The look of the film is amazing, due in part to award-winning director of photography Roger Deakins who was brought in as a visual consultant. It looks like nothing was lost in the transfer to Blu-ray, which is presented in 1080p High Definition and 2.39:1 aspect ratio. There is amazing detail consistently throughout the film. Highlights include the rust on WALL·E’s body, the dust kicking up from WALL·E’s treads, the reflections coming off WALL·E’s lenses, the material shooting from fire extinguisher, and the texture of space ship. Space also looked flawless with its pockets of blackness and violet nebulas. The colors are brilliant from the drab earth tones on Earth to the bright, vibrant spectrum used within the Axiom. They even added sun flare as if there was a camera lens filming everything. There was some digital artifacting during very bright sequences when there was another element in the air to diffuse the light, such as dust, smoke, or clouds. One scene it was noticeable was when the ship dropping EVE off arrived.
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio made very good use of the surround, immersing the viewer in the effects and music. Even the robotic dialogue was consistently clear throughout. When the story moves to the Axiom, the sound design of the action sequences rivals Hollywood blockbusters and it’s no surprise the legendary Ben Burtt was at the picture’s helm for this aspect.
The Blu-ray is chock full of extras. Exclusives to the format are noted.
Disc 1 offers two animated shorts: the magical “Presto,” which had shades of Tex Avery’s take on Bugs Bunny and accompanied the film in theaters, and the all-new “BURN·E,” a hysterical short that revealed what this robot was going through during a portion of the film. On the Blu-ray, the latter can be viewed with a Picture in Picture of the storyboards.
Two very different commentary tracks accompany the movie. Director Stanton offers a very interesting and insightful look at WALL·E’s creation with a PiP accentuation on Blu-ray. An excruciatingly annoying foursome known as Pixar’s Geek Squad offers their own take on the film from their work on it, but I couldn’t last for more than six minutes, which was five minutes past when I had decided I couldn’t stand them. Blu-ray viewers get to see them rip off MST3K as their silhouettes in theater seats pop up in the lower right corner. Hopefully, they gave credit at some later point in the proceeding.
Article comments