Next up: Classics on Blu-ray

MORE GIFT IDEAS:

* GIFT & BOXED SETS
* TV ON BLU
* CLASSICS
* THE BEST OF THE YEAR

Animation just doesn’t get any better than the work of Hayao Miyazaki. His latest film, Ponyo is also his first on Blu-ray. This is not only a perfect gift for kids and animation fans but also for film fans of all ages.

Highest possible recommendation!!

READ MORE: Ponyo Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $21.99

I reviewed the Fantastic Mr. Fox Blu-ray way back in March and, let me tell you, I’m still surprised at how much I enjoyed it! I’m a fan of Wes Anderson but didn’t think I’d care for this stop-motion animation take on the classic Roald Dahl tale. What a pleasant surprise! It’s a great film with a stellar presentation on Blu-ray disc.

READ MORE: Fantastic Mr. Fox Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $17.49

Highly recommended!!

READ MORE: Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $16.49

I’m still hoping to get my hands on a copy of The Secret of Kells Blu-ray disc (hint hint!) but understand that it’s stellar in just about every possible way. The film itself is one of the best animated films to be released in years and worth your every attention. If the Blu-ray lives up to its reputation of having a killer transfer and great audio, this one could end up with a special place on my Blu-ray “shelf-of-honour“.

READ MORE: Oscar nominated animated film The Secret of Kells coming to Blu-ray

AMAZON: $18.49

Disney is really killing it with the Blu-ray releases of their classic catalogue titles. And Beauty and the Beast is one of the most significant, as it truly ushered in the modern renaissance of the studio’s 2D animated offerings. The film looks unbelievably great on Blu-ray and features tons of amazing special features. Again, another pick that’ll please animation AND film fans alike.

READ MORE: Beauty and the Beast: Diamond Edition Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $19.49

I’m really steamed that I missed out How to Train Your Dragon. By all accounts, this is one of the best animated films to come out in the past number of years and the finest work of Dreamworks animations studios since the original Shrek. I just might have to grab a copy of the Blu-ray disc for my niece and nephew for Christmas, just so that I can finally get to see it myself!

AMAZON: $18.99

Warner Home Video and DC Comics continued their onslaught of animated superhero adaptations throughout the year, releasing four new Blu-ray discs in 2010, culminating with the DC Showcase collection of exceptional short films this past month. My favourite disc of the lot (though I enjoyed them all) is the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths disc, which features a fun dimension-hopping story, great character designs and a slate of decent special features. But they’re all highly recommended for fans of the comics.

READ MORE:

• Batman: Under the Red Hood Blu-ray Disc Review
• Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Blu-ray Disc Review
• Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $18.99, $20.99, $10.99, $9.99

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs doesn’t look like a whole hell of a lot but it’s one of my girlfriend’s favourite films of the entire year (and I thought it was pretty all right too!) Released way back of the beginning of January the title is now available in a Blu-ray 3D edition as well as the standard, old Blu-ray combo pack.

READ MORE: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $14.99

As I said before, Disney is on a roll with its Blu-ray releases of catalogue animation titles. Fantasia and its sister film, Fantasia 2000 both look and sound stellar in high-def. It’s unfortunate that most of the old DVD special features have been relegated to an online BD-Live archive, providing the sole option of streaming the content to your screen, as opposed to putting it on a local disc. Don’t let this single shortcoming keep you from adding this exceptional presentation of a classic film to your collection. Recommended!

READ MORE: Fantasia / Fantasia 2000 Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $27.99

FUNimation has been releasing some great anime series on Blu-ray this year. Not all of them were created in HD, so the studio has been tirelessly improving their up-conversion process (taking the standard definition material and turning it into HD goodness!) to provide the best looking presentation possible. And you know, they’re doing a bang up job. The titles above are among my favourite released this year, with Eden of the East being one of the best looking, best written, most compelling animated series I’ve seen in an age. It especially comes highly recommended!

READ MORE:

• Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of May 18 – DRAGONBALL Z KAI: PART ONE
• Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of May 25 – FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD PART 1
• Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of October 19 – Eden of the East: The Complete Series

AMAZON: $37.99, $19.99, $69.98, $19.99

I’m not a big fan of the Family Guy but I kinda get how their Star Wars spoof episodes are so popular. Anyway, all three shows will be available for the first time in this brand new Blu-ray boxed set on December 21st.

