WALL-E — Blu-ray Review
Wall-E
For hundreds of years WALL-E has compacted trash into nice stackable cubes, but one day he receives a visitor, EVE, a beautiful, sleek search robot. Her arrival leads WALL-E on a trip that's out of this world. This is the ninth smash hit for Pixar, and now it's available on DVD and Blu-ray.
I've loved the Pixar movies ever since I caught Luxo Jr and Knick Knack playing in theaters back when I was a 'tween (though we weren't called that yet). The stories are always phenomenal, and the characters are brought to life through the animation. Pixar has always been able to bring such personality and emotion to inanimate objects, whether it's a lamp, or a robot. WALL-E is an excellent example of the emotion Pixar breathes into their characters.
I've almost given up on seeing movies in theaters because the presentation on BD is so good, and I don't have to deal with people talking or text-messaging on their cell phones. WALL-E, with it's 1080p transfer, looks outstanding on Blu-ray. The colors are vibrant, and the picture is crisp, and full of detail. The audio, an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, also sounds great. The movie comes in two versions; a 2-disc set, and a 3-disc set. Both sets contain wonderful extras:
Play Movie with Cine-Explore
Andrew Stanton, the director for the movie, provides commentary while artwork and storyboards are displayed using picture-in-picture. Stanton was a delight to listen to.
Geek Track: Trash Talk & Trivia
I expected this to be a subtitle track, but it's not - four Pixar employees poke fun at the movie, and deliver interesting facts in a similar fashion to Mystery Science Theater 3000, complete with a silhouette of the commentators in some scenes.
Presto (5:14)
A short Pixar movie about a battle between a magician and his bunny.
BURN-E (7:19)
This hilarious short film features the BURN-E robot that made a brief appearance in the movie. You can also view the storyreel version of the film using picture-in-picture.
Wall-E's Treasures & Trinkets (4:56)
Short scenes featuring the misadventures of WALL-E.
"Lots of Bots" Storybook (3:05)
You can watch the story, or play along and solve puzzles to progress the story.
Axiom Arcade
Play 4 different games in the arcade.
Sneak Peek: WALL-E's Tour of the Universe (0:50)
This is a trailer for something, with a note to go to WALL-E.com for more information, but I couldn't find anything related on the site.
Bot Files (11:22)
Interested in the various robots in the movie, this section contains information on all of them.
Deleted Scenes (23:08)
Four deleted scenes, with an introduction from Director Andrew Stanton.
Behind the Scenes (1:09:45)
Seven behind-the-featurettes delve into the creation of the movie.
BnL Shorts (9:02)
Five short Buy 'N Large videos that are absolutely hilarious.
3D Set Fly-throughs
Short fly-throughs of the various sets used in the movie.
Gallery
View images covering Character Design, Layouts & Backgrounds, Visual Development and Publicity. You can view all the images at once, or go into specific categories and select a single image.
Worldwide Trailers
Seven different trailers for the movie, including French Canadian, Japanese, Italian and the Superbowl spot.
The Pixar Story by Leslie Iwerks (1:28:30)
A wonderful documentary on the history of Pixar, and their movies. It's hard to believe a documentary this good is put on the release as bonus material - they could sell this on its own.
The digital copy, which appears on the third disc, can be unlocked on your computer, and is the only difference between the 2 and 3 disc releases. There are Disney BD-Live features on this title, but I was unable to sign up for their BD service to test them out (it was extremely frustrating!).
This is another great Pixar movie that viewers of any age can appreciate. Whether you buy the 2-disc set, or the 3-disc set with the digital copy, you'll be treated to a funny, touching movie, and tons of great bonus features.
Buy WALL-E on Amazon.com.
