What could be more fitting than the colony of blue Smurfs on Blu-ray?
Sony’s 3D Blu-ray of “The Smurfs” ($45.99) offers a very good 3D representation of the computer-animated movie that generated more than half-a-billion dollars in theaters worldwide last summer. Once again the 3D on the home version is perhaps even more vibrant and visually dynamic than in theaters.
<Story continues following the 3-minutes of video highlights below from a Sony Pictures Home Entertainment media day at Sony Pictures Animation in Culver City to demonstrate the many bonus features, especially those accessible via the Internet and mobile devices…>
Nevermind that I have never been one of the legions of fans of the 1980s TV cartoon series and still do not get the appeal in the cinematic version; this new movie clearly struck a chord with old and new audiences.
The Blu-ray should do the same, offering way more than the popular movie itself. There are numerous new interactivities that connect and play on just about any “i”device — iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch — and a new UltraViolet feature that allows up to six family members to access video streaming of the movie from a “cloud” to any computer or mobile device.
Oddly not included in the 3D Blu-ray set is an original new half-hour cartoon on the other Blu-ay sets called “The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol” that cleverly resurrects the original TV-style animation to distinguish the dream sequences from the present-day scenes in the new computer-animation.
— By Scott Hettrick