AMAZON: $27.99

Far from Disney’s absolute best animated film but a decent return to form as the studio’s first hand-drawn effort in years, The Princess and the Frog is a great choice for any young girl who loves a musical rags-to-princess story.

READ MORE: The Princess and the Frog Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $28.99

And while we’re on the subject of Disney and the films that little girl’s might like, it’s hard to beat the revisionist (it’s hard to believe this is the same character from J.M. Barrie‘s Peter Pan!) direct-to-video Tinkerbell series. These things have been consistently entertaining and this years’ entry, The Great Fairy Rescue is no exception.

READ MORE: Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Blu-ray Disc Review

AMAZON: $18.49

ANIMATION ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:

MORE GIFT IDEAS:

* GIFT & BOXED SETS
* TV ON BLU
* CLASSICS
* THE BEST OF THE YEAR

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There are about five-million reason to be excited about this next animated release from Warner and DC, chief among them is that it’s an adaptation of one of the all-time best Superman stories ever told! Aside from the story itself, the aspect of the the upcoming All-Star Superman Blu-ray disc that has got me crapping my pants with excitement is the fact that it includes a commentary track. And it’s not just any old commentary track, oh no. THIS IS A GODDAMN GRANT MORRISON COMMENTARY TRACK!!! You heard me correctly. Morrison, the crazy/brilliant/visionary/under-the-influence Scottish writer responsible for the original graphic novel on which the film is based, is going to talk you all the way through the plot, along with producer Bruce Timm. Now, if only DC could convince him to record a commentary that would clear up what in the hell happened in his Final Crisis and Return of Bruce Wayne books, we’d have something there.

ALL STAR SUPERMAN
(February 22, 2011 – MSRP $24.98)
Video: 1080p
Audio: TBA

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Sneak Peak at Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie
• Featurette: “Superman Now” – In a moment of inspiration, Grant Morrison was provided an opportunity to revamp the Man of Steel into something modern, something more relevant for today’s audience. This is the story of All-Star Superman – where it all started, and what it came to be
• Two bonus episodes from animated television series handpicked by Bruce Timm
• Featurette: “Incubating the Idea” – A conversation with Grant Morrison
• Audio Commentary: Bruce Timm and Grant Morrison
• All-Star Superman Digital Comic Book
• Standard and high definition versions of the feature film
• Digital copy on disc of the feature film

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I’ve never been a big fan of Disney‘s Bambi. But I’ll tell you, with the quality of these recent restorations prepared for the Blu-ray Diamond Editions, I’ll happily sit through any of Disney’s catalogue, no matter my feelings on the subject matter. The transfers have been immaculate to this point, and I suspect Bambi will follow suit. We’ll know for sure in March when the Blu-ray disc hits shops.

Special Features:

• Disney’s Second Screen – Content comes alive on your laptop, iPad, or smartphone as you watch the movie.
• Disney View – 16×9 Full frame viewing experience
• Intro by Diane Disney Miller
• Inside Walt’s Story Meetings – Enhanced interactive edition
• Two never-before-seen deleted scenes
• Deleted song
• Blu-ray interactive galleries
• Game: Disney Big Book of Knowledge
• Classic DVD bonus features

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I’m thrilled that DC and Warner‘s animation division are taking on Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely‘s All Star Superman! I actually just read the 12-issue series and was blown away by both the story and the art. To see even a hint of it translated into animation is like a dream come true.

The trailer above comes courtesy of MTV, who got the exclusive today. It’s tough to tell with all the compression artifacts marring the image but I think this thing is going to look pretty great, with character designs that carry over some of Quitely’s style, perhaps pushing it slightly into Peter Chung (Aeon Flux) territory. All Star Superman stars James Denton (Desperate Housewives) as the voice of the Man of Steel, Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) as Lois Lane, and Anthony LaPaglia as Lex Luthor (Without a Trace) and should appear on store shelves in January or February 2011.

Following the release of All Star Superman on Blu-ray (and DVD, of course), Bruce Timm and his team will deliver an animated Green Lantern anthology (to compliment next summers film starring Ryan Reynolds, much as they released the Gotham Knights film alongside The Dark Knight in 2008) followed by an adaptation of Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli‘s brilliant Batman: Year One in the fall. Few details are available yet but in the video interview below, Timm states that the story will be faithful to the classic tale, with art reminiscent of Mazzuchelli’s. I can’t wait!

