Computer animation has allowed storytellers to create fantastic dream worlds where imaginations can fly through the air just as easily as they can converse under water. Rarely is the technology used to manifest nightmares of post-apocalyptic war zones, an unfortunate result of incorrect labeling of CG as always having to be child friendly. Today's Blu-ray release of ‘
9' is an excellent example of a more adult focused animated film, and it goes a long way to change that stereotype.
After the human race successfully destroys itself in a war to end all wars, the only creatures that remain are nine sock-puppets. They must fight for survival against the death machines that survived the war while trying to discover their purpose in a world that seems to no longer have any.
While ‘9' makes huge headway in the animated film genre by appealing to an older audience, it fails to deliver the impact that the nightmare world suggests. For as much detail that went into designing the creatures (and it is quite impressive), the story is relatively simplistic. Typically a failure more akin to the video game industry, the graphics far eclipse the story they are used to tell, leaving a shallow crater and endless speculation of what could have been done better.
The Blu-ray presentation is grand, successfully bringing the highly detailed animation to home theaters with as much clarity and contrast as ever seen in theaters. Blacks, which make up a large part of the overall picture, are strong and never are an issue. Audio was also well represented, though I almost felt like the surround channels could have been better utilized in certain scenes. Overall, a very strong Blu-ray release from Universal.
Every once in a blue moon (which coincidentally occurs this New Year's Eve), a film that cost nearly nothing to make ends up being a huge commercial success. It's a sharp poke in the eye to studios that spend tens of millions to see similar success, but a pain they love to feel as it fills their vaults with seemingly endless profits. Today's Blu-ray release of ‘
Paranormal Activity' by Paramount is a great example of such a film, costing only $15,000 to make, but has generated over $100M in the box office.
Also being released today is ‘
Jennifer's Body', a film that begs the question, “what the hell happened to Diablo Cody?” After writing one of my favorite films from 2007 in ‘
Juno', she penned a high school horror film that lacks all the qualities that made ‘Juno' such a successful. The only people who should even consider purchasing this film are Megan Fox fans, and after only making $16M in the box office, that appears to be pretty limited.
For a complete listing of all the Blu-ray titles released today,
click here.