Audrey Tautou Movie:

Amelie [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Amélie in High Definition, at last!
2009-12-01 - I'm going to assume that anyone looking at this listing is familiar with the movie Amélie and will stick to technical details of this release. If you want thoughts about the movie, I suggest taking a look at the 980+ reviews of the DVD: Amélie Suffice to say that this is a "top 5" favorite movie for me, since I first saw it in a theater, or I wouldn't have bothered importing it on Blu-ray Disc.

This Blu-ray Disc was released by Icon in Australia. It comes in a blue Amaray case that is the same height as a regular BD case but is the same thickness as a standard DVD case.

The main menu and movie are in Region A, B, C ("region-free") High Definition and will play on any Blu-ray Disc player. The leading trailers and extras are in standard definition PAL format and will not play correctly on most USA/Canada BD players, except for region-free ones (such as Momitsu, or equivalent).

The disc opens with some copyright screens in high definition (I thought the "don't burn" one was nicely done). These are followed by some PAL trailers that are not watchable on NTSC BD players. The main menu button doesn't work but the trailers can easily be skipped by using the "chapter skip" button on the player remote. That brings you to the main menu, in high definition. The main menu doesn't have a "setup" tab. Instead, when the movie is played, the disc defaults to the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio track with English subtitles "on" (they can be turned off if you wish). Very convenient. (For those folks with front projectors, please note that the subtitles are "Sony-style" and have the top line in the 2.35:1 image and the lower line below the picture. This can be a problem for those using 2.35:1 masked screens.)

I thought the movie was lovely in high definition; I couldn't ask for a better presentation. Perhaps someone with a higher end system can find flaws to criticize but for me, this is what I was hoping for with this purchase. Best of all, this release has the correct English subtitles! The Disney/Miramax DVD release had numerous subtitle errors, some of which changed the meaning of the dialog and led to confusion. Having the correct subtitles is a big plus for me and was the other thing I was hoping for in this release, in addition to a good high def picture.

To sum up: this release of Amélie is gorgeous in high definition and has the correct subtiles. But the extras aren't viewable on most USA/Canada BD players. Since I've already seen the extras on the DVD, I'm happy to have the movie in high def at last. Very pleased with my purchase. I'm giving this BD four stars because the extras and leading trailers can't be viewed on NTSC BD players (they could have converted them to HD). But the movie itself is five stars all the way!

Absolutely Love This Movie
2009-11-29 - First let me say that I own the DVD. When I saw that it had become available on Blu-ray I ordered it. As you can probably tell it is an import from Australia. Because of this, the case is slightly thicker than a normal case. The movie comes as a single disc.

The audio/video transfer was well executed, the movie was gorgeous to begin with, and it's nice to see they managed not to mess this up (unlike "Hero").

The only reason for the 4 stars was that the extras are not 1080p and as a result will not play on my PS3 so I won't be enjoying those.

As with the original, the movie is in French with English subtitles.

As for the movie, very briefly, it is the story of a young woman who goes on a mission to help others despite her own problems.

If I were to classify the story, I'd say romantic comedy with a side of fantasy.

It is an adult movie so there is some nudity, for those who have not seen it.

If you've seen the movie, then you already know this, the jump to blu-ray was worth the $34, for me anyway.

However, as always, rent it first (as a DVD most likely) and decide for yourself.