5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 2.5 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.4 |
From the creator of Family Guy and the co-creator of American Dad! comes a brand-new animated series of pop culture parodies, hilarious shorts, and superb non-sequiturs. Uncensored, uninhibited and unbelievably funny, Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy is brimming with the kind of smart, raunchy, and twisted humor you can't see on television no matter how hard you try. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show. The possibilities are endless...and so are the laughs!
Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Jackson DouglasComedy | 100% |
Animation | 63% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, C (B untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 2.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
To say Seth MacFarlane’s career has been interesting would be an understatement. His “Family Guy” television series has been on the air for over ten years despite being cancelled on two separate occasions by the Fox network; and his second television series “American Dad” has managed to hold a Sunday time-slot since 2005. Although he’s achieved wide success over the years, there’s been no shortage of critics that pan his series for their abstract nature and penchant for delivering cheap laughs. Whether this is true or not seems unimportant if you can make the audience laugh, and MacFarlane delivers that in spades.
In September of 2008, Burger King began sponsoring an animated web series that was released on MacFarlane’s YouTube site called “SethComedy”. The series consisted of 50 animated shorts released over a six month period and were geared toward fans of his random comedy style. It was also a way for MacFarlane to create comedic sequences that broke through the barriers of censorship on national television, and create a collection of work that’s lewd, crude, and occasionally downright mean. Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for "Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy".
The "Dirty Vaudeville" act is just one of the many hilarious sequences in the series.
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (with an average bit rate of 35Mbps), the visual quality of the series is largely disappointing on Blu-ray. I'm assuming the series wasn't made with the intention of being released in high-definition, and the deficiencies of the source material don't translate well as a result. The 1.33:1 aspect ratio didn't bother me (I'm used to watching "Family Guy" in that format), but I couldn't get past the drab color use, or the lack of crisp definition in the lines. For a series with animation that lacks complexity, I'd hoped they could at least manage to create bold lines and rich colors; but that's simply not the case here. Instead we get overly saturated hues that exhibit far too much brightness (which also negatively impacts contrast), and a hazy loss of line definition in scenes such as the one with the homosexual knight who refuses to fight the dragon.
In an effort to not sound too negative, I should mention color banding and bleeding were never noticeable, and I didn't detect any digital artifacting. The transfer won't impress anyone that's new to the format, but still surpasses the quality of a DVD transfer (just not by much).
The sole audio offering on the disc is an English 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. Since this was originally intended to be an internet series, it appears there was never an attempt to incorporate the use of surround speakers in the mix. All of the effects and dialogue are firmly grounded in the front sound stage, with the exception of music during the show's introduction and closing credits. On the positive side, the dialogue offers a fine level of clarity and I never heard a deficiency in volume levels from scene to scene.
Ultimately, the audio experience on Blu-ray is shallow and unimpressive. Any audiophiles who are interested in the title will need to lower their expectations substantially and try to appreciate the audio track as a serviceable companion to a series that was meant to be heard on tiny computer speakers.
Red Carpet Premiere (480p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:21 min): This brief feature includes interviews at the premiere party in honor of the series. It's mostly fluff, but offers a chance to see the real-life voice actors that played many of the roles in the feature.
Character Models: Split into three sections, this feature allows you to scroll through over 250 pictures of character models in various stages of development (rough, cleaned up, or colored). It doesn't add much value unless your interested in the simplistic animation of the series.
If you love "Family Guy", you'll love this series as well. There are certainly episodes that hold up better than others, but taken as a whole, this is a thoroughly entertaining way to spend an hour. I wish I could offer a whole-hearted recommendation of this Blu-ray edition, but the technical merits are entirely disappointing and restrict my ability to suggest this title as a worthy addition to your Blu-ray collection. Perhaps the popularity of this web series will convince MacFarlane to produce a second season with a greater focus on technically proficient source material. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for better results next time.
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