Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Determined to prove he can create his own diabolical invention; a mad scientist's nice-guy assistant Igor creates a female Franken-monster. But his creation, Eva, is sweet and sings show tunes! That is, until she falls into the clutches of Dr. Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard) and his shape-shifting girlfriend. Now it's up to Igor and his sidekicks to save Eva - and their country - from real evildoers, including sneaky Prince Malpert.

Normally I am a big fan of animated films but this one failed to really capture me. The animation style is a CG take on what looks like claymation and the whole mood of the film seems off. The music didn’t match the mood, the jokes come up short and the characters just weren’t that interesting. I was surprised give the talent involved but this one ended up being a bit of a dud.

CG animation always looks great on Blu-ray and this is no exception. The image is wonderfully dimensional and the animation style is very detailed. Black levels are strong and some of the images have an incredible sense of depth that is demo worthy. I did see some minor banding here and there but it was anything but intrusive. Overall this is a great looking animated feature.

The DTS-HD Master Audio mix is engaging and quite dynamic but I wasn’t a big fan of the soundtrack selections. They just didn’t feel like they fit the style of the film and made it hard to connect with the film as a whole. Dynamics are impressive at times and the sound design was on par with the better animated films out there. The voice work was a bit hit or miss and I didn’t appreciate the narrative as much I thought I should.

Extras include an audio commentary with the director along with an alternate opening sequence and a production design feature.

This one falls in the rental at best category. I liked the production style and animation but the rest of it just fell short of the better animated features I’ve seen recently. Fox has done a tremendous job with the presentation though making it an easy recommendation if you’re already a fan.