On Blu-ray, Slumdog Millionaire it looks and sounds utterly spectacular. After seeing it in the theater and then at home, I think the quality of the video and audio is better on the Blu-ray than what I saw on the big screen. The colors and sights and sounds of India come across brilliantly. Some of the shots at the Millionaire game show did appear slightly more grainy than I would have expected, but that issue is a minor one. A.R. Rahman's Oscar-winning music is pumped out of the speakers loud, clear, full of bass, and really helps center the audience in the story.
The release is loaded with special features including deleted scenes, music videos, an audio commentary with Boyle and Patel, the usual assortment of "making of" documentaries, and a short film called Manjha (the less said of which, the better). However, the way the disc is organized, only one special feature title is shown in the menu at a time, forcing the viewer to keep scrolling while never being quite sure of what they're going to see next (and then getting awfully confused when the reach the end of the list and it starts from the beginning again with no warning). There is also, as I always enjoy seeing, a digital copy of the film provided on a second disc.
In the final summation, Slumdog Millionaire's story, like its main character, triumphs over all its shortcomings and pitfalls. It is however, far from perfect and perhaps not always as authentic as it should be. The film's ending (like the final question Jamal will eventually get) is obvious from the first 10 or 15 minutes of the film, but the fact that it keeps the audience entranced throughout anyway is a testament to the job Boyle, Beaufoy, and everyone else involved accomplished.
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