Production:

Theatrical: Studio Canal

Blu-ray: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

 

Disc:

Region: FREE!

Runtime: 1:19:01.737

Disc Size: 28,562,872,973 bytes

Feature Size: 21,541,257,216 bytes

Video Bitrate: 31.406 Mbps

Chapters: 20

Case: Standard Blu-Ray Case

Release date: September 28th, 2010

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Resolution: 1080P / 23.976 fps

Video codec: VC-1

 

 

Audio:

English, Japanese, Mongolian (DTS-HD Master Audio 3116 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3116 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit))

 

Subtitles:

English, None

 

Extras:

• The Babies-Three Years Later (4:04)

• Everybody Loves...Your Babies Sweepstakes Winners (2:06)

 

Description: Experience joy and happiness at its purest in this life-affirming universal celebration of the magic and innocence of Babies. Proving that if you surround your baby with love it doesn't matter what culture you're from or what child-rearing practices you follow. Babies travels the globe following four children from vastly different corners of the world-Ponijao from Namibia Bayarjargal from Mongolia Mari from Tokyo and Hattie from San Francisco. Sure to put a smile on your face and a warm feeling in your heart it's the film that critics and audiences agree could be the feel-good movie of the decade!

 

 

The Film:

Babies babies babies babies babies-babies Babies, Babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies. (Babies, babies babies babies babies, babies Babies Babies babies babies babies babies babies babies, babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies.) Babies babies babies Babies babies Babies babies babies babies Babies babies babies Babies Babies, Babies babies babies babies Babies, Babies, Babies, babies Babies babies babies babies, babies, babies, babies, babies, babies babies....

Babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies. Babies babies babies babies babies-babies babies, babies babies babies babies. Babies babies babies babies, babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies. Babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies Babies Babies babies babies babies babies, babies babies babies babies babies, babies babies babies Babies babies Babies Babies babies babies babies Babies Babies babies babies. Babies babies babies babies babies, babies babies babies Babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies babies, babies babies babies babies babies babies.

Excerpt of review from Dan Kois located HERE

Image:

Most of the footage here looks like it was shot in HD, but the quality can vary somewhat. Overall, the image is very impressive with frequent intervals of strong clarity and object detail. It can, however, shift a bit from scene to scene. For whatever reasons the weakest scenes both seem to involve Hattie (although she definitely has some gorgeous ones too). The scene of her just after being born lacks some clarity and lighting appears to be inconsistent. Of course this is probably also the result of shooting in a real delivery ward and nursery; conditions just won't be ideal with various machines running. A scene just a few minutes later is a bit more difficult to write off with some heavy noise (more apparent when its paused) and a softish image. Generally speaking, these are the only to points that come off as particularly weak in this VC-1 encoded transfer. Without any signs of damage or artifcating (although there may be very minor edge enhancements here or there, if there are, then they're so minute that it probably doesn't warrant mentioning beyond this) that I was generally pleased by it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio & Music:

The disc comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 that preserves the film's four languages, but only offers optional subtitles for the English dialogue. Not to worry though, as there's almost no dialogue in the film. There's no narration, only a few title cards, and none of the speech is necessary to understand what's going on in the film (a good half of it is baby babblings anyway). That being said, the film does an admirable job with the clarity, contrast, and music, but will never venture into demo territory (not that any would expect it to, right?).

 

Extras:

Unfortunately, the disc only comes with two all too brief extras. First, there's a featurette in which the director, who had recently put together the final cut of the film, meets up with all four families three years later and shows it to them on his laptop. While it's not exactly the most thrilling extra, it was nice to see how these four infants that we just watched for 80 minutes had changed over the course of three years. Next, there's a two minute short detailing the winners of a contest held during the film's theatrical run. The contest required parents to send in video or still images of their child. Here the winners are announced in sever categories (i.e. "baby with pet", "walking", "dancing", "first words", etc).

 

 

Bottom line:

Although I was more than a little cynical going into the viewing, this cinematic equivalent of a pixie stick still melted my heart. As the father of a boy that'll be a year old in less than a week I saw a lot of my son in each of these children and even got a sneak into what lies ahead in the next few months. Like almost every baby on the face of the Earth, the four chosen for the documentary are preternaturally cute, and well, do cute baby things. There's not really much more to the film than that, but God help me if I didn't enjoy every second of it. The disc boast good AV, but some somewhat disappointing extras. While this release isn't ideal, that sounds like a recommendation to me.

September 6th, 2010