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This is extraordinary news! According to pre-order listings on Amazon.jp, Studio Ghibli‘s next two Blu-ray releases will be Hayao Miyazaki‘s 1986 Laputa, Castle in the Sky and his partner, Isao Takahata‘s 1999 comedy, My Neighbors the Yamadas.

You might recall that Yamadas was long rumoured to be the first Ghibli Blu-ray disc release, following Ponyo. However, the less-popular title was temporarily shelved in favour of bringing the studio’s first film to Blu-ray - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, released to great success in Japan on July 14th (read our follow up story here.) While none of these titles have yet to be announced for domestic release here in North America, we can expect to hear something soon, seeing as how plans are afoot for UK and Aussie releases before the end of the year.

Both Laputa and Yamadas will be in Japanese shops on December 22nd.

LAPUTA, CASTLE IN THE SKY
(December 22, 2010 – MSRP ￥ 7,140)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: Japanese 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio (French, German, Korean, Cantonese, Mandarin DD 2.0 audio)
Subs: Japanese, English, French, Korean, Chinese (simplified and traditional) and Finnish

Special Features:

• North American edition of the movie with DD 5.1 English audio and Japanese subs
• Picture in Picture content (Storyboards)
• “Screenplay” (Afureko daihon)
• Isolated opening and ending (without credits text)
• Trailers and TV Spots

MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS
(December 22, 2010 – MSRP ￥ 7,140)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (English, German in 5.1 DD and Korean, Mandarin in 2.0 DD)
Subs: Japanese, English, French, Korean, Chinese and German

Special Features:

• Nippon TV “Making Of” special (45min)
• Storyboards
• “Screenplay” (Afureko daihon)
• Trailers
• TV Spot

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Right out of the gate, you know that Under the Red Hood means business. The film opens with Batman rocketing toward an abandoned warehouse to save his young partner who is being savagely beaten by the dark knight’s arch nemesis, crazed madman the Joker. Savagely beaten. On screen. With a crowbar. This is a violent, more realistic portrayal of these characters than we’re used to seeing animated and as such is not meant for innocent eyes. This cartoon is for the more mature fans of the comics and films.

The story is typically dark, and deeply psychological, examining Batman’s relationships with his partners in crime-fighting through the years, and his failure to live up to the role of their guardian and father figure. Neil Patrick Harris is perfectly cast as Nightwing, the first hero to go by the name of Robin and former partner to a Batman wonderfully portrayed by Bruce Greenwood. They’re trying to track down and stop the Red Hood (Jensen Ackles), a new figure in Gotham’s underworld who’s taking over the city in a reign of violence and murder. But the Red Hood is connected to Batman’s past. To bring him down, the dark knight will be forced to face his mistakes and his demons, not to mention the Joker (John DiMaggio), head on.

Under the Red Hood is another visual triumph for the Warner animation department, resulting in a high-def tour-de-force on Blu-ray. The 75-minute film is created on a tight budget that is only sometimes apartment in the movement of characters or their occasional slip off-model. The transfer onto Blu looks great here, exhibiting vibrant colours and deep blacks. Occasional compression hiccups – banding, aliasing, noise – keep this from being amongst the best looking of the DC animated Blu-ray discs. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, on the other hand, is an explosive picture of dynamic perfection that will give your LFE channel that workout it’s been clamouring for.

This Blu-ray disc features a killer selection of extras including a short Jonah Hex film written by Joe R. Lansdale and Justin Gray that easily bests its live-action counterpart which bombed in cinemas only a couple of months ago. The dark, 12-minute western-horror stars Thomas Jane as our scarred, gun-slinging hero, with co-stars Michael Rooker, Michelle Trachtenberg and Linda Hamilton filling out the cast. The animation is moody and breathtaking punctuated by an amazing score by Jeremy Zuckerman and the Track Team. If not for the short run-time, Jonah Hex would be the best thing on the Blu-ray disc.

Other extras include a couple of half-hour featurettes, each focusing on one of the characters who went by the name of Robin, a 12-minute “First Look” at WHV’s upcoming Superman/Batman Apocalypse disc, four of the finest episodes of the Batman Animated Series from the 90′s (“Robin’s Reckoning, Parts 1 & 2,” “Mad Love,” and “The Laughing Fish“) and a handful of trailers.

