Monster House review online

[spf781]

Review

[Jeff®]

"I was pleasantly surprised that the film borrows just as heavily from stop-motion animation (think Tim Burton's 'Corpse Bride') as 'Toy Story.' 'Monster House' may indeed be the missing link between the two forms, and combined with its pioneering motion-capture technology, the film does represent a significant step forward in cutting-edge animation.

Sony has produced a very fine 1080p/MPEG-2 transfer that does this good-looking movie justice. The most immediately striking aspect of the image is its unique texture. Though entirely computer-generated, characters in particular have a waxy sheen that makes them looked like photographed stop-motion creations. "Skin" has a far more smooth veneer than you usually see in a CGI feature, and the level of detail is impressive....

The image is quite three-dimensional in appearance, which is especially noticeable in early scenes, as the film makes great creative use of the positioning of the monster house and its neighbors...

Monster House' also gets a very lively uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround mix. The film benefits greatly from very active sound design, with a wealth of interesting effects, clever use of the surround channels and a fun music score...

Thanks. Wow sounds like a great disc. A few more of these reviews, and perhaps the "MPEG2-is-inherently-evil-and-responsible-for-all-of-BDs-early-problem-releases" argument can be put to rest.

[tkbryant]

Don't bet on it! The way people over analyze these Blu-Ray reviews...they pick up on a single tiny tiny minute "problem" and rip it to complete shreds. Over in the AVS forums in general is what i'm referring too. Every post gets flooded with trolls. AAARRRGGHH!!!
I personally cant' wait to see it for myself.

[phloyd]

Sounds like a must have purchase to me. Also can't wait. Will probably be my first pre-order...!

[Chris Beveridge]

The commentary on this title is amusing. Not here, but I've seen it go from the HD Digest review (which has a hell of a time waffling on phrasing to ensure they don't come out saying something looks great) to it looking like one of the worst out there.

HD Digest's review makes me wonder. According to Peter, he's seen it theatrically in a really good location and the BD looks essentially identical to that presentation. Yet if you read the review in the video section, it sounds like he's hedging his positive views on it in a lot of ways.

[Spankey]

I find it bizarre that two reviewers have an almost 180 degree difference of opinion on the film.

The image is quite three-dimensional in appearance, which is especially noticeable in early scenes, as the film makes great creative use of the positioning of the monster house and its neighbors.

Peter says there is depth to the image. I usually find that with any poorly encoded video depth perception is the first thing to go. Yet the HD-DVD people will see things entirely differently. Kris sees banding, and might be taking the added grain as noise. Kris is also watching these discs in 720P so I have to wonder if there is a problem with downconversion in the Samsung.

[shamus]

Originally Posted by Chris Beveridge

The commentary on this title is amusing. Not here, but I've seen it go from the HD Digest review (which has a hell of a time waffling on phrasing to ensure they don't come out saying something looks great) to it looking like one of the worst out there.

HD Digest's review makes me wonder. According to Peter, he's seen it theatrically in a really good location and the BD looks essentially identical to that presentation. Yet if you read the review in the video section, it sounds like he's hedging his positive views on it in a lot of ways.

Your absolutely right... I like Peters reviews but it seems like its killing him to give something a positive review, along with Click!!!