Animation DVD Reviews: Brother Bear. Balto. Anastasia
I'm going to make these reviews a little shorter than usual because I think it might do my head in if I have to review 3 more animated films in depth! Please note, while these are DVD reviews I am only reviewing the films themselves, not the extras.
__________________________
BROTHER BEAR (2003)
PLOT:
Boy in rush to be a man. Boy doesn't respect animals. Boy becomes bear. Boy learns to respect animals and realises that showing love doesn't make you a pansy.
REVIEW:
Oh dear... I think the opening song sums up most of what is wrong with this recent Disney effort. We sweep over mountain tops, eagles soar, animals seem to live in harmony and, um, haven't I seen this somewhere before, done better I might add; yes, a sense of déjà vu hangs strongly over Brother Bear as the opening seemingly imitates The Lion King's opening, yet somehow it evokes little emotion. I'm not a huge fan of "The Circle of Life" it's very cheesy, but I have to admit that it works well and creates a very powerful opening for The Lion King. Yet here in Brother Bear we have a song that grates on the nerves more than anything, and visuals that regardless of the obvious effort put into them are just "there". I found most of Brother Bear like this: It's just all too familiar to be effective and outside of the relationship between the two main bears there is little to connect with emotionally.
The "comic-relief" moose are funny in places, but don't feel as organic to the story as other comic characters have managed to be in other Disney films - such as Abu in Aladdin, or Pumbaa and Timon in The Lion King. However, the fighting rams are quite inspired and made me laugh.
The story is simply too predictable to be enjoyable. I know these films are essentially made for kids but somehow most other Disney efforts don't feel this generic. It's like a recipe has been used: Take one moral lesson (love is good), take a few funny animals, set up a couple of basic obstacles and add a large portion of cheesy music and mix - result: An uninspired, by-the-numbers film called Brother Bear.
The bottom line is that I have little desire to watch Brother Bear again, where as I'd happily chuck in The Lion King, Tarzan, Aladdin or even Treasure Planet anytime.
DVD:
Apparently on the 2-Disc special edition, when Kenai becomes a bear the aspect ratio goes wider. Not so on this single disc release I viewed, it stayed at what appeared to be 1.85:1 from start to finish, however I did notice a slightly higher level of detail once he became a bear. The compression left a lot to be desired. It was soft (particularly the pre-bear section) and the colours - while vivid - graduated together poorly, creating clearly visible vertical grading all up the screen, and this was viewed on a 23' LCD screen! I imagine the defects would become even more noticeable on something larger.
IMAGE: 6/10
The sound - while DTS - didn't impress me much either. It was clear and rich but never felt particularly immersive, with the rear channels not being utilised enough. Not a total let-down but certainly not as impressive as I'd hoped for.
SOUND: 7/10
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
More than any animated Disney film before it, Brother Bear feels like something made by people who like money - either that, or people with little desire for originality. The morals are heavy handed, the songs are mainly annoying and it's too predictable to be truly enjoyable. I don't need my animated films to be loaded with pop-culture references (like Shrek) and I really appreciate that Brother Bear didn't go down that route, but ultimately the parts that worked were outweighed by the parts that didn't.
OVERALL: 5/10
__________________________
BALTO (1995)
PLOT:
Half dog, half wolf Balto can't seem to find his place in life. But when the remote town's children become sick, their last hope lies in a sled full of medicine supplies. However, the lead dog's arrogance leaves them lost in the woods and it's up to Balto to find the lost medicine and return it in time to save the children.
REVIEW:
Well here's one I missed completely! In my search for hidden gems I came across this for under $15 and thought I'd give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised, while it's not amazing, it is unique enough to standout a little from the pack.
Firstly this is not a Disney film and is not quite up to their standards of animation (it is an Amblimation, which Spielberg ran before he merged it with Dreamworks). It looks more like a Don Bluth (An American Tail) animation. I found the style to be a mixed bag. The backgrounds were nice, but some of the characters looked a little too sketched for my taste. There was none of that nice shading to give the characters depth, leaving them looking rather flat. Also the character design differed greatly; the humans looked fairly normal - as did the dogs and wolves - yet the "comic side-kicks" were so bizarre that I didn't know what they were until they referred to themselves as Polar Bears (strangely the other bear - a large grizzly - was easily the coolest character design by far, yet seemed like it was from another world in comparison to the odd looking Polar Bears).
