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Title:
UP: 4-Disc Set
Media:
Blu-ray Disc + DVD + Digital Copy DVD
Blu-ray
Disc Region: A/DVD Region 1
Genre:
CGI Animated Fantasy Adventure
Starring
The Voices Of: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Delroy
Lindo, and John Ratzenberger
Writers:
Bob Peterson and Pete Docter
Director:
Pete Docter
Extras:
Dug’s Special Mission Short, Partly Cloudy Theatrical Short –
Rated G, Cine – Explore – The Making Of UP With Peter Docter and Bob
Peterson, The Many Endings Of Muntz – Alternate Scenes, Global
Guardian Badge Game: A Multilayered Geography Game, Married Life –
Expanded Character Back Story, 8 New Documentaries – Including Adventure Is
Out There and Travel To The Real Paradise Falls, Standard Definition
DVD with Bonus Features, Disney File Digital Copy for iTunes and Windows Media
Player
Languages:
BD: English DTS HD MA 5.1, and 2.0 and French and Spanish Language Dolby Digital
5.1 Surround Sound, DVD: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby
Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Subtitles For The Deaf and Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish
Language Subtitles (Blu-ray Disc Only)
Packaging:
4 – Disc Elite Blue BD Case
Sound:
BD: DTS HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 DVD:
Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2009/Blu-ray Disc Release: 2009
Theatrical
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Walt Disney Studio Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
Up
is Pixar’s tenth CGI animated feature film and arguably one of the best films
in their unprecedented streak or critical and box office success. While many
studios, including Disney, have created CGI fantasy films that rival the
artistry of Pixar, it is the storytelling brilliance and characters that make
Pixar animated films standout from it’s competitors.
Up is a satisfying fantasy that entertains and touches the
heartstrings in different ways so that children and their parents can enjoy the
film together on two different levels and come out of it better for the
experience. The film never exploits its audience with lowbrow humor and it never
undermines the intelligence of everyone who watches it. In short, Up is
such a wonderful mix of fantasy, comedy and drama that the viewer has no choice
but to suspend all disbelief and take it for real. The characters look like
classic Hollywood stars with Ed Asner’s protagonist appearing reminiscent of
Spencer Tracy while Christopher Plumber’s adventurer turned mad villain looks
not unlike Kirk Douglas. In fact if you are going to look back at iconic films,
it’s not too hard to imagine Spencer Tracy as a widower fulfilling the mutual
dream he shared with his departed wife and Kirk Douglas in his heyday was the
epitome of not only the dashing and handsome leading man, but he was the
adventurer and the kind of man who you could believe would lead a rebellion
against the Roman Republic in Spartacus or take on the wrath of the Gods
as he struggles to return to his wife in Ulysses. Even in his dramatic
roles he was equally imposing as a man who fought with words as much as brawn
like in Paths Of Glory so to model an animated character on Kirk Douglas
based on looks anyway is appropriate because he is as believable a matinee idol
as Errol Flynn was in the late 1930s and early to mid 1940s. Of course there is
a difference between how we view our heroes especially when we are young, but
not exclusively when we are young so it is not uncommon to feel disappointed
when you realize that your hero is a mortal being just like you are with his or
her own set of quirks. Sometimes the realization makes them more endearing to us
and other times it shocks us, but the voice acting and characterization in this
film is truly outstanding regardless of how one sees it.
Anyone
who has ever grown up with a dog or owns a dog will immediately fall in love
with Dug, a golden retriever fitted with a device that allows humans to
understand what he is thinking. The actions of Dug and all the dogs in Up
is so dead on that you can’t help but laugh and then want to grab your dog
buddy and give it a hug. The expression dogs give when something captures their
attention momentarily and then how they sometimes snap right back into what they
were doing before is dead on. Whether it is a squirrel or they hear a word
they’ve come to associate with something that gets them excited, like
“Treat” in the film or I remember I had a dog that would get so excited when
it heard the word “Out” because it assumed that meant it was going for a
walk that we used to spell it so he wouldn’t get too excited before we put the
leash on him.
Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment has provided consumers a fantastic four disc
set that features the film in full high definition glory with 1080p/24fps
resolution and high definition English DTS Digital Lossless 5.1 Master Audio
sound on Blu-ray Disc as well as French and Spanish Language Dubbed Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtracks and a standard definition copy for DVD users
with English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Surround Soundtrack options and finally a
disc containing a digital copy for iTunes and Windows Media Player based
portable devices. So you’ve got a BD for your main home theater set up, a DVD
for your bedroom or the kids, and a digital copy for your PC or iPod. It’s
really a fantastic package. Both the Blu-ray Disc and DVD feature English
Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as an option while the BD also
includes French and Spanish Language Subtitles too.
Extra
value features within the set include a feature length picture-in-picture
commentary with filmmakers Peter Docter and Bob Peterson that is both screen specific and technical
without ever being dull. Supporting
featurettes include Adventure Is Out There (22:00), The Many
Endings of Muntz (5:00) and nearly an hour of production diaries. Two
animated shorts, a quasi prequel to Dug’s storyline and appearance in the film
entitled Dug’s Special Mission (4:42) and a bonus short entitled Partly
Cloudy (5:49). A BD-Exclusive geography game enhanced with BD-Live wraps up
the bonus materials in this four disc set.
This
is easily one of the best home video releases of the year and I can’t
recommend checking it out enough. Up: 4-Disc Set, which features two
Blu-ray Discs, a DVD and a digital copy disc is available now at retailers on
and offline courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2009 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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