7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 5.0 | |
Overall | 4.6 |
A young boy accidentally joins a band of time traveling dwarves as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.
Starring: Michael Palin, Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Katherine HelmondSci-Fi | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 5.0 |
Terry Gilliam's "Time Bandits" (1981) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer; audio commentary with the American director, coscreenwriter and actor Michael Palin, and actors John Cleese, David Warner, and Craig Warnock; excerpt from a 1981 episode of NBC's Tomorrow featuring actress Shelley Duvall; filmed conversation between Terry Gilliam and film scholar Peter von Bagh; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic David Sterritt. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The visitors
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"Supervised by director Terry Gilliam, this new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the original camera negative. The restoration was overseen by Arrow Video and performed by Deluxe Digital Cinema in London. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS. The original soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the original 35mm magnetic track.
Transfer supervisor: Terry Gilliam; James White/Arrow Video, London.
Colorist: Stephen Berman/Deluxe, London."
The high-definition transfer is not identical to the one Arrow Video used for their release of Time Bandits in the United Kingdom. However, it has been sourced from the same recent 2K restoration of the film, which was approved by the American director.
There are dramatic improvements in every single area we typically address in our reviews. Depth, clarity and especially image depth are vastly superior when one compares this upcoming release with previous DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film in the United States (a review of Image Entertainment's initial Blu-ray release of Time Bandits can be accessed here). There is also an entirely new range of fresh, vibrant and exceptionally healthy colors (see screencaptures #2 and 3). Furthermore, there are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. Unsurprisingly, light and beautifully resolved grain can been seen throughout the entire film. Overall image stability is outstanding. I've compared this upcoming release with Arrow Video's release and could not see any important discrepancies to mention in our review (you can compare screencapture #14 with screencapture #2 from our review of the Region-B review). To sum it all up, this is a fantastic presentation of Time Bandits which almost certainly will remain the film's definitive presentation on the home video market. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
When I first viewed the 2K restoration of Time Bandits I thought that the LPCM 2.0 track was clearly better than the 5.1 track. It was better balanced and dynamic intensity was better controlled. Fortunately, Criterion's release comes with the LPCM 2.0 track and I am convinced that viewers will be very pleased with the depth and the excellent range of nuanced dynamics. (If you still own a copy of the first Blu-ray release, compare the sequence where the horse jumps out of the wardrobe very early into the film). The dialog is exceptionally crisp, stable, clean, and very easy to follow. Also, there are no audio dropouts or digital distortions.
Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release of Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits is very easy to recommend because it is so convincingly superior to the one Image Entertainment produced back in 2010. When one compares the two, the difference in quality is truly staggering. In addition to the excellent audio commentary that was recorded exclusively for Criterion in 1997, included on this release is a fascinating audio conversation between the American director and film scholar Peter von Bagh. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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