The story was predictable but I didn't find that detracted from the excitement generated by some very well staged action sequences (the confrontation with the angry grizzly being the highlight).
DVD:
Unlike some versions of Balto, my copy was an Anamorphicly enhanced 1.77:1 image, unfortunately being a box-office flop Balto hasn't been given the special edition treatment, so the image has not been digitally remastered. Film grain is very apparent, yet I would happily take grain over the poor colour grading mentioned above in my review of Brother Bear. I would love to see Balto cleaned up (though that may never happen). Besides grain, the image is fairly sharp and I noticed no glaring compression issues. So considering its age and lack of digital restoration I'm pretty happy with the image.
IMAGE: 7/10
To my surprise Balto comes with a very decent DD5.1 soundtrack. I found it immersive, clear and rich. No real complaints here. Though of course I'd love to hear it in DTS.
SOUND: 8/10
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
Considering that Balto is based on a true story makes it all the more interesting and emotionally involving (though clearly huge liberties have been taken in regards to historical accuracy). The animation may not be up to Disney standards, but it still looks really good, and outside of the bizarre Polar Bear characters, it all comes together nicely. The morals aren't jammed down your throat (which is always a relief when it comes to "kids" films) and we aren't bombarded by a song every 5 minutes (unlike Anastasia which I will review next). Balto had its heart in the right place and I'd happily watch it again sometime in the future.
OVERALL: 7/10
NOTE: The opening and closing scenes are live-action (non-animated!) and are totally superfluous. In the future I would skip them completely.
__________________________
ANASTASIA (1997)
OFFICIAL PLOT:
"...When the shadow of revolution falls across Russia, the royal family's youngest daughter barely escape with her life. Years later, Anastasia and a band of heroic companions must battle the evil Rasputin, his sidekick Bartok the bat and a host of ghostly minions in a headlong race to reach Paris, reclaim her rightful destiny and solve the greatest mystery of the 20th century."
REVIEW:
Allow me to get straight to the point: I didn't enjoy Anastastia. I feel that when you are doing a musical (animation or not) it is vital that you strike the right balance between musical numbers and the plot/character scenes. Anastasia does not find this balance. It is particularly evident in the first half hour or so, as I was bombarded by song after song after song, with barely any plot advancement in between. As a result I found it very difficult to become involved or care much about the characters. And frankly I thought all the songs were uninspired, monotonous and constantly outlived their welcome. If there had been just a few less songs and each one had been a little shorter, I believe I would have quite a different opinion of Anastasia.
It's worth pointing out that this is easily the most attractive Don Bluth animation ever. The production values are clearly high and it looks pretty close in quality to the best that Disney has to offer. I wouldn't say that the production and character design is overly inventive or original, but it certainly is pretty.
DVD:
The image was very impressive. Sharp, clear and rich and no compression artifacts to be found anywhere. No problems here.
IMAGE: 10/10
The sound was of a high quality, but for the most part I had it turned down low because I found the songs so unbearable (and this is coming from someone who knows all the words to the songs in Aladdin). I turned up the sound for the exciting train crash sequence (probably the best scene in the entire film) and found it to be of fairly high quality. No real complaints here either.
SOUND: 8/10
CLOSING THOUGHTS.
Anastasia looks and sounds great... Unfortunately there are just way too many musical numbers for this chap to find it enjoyable. Less songs and more character scenes (or action scenes for that matter) would go a long way in making Anastasia a more well rounded film. Put simply: I found Anastasia very, very difficult to sit through (though I guess a late-twenties-male isn't exactly the target audience).
OVERALL: 3/10
__________________________
Agree? Disagree? Whatever the case I'd love to hear your comments and/or recommendations.
