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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I’ve been waiting to see Henry Selick‘s adaptation of James and the Giant Peach for almost 15-years now. And I would be lying to you if I told you that I wasn’t disappointed. Unlike most who saw it in theatres back in 1996, I wasn’t expecting a repeat of his very successful Nightmare Before Christmas – another Selick outing produced by (and in that case, conceived and designed by) Tim Burton. To his credit here, it’s Selick’s fully animated scenes that are the highlight of the picture. Some of the stop-motion work is truly inspiring – a showdown with a giant mechanical shark and underwater battle with pirate-skeletons come immediately to mind. But the film, sadly, falls apart in its clunky, live-action opening and closing scenes.

The first act of this adaptation of the famous Roald Dahl novel feels off kilter, as a live-action James loses his parents and moves in with his abusive aunties who make him work day and night, with only left over fish heads to eat. It isn’t until a magical giant peach grows in their yard that the film comes to life. James and his world become stop-motion animated as he meets a group of insects who join him on a journey over the wild seas to New York City in their giant-peach mobile, flown through the air by a flock of captured seagulls. Sadly, after all the wonderfully rendered scenes of high adventure, it ends as it began, with real-life actors on real-life sets and some really stiff, uncomfortable-looking performances. Perhaps Selick just isn’t comfortable directing actors. He should stick to animation.

Clearly, the animation is the highlight of James and the Giant Peach. That’s why this Blu-ray disc presentation will be such a disappointment to most who’ll pick it up. It appears quite soft and aged, like a film from a much earlier decade, rich with grain and a seemingly colour-shifted palette. Disney has cleaned the film up and granted it a great transfer for this new Blu-ray. I’m certain that most of the gauzy haze that seems to overpower some scenes here (notably the live-action ones) is intentional and part of the style of the picture. The image may not appear clean and modern here but the dynamic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack goes a long way toward making the film feel fresh. This is a powerful, explosive mix that is sure to please.

I enjoyed the film well enough and was pleased with the vintage look of the Blu-ray image but the big let-down of this new James and the Giant Peach disc release is the lack of engaging bonus features. There’s a brand new, Blu-ray exclusive “Spike the Aunts” interactive game that’s probably all right for the little ones in the family. Leaving me only the 5-minute long, EPK style featurette, a Randy Newman music video (blech!), a still frame gallery, and the film’s original theatrical trailer to enjoy.

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Grover Crisp and his wizards at Sony have done it again. Their new transfer of the film onto Blu-ray has made me feel like I’ve just seen Jason and the Argonauts for the first time. It’s the same classic story that debuted on-screen in 1963 – Jason, favoured by the Gods to reclaim his kingdom from an evil despot, gathers a crew of mighty warriors in a quest to obtain the magical Golden Fleece and prove his worth to his people – but now it looks and sounds better than ever before. It’s almost like watching a brand spanking new print of the film in the theatre!

There’s a healthy amount of film grain present here, with levels of detail far beyond anything I’ve ever seen before in this film. Those unfamiliar with Harryhausen’s type of stop-motion animation might be displeased with the inconsistency in the image from shot to shot, scene to scene (the film cuts from clean, crisp, restored images to soft, effect shots) but loss of detail and fidelity is to be expected in those moments and is a natural side-effect of the process. Fans of the film will note that some day-for-night shots (shooting in the day with a filter and camera settings to make the picture darker, giving an appearance of night-time) have been brightened or re-timed to match the time-line of the story (most notably in the Harpie sequence.) Alterations like these are few on the disc but significant and follow the wishes of the filmmakers, setting this effort far apart from the previously released DVD edition of the film.

Speaking of the DVD, colours appear to be more subdued in this new high-def transfer, with flesh tones appearing more natural now. Less radiant orange as in the old SD version. You might also note that the aspect ratio is slightly different here, exhibiting a more open-framed 1.66:1 than the DVDs full frame and 1.75:1 widescreen options. If you ask me, the Blu-ray is the superior option all around.

And that goes for the fairly full DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track, which is far less “thin” than you would expect a film of this age to sound. I’m sure this can be attributed to the muscular Bernard Herrmann score, which sounds more robust and dynamic here than ever before.

Allow me to continue heaping praise on this disc by raving about the extraordinary special features Sony has assembled. Sure, there’s almost 2-hours of entertaining and informative documentary features including the excellent, hour-long “The Harryhausen Chronicles” narrated by Leonard Nimoy, the 25-minute “The Harryhausen Legacy” and a 12-minute interview by director John Landis. But the real highlights of the disc are the two extraordinary feature-length commentary tracks, with Ray Harryhausen and film historian, writing partner and biographer Tony Dalton delivering an almost interview style of conversation on the first and Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and visuals effects artist William Randall Cook rambling their mile-a-minute nerd-knowledge on the second. As fantastic as it is to hear the the 90-year old Harryhausen recall details of the film as he screens the new Blu-ray, I have to say I found the Jackson/Cook track to be the more engaging and informative of the two. Those guys really know their stuff and they’re damn passionate about it! A great listen on a great disc!

