DVD Review: Disney’s UP and Monster’s Inc. Blu-ray
So there is no real need to bore you with what many already know and that is these are my two favorite Pixar movies of all time with The Incredibles right in the mix there. Perhaps the reason why these two are my favorite it because of the imaginative nature of both.
UP
Let’s start with this year’s best movie, UP. In my theatrical review I said that the film was “worth watching because when you go home you are still thinking about it. This is a film when you leave the theater and you’re not only thinking about it the next day, but this is one I will be thinking about next year.” I wasn’t kidding about this when I wrote it and I am still thinking about even now as I own the Blu-ray. The film is the perfect blend of comedy, love and adventure featuring unlikely heroes and wonderful imaginative characters. My favorite person in the movie is actually the lovable dog, Dug. I mean such a creative character that shows you the brilliance in the writer/director Pete Docter.
The UP Blu-ray has a lot going on with it and that is the best thing about it. I am not a big special features guru but this one brings a lot of interesting ones that allow you to explore the best film of 2009 in lots of different ways. First off, you get a digital copy and dvd copy of the film but then you get all this:
Dug’s Special Mission – a new short film featuring Dug makes it easily the best feature. It also happens to tie directly in to the film and shows what happened to Dug right before he met Carl and Russell. Alpha gives Dug a ’special mission’ in order to get him out of the way while they search for the rare indigenous bird, Kevin. This made me love Dug more and more and had me laughing out loud all the time. Global Guardian Badge Game - This is a fun geography quiz; Cine-Explore - This is a “making of” video that you can watch while the movie plays. It is hosted by director Pete Docter and co-director Bob Peterson. This is cool for those who like to watch both at the same time; The Many Endings of Muntz is a feature that shows the various ways they tried to tackle the character of Muntz. We see him ultimately getting lost in the rock maze, drifting away in the balloon house, turning good, etc. It’s an interesting look at the creative process of the character; Partly Cloudy is my other favorite feature because it is the short film that preceded UP in theaters. Since I saw a press screening and 3D version they never showed in front of film screenings. The premise is about storks delivering baby animals to Earth after they’ve been created by fluffy clouds. The story follows one hapless stork that must deliver the less cute baby animals to Earth. He must start with a rather dangerous baby alligator and it goes downhill from there; Adventure is Out There – This documentary featurette that shows Docter’s visit to the Tepuis Mountains of Venezuela to do research for the film. Geriatric Hero, shows the development of Carl, but we don’t get to see Ed Asner voicing the character; Canine Companions focuses on the dogs in the movie and how they classify dog behavior, all the canine quirks are enjoyable.
Other features are Russell: Wilderness Explorer - see how a crew member influenced the look of little Russell; Our Giant Flightless Friend, Kevin - see how Kevin came to life in this film; Homemakers of Pixar – See the deign of the house and all the detail inside it; Balloons and Flight - this highlights the design of the zeppelin and the balloon house; Composing for Characters – my third favorite feature, we see Michael Giacchino creating the music for the film; Married Life - There was an alternate version of the opening scene showing Elle and Carl growing up together. In this version, we see them hitting each other as kids. It starts when Carl tries to trap a bird and Elle punches him for it. We see various clips of them hitting each other until they end up falling for each other and marrying. As Ellie lays in the hospital, she gives Carl one last punch; UP promo montage - This actually feels like a batch of deleted scenes. We see a bunch of footage of the characters doing random, silly things on the screen, mostly without dialogue.
Monsters Inc.
Who wasn’t afraid of monsters when they were a kid? Who wasn’t afraid of the dark and the creepy crawly things that could be hiding there. Now here is a concept, what if the monsters were real and they were just as scared of you as you are of them but they needed your screams to power their own world? That is the type of creative story that makes Monsters Inc. a wonderfully imaginative film.
The copy of the film comes packed with a digital copy of the film along with a normal dvd version. It is also like Up, jam packed with special extras and features.
First off we have the Commentary with Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, John Lasseter, and Lee Unkrich as they deliver yet another fascinating, production-heavy track loaded with energy and insight. Then there is the Shorts: For the Birds/Mike’s New Car both shorts are from the previous release, lastly we are graced with HD verison of the films’ trailers.
Perhaps one of the most interesting features is the Humans Only Section – An incredible collection of production extras that take you through a tour of the Pixar facility showing you the development of the film, from pre-production to it’s release. This material has been brought over from the previous two-disc DVD but for those who have not seen it before and have yet to explore the world behind Monsters, Inc. this collection is well worth going through. My biggest complaint is that the featurettes are presented in standard definition. However the still galleries are presented in high definition. Of course there is also a Monsters Only Section - which is a fun, but far less interesting collection mostly designed for children including games, music video, orientation classes and a few small featurettes.
The Blu-ray exclusive content is somewhat more extensive with a filmmaker Intro with Pete Docter as he takes us through what we will be seeing on the disc. That is a great segue into the Filmmakers Round Table – Pixar imagineers Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson, and Bob Peterson reminisce about this nearly nine-year-old picture. There is a really cool feature called Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek: Building Monstropolis in Japan which is a quick look at the gorgeous, elaborate Disneyland Tokyo ride. I think everyone in the states watching this will wish they’d bring this ride to Disneyland or Disneyworld.
The disc has BD-Live as well. On the second Disc we have Roz’s 100 Door Challenge, a cute collection of mini-games for the kids. On Discs Three and Four we have the Digital Copy and the DVD Copy.
Both of these are worth buying for families, fans and those who have yet to find these wonderful stories. I have written many times on how Disney has been brilliant about the combo packs and maximizes distribution as well forces families to get the Blu-ray. Enjoy both of these wonderful stories from the mind of Pete Docter and Pixar.
