QUICK THOUGHTS: This little animated film managed an 85% at RottenTomatoes and earned over $124 million at the domestic box-office. So, when the Blu-ray arrived I was interested in seeing what kept audiences heading out to theaters to check it out. Unfortunately, even while I was led to believe directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord were on to something in the opening moments, this 81 minute movie actually proves to be about 20 minutes too long. It’s redundant and monotonous and by the time it was wrapping itself up it seemed it would never end. Visually it’s a treat, but beyond picking it up to occupy the kiddies on occasion, I just can’t recommend it even though I loved Mr. T as the town cop Earl Devereaux. But who doesn’t love Mr. T?
SUPPLEMENTS: While I didn’t particularly enjoy the film there are some decent features including an entertaining commentary track with the directors and Bill Hader, who voices the film’s lead character Flint Lockwood. More interesting, though, was the visual effects featurette with FX supervisor Rob Bredow. This featurette presents early FX work compared to the final product looking at the film’s use of colors, the lighting, the design, execution etc. One tidbit that fascinated me was learning they used the same techniques used to create Spider-Man 3‘s villain the Sandman to create the clouds in this film.
Another feature I had fun with for about two minutes was watching the film in “Splat” mode, which allows you to throw virtual food at the screen while watching the movie. It has a limited appeal, but it gave me a laugh for a moment.
Additional featurettes, extended scenes, a sing-a-long and a music video round out the package.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Like I said in the opening, this is a good title for those in the audience with children as a way to keep them busy for a little while. However, I can’t see this film appealing to older audiences as it just becomes an exercise in patience — daring you to watch the whole thing. I was ready to check out with about 15 minutes to go and at that time it felt as if I had been watching forever.
