Blu-Ray Feature: 2010 High-Def Holiday Gift Guide

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For Young Ones:

“Fantasia”

Disney has made a mint by slowly releasing their catalog titles on DVD and now they have taken that pattern of what they call “vault releases” and moved them to Blu-ray, bringing their canon to HD at the rate of two to three movies a year. The release of “Beauty & The Beast” earlier this year is a must-own as is the upcoming edition of “Fantasia,” which includes not just the classic release but “Fantasia 2000,” with both films also included on standard DVD. Previous Disney vault releases have featured impressive HD video but “Fantasia” is naturally an auditory experience and the HD classical score is stunning. Real little kids might be bored at a cartoon that plays like a symphony but they’ll appreciate it eventually. Trust me. (Will be released on November 30th, 2010.)

“Toy Story 3”

“Toy Story 3” is one of the most deeply and purely satisfying films of not just this year, but the last several. Pixar continues to prove that the other shoe does not have to drop following critical darlings “Ratatouille,” “WALL-E,” and “Up” with a film that’s arguably better than anything they’ve done to date. “Toy Story 3” works on every level — as pure family entertainment but also as something adults will appreciate as a loving ode to the days when nothing was more important than our imagination and our friends. Like the best sequels, “Toy Story 3” doesn’t just advance or conclude the action of the films that preceded it but deepens their themes: It thematically wraps up what now must be viewed as one of the most artistically-satisfying trilogies in film history. The combo release of “Toy Story 3” includes 4 discs — Blu-ray, Blu-ray special features, DVD, and digital copy. The special features on “Toy Story 3” are even more notable than your average great Pixar release with a commentary/storyboard version of the film, dozens of extras, neat games, and more. It’s incredibly rare for a critic to be able to say this: There is not one single, solitary flaw in the home release of “Toy Story 3.”

“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”

Do we really need to tell you about “The Twilight Saga”? You’re either a member of Team Jacob or Team Edward and have your copy of “Eclipse” ordered or you’re a parent or guardian wondering when you can order the gift most likely to make your teenage daughter scream with glee on Christmas morning. Briefly, and we’ll run a full review in the next few days, the Blu-ray release of “Eclipse” is just okay but the movie itself is the best “Twilight” to date and fans of this franchise don’t exactly need great HD or amazing special features. They just want to watch “Twilight” over and over again. They can on December 4th, 2010.