Jason and the Argonauts on Blu-ray receives my highest possible recommendation!

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I had heard tell that writer/director Wes Anderson actually didn’t have much of a hand in the production of Fantastic Mr. Fox, and that the stop-motion animators responsible for bringing the characters to life on a day-to-day basis were forced to take the reigns in his place. After watching the film, I can’t believe that for a moment. Fantastic Mr. Fox feels like an Anderson film through and through. The visual style, the dialogue, the pacing – it’s all trademark Anderson. And it truly is Fantastic.

Adapted from a Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) story, Fantastic Mr. Fox is given a very new and modern life, voiced by uber-celeb George Clooney. It’s a similar device to that used in adapting Sendak‘s Where the Wild Things Are to celluloid – animated characters from a children’s book speaking naturalistic dialogue, grounding the film while mining greater depth and complexity from a seemingly simple concept. And it really works here. The visual style speaks directly to the children’s book illustrations that bore it. But the wonderful performances of the very smart script, along with the trademark vintage-Anderson music-mix elevate this film from mere animated fare aimed at children to the sort of well made art-film that even the pop-culture intelligentsia can appreciate.

And Blu-ray fans also have a lot to appreciate with the Fantastic Mr. Fox disc. It’s gorgeous! And it should be with a direct digital-to-digital transfer from Nikon D3 digital still camera footage that exhibits beautiful, rich colours, deep blacks and a ton of detail. While not as overwhelmingly sublime as the visuals, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is dynamic and clear. It’s not as immersive as it could have been but nevermind. This front-heavy mix makes Anderson’s musical selections sound great here.

Their isn’t a lot of variety in the Fantastic Mr. Fox special feature set, but the extras on the disc are nothing to shake a tail at! The main feature is a six-part documentary that runs almost 45-minutes and covers every aspect of production from the script to the design to the cast. While it doesn’t quite take the place of a commentary track it is an excellent and fairly candid look behind-the-scenes of the film. There are also a couple of featurettes providing a very brief look at “The World of Roald Dahl” and a 2-minute animated sports lesson in “A Beginner’s Guide to Whack-Bat“. The disc is rounded out with the theatrical trailer and DVD and Digital Copies of the feature film.

Read more: Fantastic Mr. Fox coming to Blu-ray in March

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Clash of the Titans is the last great hurrah of stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, after years spent making movie magic for such films as the original Mighty Joe Young (with King Kong animation pioneer Willis O’Brien), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts. It tells the story of heroic Perseus, son of top-God Zeus, who must save his beloved Andromeda from the monstrous Kraken, last of the Titans. Along the way he fights through a demonic horde of Harryhausen’s animated beasts, like the deformed Calibos and the gorgon Medusa, with only his wits and divine armaments to carry him home to his princess. It’s a pretty straight forward but spirited adventure that clearly celebrates the wonder of the Greek mythology it draws from. Modern audiences might find the story a bit corny and will definitely be turned off by the antiquated special effects but film and animation buffs, along with those who grew up in the 80s, will no doubt look upon Clash of the Titans quite fondly.

The visual presentation of the Clash of the Titans Blu-ray disc is a challenging one to grade. To most eyes, this transfer will look like a mess. Varying levels of contrast, detail and grain will provide most with a confusing viewing experience. These issues are most likely all source based. There’s no evidence that Warner has done anything but a top-notch job with the elements at hand – elements that were clearly wrung through the ringer in the process of creating the vintage, multi-composite and stop-motion special effects on a shoe-string budget. In short, what Clash of the Titans needs to meet modern expectations is a full scale restoration. And I’m not expecting that to happen in the short term. So, this remaster is without question the finest this film will look for years. I personally found it a joy to watch, even with those really rough spots.

The audio is pretty decent here, despite the fact that the DTS-HD Master Audio track is only two channels. Even without a newly-created surround track, Clash of the Titans manages to present a nice, wide sound field and a fairly dynamic presentation on the whole.

