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Receive advice and answers to your questions from the all-knowing Magic Mirror by speaking or typing into your device.

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• The Magic Mirror bestows sage advice with dispassionate truth and poetic rhymes!
• Ask any question, future or present — romance, friendship, school, or work!
• Dazzling animation — just like the film!
• Type or speak your questions (microphone required for iPod touch)

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This fun and entertaining application includes state-of-art animation, official character voice and answers to almost any question!

Read more about the application or purchase it in the iTunes app store.

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UPDATE: AND THE WINNERS ARE…

Jack!

and

Lisa Morgan-Long!

You’ll both be contacted soon via email with your “Magic Mirror” code. Remember to redeem the codes quickly as they expire tomorrow!

March? Seriously, we have to wait until March 2nd for Hayao Miyazaki‘s Ponyo to show up on Blu-ray here in North America?! That sucks. But it’s now been confirmed by producer Frank Marshall via his Twitter account tonight. Guess I had better sit tight or start saving my pennies for that Japanese import, available December 8th.

Marshall didn’t reveal any details of the Blu-ray release beyond sharing the date and the fact that the disc will have “…great extras…”. He did, however give us a TwitPic sneak-peek at an upcoming 2-disc DVD/Plush gift set hitting store shelves the same day in March:

My take on this whole thing? I think it’s a major misstep not getting these Ponyo discs out before Christmas. Clearly the products are ready. Sounds like all the encoding is done. What are we waiting for? Better be something pretty great. Like, Disney is busy translating that lengthy “making-of Ponyo” doc for inclusion in the Blu-ray set. I would wait an extra year for something as amazing as that!

UPDATE: Marshall has just added,

“Yes, (the Ponyo Blu-ray/DVD release date) was Dec 8, but we have added a fabulous journey into the World of Ghibli, and it will all come together March 2nd.”

And I’ve just confirmed with him that the Japanese “making-of” doc won’t be showing up on this side of the Pacific in any form. Let’s hope that whatever feature Disney is putting together to give us a look inside the “World of Ghibli” is worth that extra 3-month wait! Could it be possible that they’re busy working on a couple more Ghibli discs for simultaneous release with Ponyo, to ride the wave of its publicity?! Totoro and Spirited Away please!

Previously on The Blu-ray Blog: Studio Ghibli/Disney Ponyo Japanese Blu-ray Bonus Features, Release Date Confirmed

WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971, Blu-ray released October 20, 2009 – MSRP $34.99)

Until getting my hands on this new Blu-ray disc version of the film, I had never laid eyes upon the 1971 production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I’m sure I would’ve loved it as a child because I thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult.

I’m sure you all know the story by now. If you didn’t get a chance to read the book as you were growing up, you no doubt caught the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp production from a few years back. Well, this version of the story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is nowhere near as computer generated as the Burton film and maybe not as nuanced as the Roald Dahl novel but, despite being renamed to market a Quaker Oates Willy Wonka candy bar back in 1971, is full of heart and embodies a genuine spirit of childhood wonder.

Reclusive candy-man Willy Wonka has hidden five golden tickets in his world famous candy bars. Ticket holders are allowed a once in a lifetime opportunity to tour the wonderful, wacky Chocolate Factory of the title (which, incidentally enough, makes candy of a vast variety more than chocolate.) Golden-hearted, poverty-stricken Charlie is lucky enough to be one of those ticket holders and is treated to a magical, musical safari of delights by weird, wonky Wonka (Gene Wilder), who may just have more in store for his guests than they suspect.

The film plays like a love-letter to childhood, rife with social commentary and a biting criticism of the effect of consumerism on younger generations. Wilder plays every subtlety of the twisted titular confection-king to the tee. Instead of pushing his characterization over the top, as Depp would do to great effect in the 2005 version, Wilder adds layers of depth to Wonka with the slightest sideways glance. It’s a wonderful, fully realized performance that provides the film with as much lasting character as its strange green-haired Oompa Loompas, the memorable sing-along songs and the factories magical chocolate waterfalls.

The Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Blu-ray Disc seems to be a simple port of Warner Home Videos previously available HD-DVD edition, squeezing the film and all the bonus content onto a single layer BD-25 disc. Despite having less room to play than dual layer disc would allow, WHV delivers a fairly nice looking encode. The film is truly colourful, exhibiting good contrast and decent black levels on the disc. Detail suffers, with soft images here and there but nothing that will keep you from appreciating this nice, film-like transfer.

Special features are identical to the DVD and HD-DVD editions with the only upgrade being the 38-page hardcover book the Blu-ray comes packaged in. I’ve got to say, I’m a sucker for these books. If I’ve got to suffer physical media for another decade, I’d rather have my discs stored in attractive, informative books than non-desrcript blue-plastic cases. The disc itself includes a trailer, a vintage featurette, sing-along karaoke versions of the songs from the film and a nice, marginally entertaining reunion commentary track from the five golden-ticket holding kids, now grown adults with spotty memories. The most enjoyable and informative extra is the “Pure Imagination: The Story of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” documentary. It’s short but sweet, like all the best confections!

Previously on The Blu-ray Blog: Blu-ray Announcement Round-up: Gone With the Wind, Willy Wonka, Iron Monkey, Drunken Master, Hero, Zatoichi

When we posted the details for the District 9 Blu-ray disc a couple of weeks ago, we had no idea that it would include a demo of the upcoming God of War III PS3 videogame! The combinination of PS3 videogame and Hollywood film is an industry first for Blu-ray in North America and a pretty exciting development, if you ask me.

I’ve never been terribly interested in playing BD-Java games, as some discs have offered up. They seem like tacked-on ideas half-heartedly concocted in an attempt to fulfill the promise of Blu-ray discs extensibility. What I am interested in though, is a full featured PS3 game propagated from the film I’m watching and on the same disc! I understand that if this does indeed come to pass, it’ll most likely only be on a Sony disc of a Sony Pictures film. Fair enough. So no X-Men or Batman game/movie combos. But hope springs eternal for something really cool on the upcoming Spiderman 4 Blu-ray disc, likely to be issued around the holidays in 2011!

Star Trek – DVD Bonus Footage

I won’t watch this scene. Not yet. I’m waiting for the Star Trek Blu-ray to show up, so I can bury myself in it for two full weeks. I want my experience to be fresh. That being said, I’m so tempted to check out this deleted scene of Romulan ship Captain, Nero being interrogated by the Klingons! This Star Trek Blu-ray is going to be sooooo good! I apologize in advance if my review of the disc is biased in any way. It simply can’t be helped…

Previously on The Blu-ray Blog: Star Trek (2009) Blu-ray Deleted Scenes Described in Detail

Via: Ain’t It Cool News