__________________________
Check out my other animated film reviews:
The Emperor's New Groove
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Atlantis: The Lost Empire/Treasure Planet
Tarzan
The Prince of Egypt
The Road to El Dorado
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
__________________________
BROTHER BEAR (2003)
PLOT:Boy in rush to be a man. Boy doesn't respect animals. Boy becomes bear. Boy learns to respect animals and realises that showing love doesn't make you a pansy.
REVIEW:
Oh dear... I think the opening song sums up most of what is wrong with this recent Disney effort. We sweep over mountain tops, eagles soar, animals seem to live in harmony and, um, haven't I seen this somewhere before, done better I might add; yes, a sense of déjà vu hangs strongly over Brother Bear as the opening seemingly imitates The Lion King's opening, yet somehow it evokes little emotion. I'm not a huge fan of "The Circle of Life" it's very cheesy, but I have to admit that it works well and creates a very powerful opening for The Lion King. Yet here in Brother Bear we have a song that grates on the nerves more than anything, and visuals that regardless of the obvious effort put into them are just "there". I found most of Brother Bear like this: It's just all too familiar to be effective and outside of the relationship between the two main bears there is little to connect with emotionally.
The "comic-relief" moose are funny in places, but don't feel as organic to the story as other comic characters have managed to be in other Disney films - such as Abu in Aladdin, or Pumbaa and Timon in The Lion King. However, the fighting rams are quite inspired and made me laugh.
The story is simply too predictable to be enjoyable. I know these films are essentially made for kids but somehow most other Disney efforts don't feel this generic. It's like a recipe has been used: Take one moral lesson (love is good), take a few funny animals, set up a couple of basic obstacles and add a large portion of cheesy music and mix - result: An uninspired, by-the-numbers film called Brother Bear.
The bottom line is that I have little desire to watch Brother Bear again, where as I'd happily chuck in The Lion King, Tarzan, Aladdin or even Treasure Planet anytime.
DVD:
Apparently on the 2-Disc special edition, when Kenai becomes a bear the aspect ratio goes wider. Not so on this single disc release I viewed, it stayed at what appeared to be 1.85:1 from start to finish, however I did notice a slightly higher level of detail once he became a bear. The compression left a lot to be desired. It was soft (particularly the pre-bear section) and the colours - while vivid - graduated together poorly, creating clearly visible vertical grading all up the screen, and this was viewed on a 23' LCD screen! I imagine the defects would become even more noticeable on something larger.
IMAGE: 6/10
The sound - while DTS - didn't impress me much either. It was clear and rich but never felt particularly immersive, with the rear channels not being utilised enough. Not a total let-down but certainly not as impressive as I'd hoped for.
SOUND: 7/10
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
More than any animated Disney film before it, Brother Bear feels like something made by people who like money - either that, or people with little desire for originality. The morals are heavy handed, the songs are mainly annoying and it's too predictable to be truly enjoyable. I don't need my animated films to be loaded with pop-culture references (like Shrek) and I really appreciate that Brother Bear didn't go down that route, but ultimately the parts that worked were outweighed by the parts that didn't.
OVERALL: 5/10
__________________________
BALTO (1995)
PLOT:Half dog, half wolf Balto can't seem to find his place in life. But when the remote town's children become sick, their last hope lies in a sled full of medicine supplies. However, the lead dog's arrogance leaves them lost in the woods and it's up to Balto to find the lost medicine and return it in time to save the children.
REVIEW:
Well here's one I missed completely! In my search for hidden gems I came across this for under $15 and thought I'd give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised, while it's not amazing, it is unique enough to standout a little from the pack.
Firstly this is not a Disney film and is not quite up to their standards of animation (it is an Amblimation, which Spielberg ran before he merged it with Dreamworks). It looks more like a Don Bluth (An American Tail) animation. I found the style to be a mixed bag. The backgrounds were nice, but some of the characters looked a little too sketched for my taste. There was none of that nice shading to give the characters depth, leaving them looking rather flat. Also the character design differed greatly; the humans looked fairly normal - as did the dogs and wolves - yet the "comic side-kicks" were so bizarre that I didn't know what they were until they referred to themselves as Polar Bears (strangely the other bear - a large grizzly - was easily the coolest character design by far, yet seemed like it was from another world in comparison to the odd looking Polar Bears).