The Clash of the Titans Blu-ray comes to us in another one of Warner’s beautiful hardcover book packages. I love these things. Like I’ve said a number of times now, if I’ve got to have packaged media, I prefer to have it on my shelf with this touch of class. And Warner really delivers here. Sadly, I have to report that all is not heavenly in Olympus! The special features on the disc are quite spare, improving on the DVD with the sole addition of a 5-minute “sneak-peek” of the upcoming Clash of the Titans remake, slated to hit theatres April 2nd. The only other features, still presented in their original 4:3 standard-def, are short conversations with Clash of the Titans creator, Harryhausen. Now, to be fair, the 23-minute A Conversation with Ray Harryhausen is quite good, and serves, for all intents and purposes, as a sort of “making-of” doc. The Myths and Monsters feature is a collection of seven very, very short Harryhausen comments on the creation of each of his animated creatures form the film. It would have been much less annoying with a “Play All” feature so I didn’t have to click on each one to listen to the individual 1-2 minute clips.

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This is a huge release week for me. One of the most important of the year. There’s not a lot hitting the shops today but a couple of films here number amongst my favourites. As always, your clicks matter. If you enjoy this weekly column and want to support it and the site, please make your purchases through our Amazon links. By doing so, you’re directly helping the The Blu-ray Blog stay alive…just like Johnny 5.

I can’t believe I just typed that…

1. PONYO

What more can I possibly say about the incredible Ponyo Blu-ray disc that I didn’t already cover in my review? This is an incredible film now available in a flawless, absolutely stunning Blu-ray presentation. If you’re not already a fan of Studio Ghibli and animation master Hayao Miyazaki this is the perfect place to start. If you’re already a fan, what are you waiting for? Get out there and pick up a copy of Ponyo on Blu-ray!!

Read my full review here: Ponyo Blu-ray Disc Review

Amazon: $24.99

Also available today: 3 more films by Hayao Miyazaki on DVD – My Neighbour Totoro, Castle in the Sky and Kiki’s Delivery Service.

2. CLASH OF THE TITANS

I love love love Clash of the Titans!!! Once upon a time I tried to make a giant papier mache head of Titans villain, Calibos. It didn’t turn out too well (Gimme a break…I was only 6 years old!) Needless to say, this is a much anticipated release for me. I haven’t seen the disc yet but I understand that, while being a very faithful film transfer and excellent encode, the quality of the source material itself leaves a lot to be desired. Expect to see a very healthy amount of grain and varying levels of detail on the Blu-ray, especially during the incredible stop-motion animation sequences by Ray Harryhausen. Despite its imperfections, you can feel confident picking this disc up as it’s probably the best Clash of the Titans will ever look on home video, barring a very expensive restoration.

Amazon: $26.99

3. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

The Maurice Sendak classic, Where the Wild Things Are has been a favourite book in my family for years and years. It became even more special when my sister named her son Max after the title character of the story (I was pushing for Maximus…it was 2000 after all, and Gladiator was a big hit at the time!) It kills me that I missed out on seeing Spike Jonze‘s adaptation when it was in theatres last year but I’m excited to finally get a chance to check it out on Blu-ray. I haven’t received my review copy yet so I can’t speak to the quality of the disc itself but I can tell you that this thing is packed with special features, the coolest of which is the NFB produced Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life.

Amazon: $19.99

4. THE NEVERENDING STORY

Geez, it’s been so long since I’ve seen the Neverending Story that I’m not sure I’m fit to even comment on it! All I can tell you right now is that when I was young I enjoyed the heck out of the film. I also remember spending a summer up at our cottage listening to the (admittedly crap) theme song ad nauseum for two months on my old cassette tape recorder (I believe I had recorded the track by holding the microphone of the machine up to the speaker of our family stereo system while the song played over the radio…those were the days…) Oh, and the film (specifically that wolf-like Gmork!) still scares the crap out of my pal, Karl. ATREYU!!

Amazon: $17.99

5. 2012

I hate disaster movies. And, as such, I have no desire to see Roland Emmerich‘s 2012. I include it here only because I realize that it’s a major studio release and a lot of people are interested in it. But honestly, if you can only afford one or two Blu-ray discs this week and you need to buy something new, you owe it to yourself to scan up a little higher on my Top 5 list. Do yourself a favour and pick up Ponyo. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. There’s a even a huge tidal wave in it, for you disaster flik fanatics!!

Amazon: $22.99

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

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I’m not sure how I missed this one last month. A trailer for Henry Selick‘s (Coraline) stop-motion animated James and Giant Peach has turned up on YouTube! Disney has yet to announce the title so all that’s known about the release is what you can see in the trailer. However, it seems as if the Blu-ray disc is being marketed to take advantage of the upcoming Tim Burton film, Alice in Wonderland (Burton was a producer on Peach). It seems likely that we’ll see James and the Giant Peach on Blu-ray in a release that coincides with Wonderland, sometime in June.

