The Animatrix – Blu-ray Disc Review

October 7, 2008 – 4:46 AM - Posted by: Justin Sluss

Tags: Carrie-Anne Moss, Keanu Reeves, Matt McKenzie, The Matrix, The Wachowski Brothers, Warner

has an average rating of 7.5 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 & Dolby Digital 5.1
include all the original DVD material
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– 2003
– 100 minutes
– Warner
Street Date : October 14th, 2008
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Overall Verdict – Totally Worth it For Fans!

NOTE: This title is only available in “The Ultimate Matrix Collection“.

Buy the boxset for $89.95 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is a combination of works done by animators inspired by “The Matrix” trilogy of films The Wachowski Brothers created. The film itself is split up into “visions” (chapters) listed below.

• “Final Flight of the Osiris“
• “The Second Renaissance Parts I & II“
• “Kid’s Story“
• “Program“
• “World Record“
• “Beyond“
• “A Detective Story“
• “Matriculated“

I’ll honestly spare you the details on what each “vision” deals with in terms of plot or story since there is a pretty generous amount included here that would take me a while to describe individually. I will say that “The Animatrix” offers a great blend of both CG (computer) and Japanese Anime animation styles with great story lines and narrative. One serves as a Prequel to “The Matrix” trilogy of films while another sets you up for “The Matrix: Reloaded” (2nd film) and even “Enter the Matrix” video game. After watching these it’s safe to say you’ll have a better understanding of what exactly “The Matrix” is.

Overall looking back on it, “The Animatrix” was a very awesome spin-off from “The Matrix” franchise. Sure, some of the chapters (“visions”) were not as good as the others but that’s to be expected in a project like this. My honest two favorites have to be “The Second Renaissance Parts I & II” as far as story goes and “Final Flight of the Osiris” as far as visual style and action goes. Fans of the franchise who never had a chance to check these out will be more than pleased. Especially now that they can be enjoyed in the full beauty of Hi-Def — if you purchase “The Ultimate Matrix Collection” boxset on Blu-ray Disc that it is included in (part of).

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte Blu-ray Disc). Things obviously start out somewhat familiar with characters and settings similar to those featured in “The Matrix” trilogy with the first “vision” (chapter), “Final Flight of the Osiris“. This offers some of the most impressive visuals you’ll find on this entire release with it’s photo realistic computer animation style that seems to almost “jump off the screen at you” like cinematic sequences in the best video games today. Next you have the excellent Anime style animation of “The Second Renaissance Parts I & II” which looks great with it’s dark outlines and unique color palette. Later on you have even more “visions” (chapters) that feature some really vibrant colors and again more solid black level — especially in the art’s outlines and dark sense of shading. This is very impressive and earns itself an perfect “5 Star Rating” despite the variation of video quality from chapter to chapter that you might slightly notice. It’s nothing worth degrading the overall score or presentation in any way what-so-ever.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 (@640kbps). A definite improvement can be found here in the Hi-Res, lossless TrueHD track in comparison to the sound mix available on the previous DVD release. You’ll early on notice the panning of the front channels used to simulate a sword fight in the first “vision” (chapter) “Final Flight of the Osiris” which is very impressive. Dialogue and narration are both delivered very distinct and always remains intelligible — even how far-fetched at times the material may be. There is certainly a great amount of rear channel and bass presence found in this TrueHD 5.1 mix and even the original Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. The music used throughout sounds absolutely fantastic and sets the vibe for each story. As I begun this section off stating, it truly doesn’t take you very long to notice the difference of how good this sounds getting the right audio codec. “The Animatrix” lucks out and receives TrueHD 5.1 treatment earning it a respectable “4.5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality.

Bonus Materials are all presented in Standard Definition video (using the VC-1 codec) and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo @192kbps.

• “Making-of Featurettes” are included for each “vision” (chapter). Runtimes are listed below.
“Making of Final Flight of the Osiris” (6 minutes)
“Making of The Second Renaissance Parts I & II” (10 minutes)
“Making of Kid’s Story & Detective Story” (10 minutes)
“Making of Program” (6 minutes)
“Making of World Record” (8 minutes)
“Making of Beyond” (9 minutes)
“Making of Matriculated” (7 minutes)
• Director Audio Commentaries on “The Second Renaissance Parts I & II” by Mahiro Maeda, “Program” by Yoshaki Kawajin and “World Record” by Takeshi Koike
• “Scrolls to Screen: The History and Culture of Anime” (23 minutes) is a definite must-see for any fan of the genre of animation or just for those curious about Asian culture.
• “Creator” is a Biographical, interactive feature that offers both text and graphic information on the Directors and Segment Producers. This feature has been upgraded to Hi-Def now and is very impressive visually to browse through.

Overall the bonus materials are identical to the original DVD release except that the “Creators” feature has been upgraded to a full High Definition visual interface. The bonus materials are just as cool as they always were and earn a good “3 Star Rating” overall.

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