The story was predictable but I didn't find that detracted from the excitement generated by some very well staged action sequences (the confrontation with the angry grizzly being the highlight).
DVD:
Unlike some versions of Balto, my copy was an Anamorphicly enhanced 1.77:1 image, unfortunately being a box-office flop Balto hasn't been given the special edition treatment, so the image has not been digitally remastered. Film grain is very apparent, yet I would happily take grain over the poor colour grading mentioned above in my review of Brother Bear. I would love to see Balto cleaned up (though that may never happen). Besides grain, the image is fairly sharp and I noticed no glaring compression issues. So considering its age and lack of digital restoration I'm pretty happy with the image.
IMAGE: 7/10
To my surprise Balto comes with a very decent DD5.1 soundtrack. I found it immersive, clear and rich. No real complaints here. Though of course I'd love to hear it in DTS.
SOUND: 8/10
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
Considering that Balto is based on a true story makes it all the more interesting and emotionally involving (though clearly huge liberties have been taken in regards to historical accuracy). The animation may not be up to Disney standards, but it still looks really good, and outside of the bizarre Polar Bear characters, it all comes together nicely. The morals aren't jammed down your throat (which is always a relief when it comes to "kids" films) and we aren't bombarded by a song every 5 minutes (unlike Anastasia which I will review next). Balto had its heart in the right place and I'd happily watch it again sometime in the future.
OVERALL: 7/10
NOTE: The opening and closing scenes are live-action (non-animated!) and are totally superfluous. In the future I would skip them completely.
__________________________
ANASTASIA (1997)
OFFICIAL PLOT:"...When the shadow of revolution falls across Russia, the royal family's youngest daughter barely escape with her life. Years later, Anastasia and a band of heroic companions must battle the evil Rasputin, his sidekick Bartok the bat and a host of ghostly minions in a headlong race to reach Paris, reclaim her rightful destiny and solve the greatest mystery of the 20th century."
REVIEW:
Allow me to get straight to the point: I didn't enjoy Anastastia. I feel that when you are doing a musical (animation or not) it is vital that you strike the right balance between musical numbers and the plot/character scenes. Anastasia does not find this balance. It is particularly evident in the first half hour or so, as I was bombarded by song after song after song, with barely any plot advancement in between. As a result I found it very difficult to become involved or care much about the characters. And frankly I thought all the songs were uninspired, monotonous and constantly outlived their welcome. If there had been just a few less songs and each one had been a little shorter, I believe I would have quite a different opinion of Anastasia.
It's worth pointing out that this is easily the most attractive Don Bluth animation ever. The production values are clearly high and it looks pretty close in quality to the best that Disney has to offer. I wouldn't say that the production and character design is overly inventive or original, but it certainly is pretty.
DVD:
The image was very impressive. Sharp, clear and rich and no compression artifacts to be found anywhere. No problems here.
IMAGE: 10/10
The sound was of a high quality, but for the most part I had it turned down low because I found the songs so unbearable (and this is coming from someone who knows all the words to the songs in Aladdin). I turned up the sound for the exciting train crash sequence (probably the best scene in the entire film) and found it to be of fairly high quality. No real complaints here either.
SOUND: 8/10
CLOSING THOUGHTS.
Anastasia looks and sounds great... Unfortunately there are just way too many musical numbers for this chap to find it enjoyable. Less songs and more character scenes (or action scenes for that matter) would go a long way in making Anastasia a more well rounded film. Put simply: I found Anastasia very, very difficult to sit through (though I guess a late-twenties-male isn't exactly the target audience).
OVERALL: 3/10
__________________________
Agree? Disagree? Whatever the case I'd love to hear your comments and/or recommendations.
__________________________
Check out my other animated film reviews:
The Emperor's New Groove
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Atlantis: The Lost Empire/Treasure Planet
Tarzan
The Prince of Egypt
The Road to El Dorado
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
posted by Ray_Tango at 11:35 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home