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If you haven’t had a chance to see the Oscar nominated animated film The Secret of Kells by independent Irish studio Cartoon Saloon, keep your eyes peeled. It will no doubt turn up in your local arthouse cinema shortly. It’s absolutely fantastic, not to mention absolutely gorgeous to look at! If you happen to miss Kells on the big screen, you’ll get a chance to enjoy it at home in high-def in October when New Video Group brings it to Blu-ray!

No details are available at this time but we do have this package art, thanks to the preorder page on Amazon. The late October time-frame comes via the official US Secret of Kells Facebook page, so you can take that to the bank. Hopefully we’ll know more details soon. This is one fantastic little film. I really hope the Blu-ray does it justice.

And just because I can’t get enough of these guys, here’s a sneak peek at the next film from Cartoon Saloon, Song of the Sea:

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I’ve been waiting for more news regarding the next DC Universe animated offering from Warner and finally, here it is! A press release outlining the details of Batman: Under the Red Hood just hit my inbox and I’ve got to tell you, I’m excited as hell about this film. These animated offerings from Bruce Timm and his crack team of 80-minute storytellers just keep getting better and better. And I’m sure this one will follow the pattern of providing the tightest superhero stories with the tightest animation this side of anime.

Because I’m a little short on time here (still haven’t had a chance to get the Top 5 list for the week written and posted!) I’m going to cut the commentary short and let this press release speak for itself.

UPDATE: Blu-ray package art!!

Batman: Under the Red Hood is scripted by award-winning comics writer Judd Winick and based on his popular 2005 comics storyline and subsequent comics graphic novel of the same name. Animation guru Bruce Timm returns as executive producer, as he has for all eight DC Universe animated original movies. Director is Brandon Vietti, who served as co-director of Superman Doomsday and was responsible for the first one-third of that film, including the fatal battle between the two title characters.

In Batman: Under the Red Hood, Batman faces his ultimate challenge as the mysterious Red Hood takes Gotham City by firestorm. One part vigilante, one part criminal kingpin, Red Hood begins cleaning up Gotham with the efficiency of Batman, but without following the same ethical code. Killing is an option. And when The Joker falls in the balance between the two, hard truths are revealed and old wounds are reopened.

Fans will be treated to an incredible package of DC Universe storytelling as the Special Edition Blu-Ray and 2-Disc Special Edition DVD include the second animated short in the all-new DC Showcase series – which features the popular DC Comics character, Jonah Hex.  The short is scripted by renowned author Joe Lansdale and stars the voices of Thomas Jane (Hung), Linda Hamilton (The Terminator), Michelle Trachtenberg (Mercy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Michael Rooker (Days of Thunder).

Batman: Under the Red Hood – 2 Disc Special Edition DVD will have more than two hours of fascinating bonus features, including:

• Featurette – Robin’s Story – It was decided it was time to add a fresh face into the story mix, which turned out to be Dick Grayson, aka Robin. This is the story of Dick Grayson and how he transformed into Robin, with Batman as his father-figure role model.
• Extended Sneak Peek at the next DC UNIVERSE Animated Original PG-13 Movie.
• Widescreen (1.78:1)
• Two title-themed episodes from of Warner Bros. Animation’s 20-year history of Batman television series, hand-picked by animation legend Bruce Timm.

Batman: Under the Red Hood Special Edition Blu-Ray will have more than three hours of bonus materials, including all the great extras from the 2-disc Special Edition DVD as well as:

• Featurette: Death in the House of Batman – The story of how DC Comics heard the fans’ cry that the new Robin was not going to fit the cape, and how the Boy Wonder was scheduled to die.
• Two additional bonus Batman-themed episodes personally selected by Bruce Timm
• Digital copy

“Batman: Under the Red Hood is another terrific entry in the groundbreaking series of DC Universe animated movies, a shining representation of the adult storytelling that comics-turned-to-film has to offer, and further evidence of the combined creative power within the collaboration of DC Entertainment, Warner Premiere, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video,” said Matt Bierman, Senior Vice President Production, Warner Premiere.
“Judd Winick’s and Doug Mahnke’s story of a Robin gone wrong introduced Batman’s most personal enemy to date.  It’s unbelievably cool to see it brought to life like this,” said Geoff Johns, Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment.