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Despite my love for the films of Wes Anderson there’s just something about this Fantastic Mr. Fox film that didn’t appeal to me when it was released. Maybe it was the hype surrounding it or the feeling that it was another trendy adaptation of a kids book aimed at the hipsters of my generation. As a result, I didn’t end up seeing it in the theatres. And now I regret missing it. Thankfully, I’m going to get another chance on March 23rd, when Fox brings it to Blu-ray! Details below:

Special Features:

* Making Mr. Fox Fantastic:
o The Look of Fantastic Mr. Fox (BD-exclusive)
o From Script to Screen
o The Puppet Makers (BD-exclusive)
o Still Life: Puppet Animation
o The Cast (BD-exclusive)
o Bill and His Badger (BD-exclusive)

* A Beginner’s Guide to Whack-Bat
* Fantastic Mr. Fox: The World of Roald Dahl (BD-exclusive)

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Once upon a time I made a giant papier-mâché head of Clash of the Titans villain, Calibos. Yeah, I was obsessed with the film. Greek myths, stop motion animation by the legendary Ray Harryhausen, and Sir Laurence Olivier starring as the all powerful King of the gods, Zeus – Titans has it all. You can understand my excitement then, when I heard that the film would be hitting Blu-ray in a beautiful new Digibook edition. TImed, of course, to support the new big-screen adaptation hitting cinemas next year.

The Neverending Story, another fantasy themed film from the 80s will be released along side it in a bare-bones Blu-ray edition. I recall liking that film well enough when I was young. Maybe even loving the theme song by Limahl. Never enthralled with the movie itself, as I had been with Titans. But I think my pal, Karl was clearly effected by the spookier elements of it all, as he is still scared shitless by even the mention of the evil dark wolf creature, Gmork! I look forward to seeing The Neverending Story again for the first time in years, when both Blu-ray discs are released on March 2nd!

Special Features:

• A Conversation with Ray Harryhausen
• Maps of Myths and Monsters Gallery
• Trailers:
  • Original 1981 movie
  • 2010 version

Special Features:

• Trailer

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Coraline creeps through the portal to home video

Now, this is exactly the Blu-ray news that’ll get me out of bed early on a Thursday morning. Henry Selick‘s brilliant stop-motion adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s Coraline is making it’s way to Blu-ray, with both 2-D and 3-D formats available on the same disc! This is fantastic! Coraline is the first film I ever had the pleasure to see in 3-D in the theatre and I have to say, I was so taken aback by the effect that I barely noticed the film itself for the first 15-20 minutes or so. After the technical be-dazzlement wore thin, I sat stunned, wholly taken in by the content alone. This was not only a fantastic film but an incredible theatrical experience for me. One I can’t wait to replicate in my home theatre.

(WARNING: SCIENCE ZONE AHEAD) But while details of the process used to bring 3-D to the Coraline Blu-ray are nowhere to be found at this early date we can safely assume that the four included pair of glasses will be of the old-school anaglyph (red/blue) variety as opposed to the more effective polarized lenses used in theaters. To bring this experience home, I would need to own a projector that will show the film at 72fps, a push-pull electro-optical modulator called a ZScreen in front of the lens, switching polarization and a special cinema screen to minimize depolarization and to reflect back as much light as possible to counter polarization losses. Sigh. With all the gadgets involved and the ridiculous expense attached I don’t see high quality 3-D happening in living rooms anytime soon for those of us not named Bill Gates. Until the time when a new technology succeeds and becomes an affordable solution for the home, we’ll have to settle for the same cheap alternative used on The Creature from the Black Lagoon over half a century ago. (NOTE: END OF SCIENCE ZONE)

With or without 3-D, the film is a triumph of animation and of story. And the Blu-ray disc looks set to please as well:

CORALINE
(July 21, 2009, MSRP $39.98)
2-D and 3-D Versions Included
4 Pairs of 3-D Glasses Included
Video: 1.85:1 1080p VC-1
Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio

Special Features Include:

• Feature commentary with director Henry Selick and composer Bruno Coulais (on 2-D and 3-D versions)
• Deleted scenes
• The Making of ‘Coraline’
• Voicing the Characters
• Creepy Coraline
• D-Box
• U-Control (on 2-D version only):

◦ Picture-in-picture
◦ Tours and voice sessions
◦ Animatic picture-in-picture

• BD Live:

◦ My Scenes Sharing
◦ The World According to Henry

• Digital copy of 2-D version (expires July 31, 2010)

Link to details of Coraline Collector’s Edition DVD: www.nbcuniversalstore.com

To learn more about Coraline visit this excellent blog: EVIL BUTTONS
Review at FPS Magazine: Coraline Review

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