Production: Walt Disney Home
Entertainment
Video: 1080p - 16:9 - MPEG-2 (Region A)
1.85:1 aspect ratio
Audio
English: English: PCM 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit),
English: DTS,
English: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1,
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles
English SDH, English, French, Spanish, none
Disc: Single-Layered Blu-Ray (25GBs)
Runtime: 1:21:34
Extras:
• Audio commentary, short featurette, Blu-ray promo additions
Disc: 25GB Blu-ray Disc
Release Date: September 19th, 2006
Standard Blu-Ray case
Synopsis:
Set 65 million years ago, DINOSAUR tells the
compelling story of an iguanodon named Aladar, who is
separated from his own kind and raised by a clan of
lemurs, including the wisecracking Zini and the
compassionate Plio. When a devastating meteor shower
plunges their world into chaos, Aladar and his family
follow a herd of dinosaurs heading for the safety of the
"nesting grounds." As the trip becomes one
pulse-quickening adventure after another, it also forges
friendships that no hardship can destroy....
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The Film:
The breathtaking opening of Disney's computer-generated family entertainment - a swooping bird's eye view of Earth's fauna and flora 65 million years ago - knocks spots off earlier CGI movies, but must have eaten so much of the budget that the rest looks strangely pedestrian. That's a shame, because aurally and visually this creature feature is a treat, no matter that it's a palaeontological / climatalogical / geological pick 'n' mix. The script nods towards the meteorite theory of dinosaur extinction, but allows little iguanodon Aladar to survive among a cutesy lemur community. The dull plot concerns a cross-species dinosaur drive through the desert to fresh breeding grounds and sees ideological battle between nasty down-mouthed Kron and young Aladar. Kron's sister, meanwhile, is caught between the two. Disney has gained a lot from its relationship with the smaller more adventurous Pixar, which shows in the marvellous point-of-view shots, backgrounds and surface textures.
Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE.
The Video:
It's almost humorous to consider that a mere eight years ago was still considered the early days of Digital animation feature films. Disney supposedly spent a bomb on the technology of this film... and it shows. The detail is so strong at times that it rivals real life action. This, of course, differs from, say, the Pixar animation style - and demands a different type of appreciation. As a DVD reviewer - it is very hard to critique image quality like this... as it is perfect. I suspect it looks exactly as it was intended. Colors are brilliant (not overly vibrant), and often muted adding a further level of realism. Detail can be awe-inspiring at times with lizard skin close-ups and brilliant landscape visuals looking as if they were taken from a BBC nature documentary. Contrast is pristine and overall the 1080P appearance is equal to The Wild (which I consider to be the best animation feature image quality that I have seen to date.)
Screen Captures
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Audio:
I listened to the PCM track and tested out the DTS offering for just a little while and it appeared to be somewhat weaker. The PCM though sounded marvelous to me - possibly some of the better audio that I have heard on Blu-ray. Buoyant, subtle and sparingly explosive - the PCM gives great value to the presentation of the film. It is not very aggressive as the film's track never warrants anything violently demonstrative. It is clean and quite adept in representing the film - just don't expect it to rattle your windows. It is supported by English SDH, French, or Spanish, subtitle options.
Extras:
There is an audio commentary by the directorial team of Zondag +
Leighton, along with two of the digital effects management crew. They
predominantly discuss the digital animation features and there is some
talk on dinosaurs. (NOTE: the SD had a second commentary that is not
present on this single layered Blu-ray DVD.) The Monster Cloud is
a short (about 4 minute) featurette discussing the scenes involving the
impact of the meteor in Dinosaur. Only for the Blu-ray we have
Blu-Scape: Origins runs almost 6 minutes and has some strong
high-definition cinematography. Really it is a selling feature - that
they hope would entice consumers to indulge in Blu-ray. I think newer
releases actually look much better. Finally we have Movie Showcase
- that focuses on three of the more impressive scenes from the film.
Menus
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BOTTOM LINE: Incidentally this was one of the first four Disney Blu-ray launch titles. I bought it as I didn't own the SD and I have two small boys very keen on dinosaurs. It is certainly not something that would be considered technically accurate in terms of paleontological education but if your children are young enough then they will enjoy it and you can be sure to get repeat performances from this Blu-ray DVD that is pleasing to both the eyes and ears. As expected, the Disney story reinforces positive moral attributes but I do think it has less adult-appealing features (as say the amusing humor in Toy Story 2) but I can't see anyone really disappointed in the, comparatively short, 82 minute feature. Hey, who doesn't like watching dinosaurs? Their onscreen lifestyles can be quite hypnotic. If you have kids (especially young boys) then this will surely entertain... repeatedly.
Gary Tooze
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