“With each exciting new chapter of the DC UNIVERSE films, fans have come to expect more – and Batman: Under the Red Hood delivers with an action-packed tale of mystery and emotional struggle brought to animated life by an outstanding filmmaking crew and voiced by the all-star talents of Bruce Greenwood, Jensen Ackles, Neil Patrick Harris and John Dimaggio,” said Amit Desai, WHV Vice President of Family, Animation & Partner Brand Marketing.

“In his feature length solo directorial debut, Brandon Vietti has brought this dark, psychological thriller to the screen with all the action and emotion of a great Batman story,” said Sam Register, Executive Vice President, Warner Bros. Animation. “

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Ladies and gentlemen, it’s now official! Shout Factory has issued a press release with all the details of their upcoming Blu-ray edition of the classic 1987 animated G.I. Joe: The Movie! You know, the one where Duke was supposed to die but in a last minute change to please parents he was miraculously revived? Or rather, you may remember it as the very silly film that introduced the Cobra La crew of flying, slithering and chanting snake people into the franchise mythology. Either way, I’m sure you recall that it wasn’t very good, outside of the fun and very dynamic title sequence. Would that the animation and vibe of the film itself could have lived up to those initial three minutes (see above video!) That said, I’m excited to watch it again for the first time in years. This time in glorious HD and in 16:9 Widescreen! Thank you, Shout Factory! Details below:

Special Features:

• Audio commentary with story consultant Buzz Dixon
• The final 8 “Knowing Is Half The Battle” PSAs that were not on the G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero – The Complete Series DVD box set.
• Original Printable Screenplay – this script was written prior to DUKE’s miraculous recovery and, thus, DUKE is dead. The script was not altered from this version on paper, but the audio session had an added line where Duke was going to survive the attack.
• Art gallery
• Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack Exclusive: Optional 16×9 Widescreen and 4×3 Full Frame Presentations

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The first time I sat down to watch The Princess and The Frog, it really didn’t work for me. The film just seemed long and unbalanced, with poorly placed attempts at humour and far too much singing. But, to be fair I wasn’t really able to give it a proper shot. You see, I was suffering a major allergy meltdown and had taken a couple of antihistamine tablets that were, unbeknownst to me until later, of the very-sleepy variety. And when those frogs and princesses started a-singing, I start a-snoring. Bad news. So I gave it a second shot. And, I’ve got to tell you, I thought it really worked on a lot of levels!

I feel like The Princess and The Frog could still use an edit and would benefit greatly from having fewer musical interludes. But there is a whole lot to like here. Chief among which is the incredible artwork and the best, most inspired and dynamic 2D, hand-drawn animation the studio has produced in decades! The painted backgrounds in particular are stunning! And aside from just being nice to look at, they provide the glue which allows the two “sections” of the film to cohere – the pre-frog segments which deal primarily with human characters, with a typical Disney-princess feel, and the post-frog-kiss scenes which play more like short Looney Tunes episodes. I almost enjoy both sections of the film better on their own merit than as part of the same film but I have a feeling that I’ve never truly appreciated the combination of straight-up human characters with silly cartoon elements (singing candelabras, animals, sea life etc…) These films really aren’t made for me, though. And that should be fairly obvious on the surface. This is a movie tailor-made for my niece and little girls like her. And as far as she’s concerned, it’s perfect.

And speaking of perfect, The Princess and The Frog is as close as a Blu-ray can come to it in the image department. That’s right, the good folks over at Disney have delivered another reference-quality disc that you’ll be proud to use to show off your home theatre set-up. The 2D animation looks amazing in the near-flawless encode, exhibiting incredible amounts of detail, brilliant, spot-on colour and deep blacks with nary a hint of the banding and aliasing that can typically crop up in these animated releases. And speaking of perfection, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 comes as close as possible to offering up a flawless audio experience as home video has ever presented!

Any fan, whether young, old or cinephile will find something to like in the special features department of this Blu-ray release. In addition to the requisite commentary track (excellent!), collection of “making of” featurettes and documentaries (also excellent!) and deleted scenes (mostly excellent but not necessary viewing), you’ll find my favourite feature – the “Work-in-progress” track which allows you to view the whole film as a series of pencil drawings and test animation in a “picture-in-picture” frame while the main feature plays. Awesome! My only complaint is that you can’t engage the commentary track while the PIP is active. Ah well, can’t have your cake and eat it too, right? The disc is rounded out by a music video, an extensive art gallery, the interactive “Princess Portraits” game for the kids, a DVD and a digital copy of the film.

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