Blu-ray Review: James and the Giant Peach

James and the Giant PeachWritten by:  Karey Kirkpatrick and Jonathan Roberts & Steve Bloom
Based on the novel by Roald Dahl
Directed by: Henry Selick
Featuring the voices of: Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandan, Simon Callow, Jane Leeves, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes, David Thewlis, Steven Culp and Pete Postlethwaite

Special Features:  The Blu-ray includes the film and a "Spike The Ants" interactive game, the DVD features the film plus Behind The Scees, "Good News" Music Video from Randy Newman, and the Original Theatrical Trailer.

From the box:

In an all-new digitally restored special edition from Tim Burton, the acclaimed director of Alice In Wonderland, comes the astounding film that captured the hearts of fans and critics all across the world.  Inspired by Roald Dahl's beloved children's book, Burton, Denise Di Novi and Director Henry Selick combine a fascinating mix of live-action, stop motion animation and computer-generated special effects to create a world beyond your imagination.


After the rescue of a spider, a young boy named James gains possession of some magic crocodile tongues,  When James spills them in the garden, out sprouts an enormous peach!  Climbing inside, he meets an astonishing cast of characters and embarks on a magical odyssey full of thrills and adventure.  Voiced by an all-star cast including legendary actors Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Simon Callow and Jane Leeves, and featuring the celebrated music of Randy Newman, this classic story is delicious entertainment for the whole family!

James and the Giant Peach has arrived on Blu-ray and it is worth the wait.  At least the movie is.  The supplements, not so much.  I hadn't seen the film in years and did find myself enjoying it.  It does look gorgeous on Blu-ray.  Really vibrant.  The voice work is quite strong and the character design is great.  It does have a creepy vibe to it, probably thanks to Tim Burton.

The music is pretty bad.  That might have something to do with Randy Newman, who I find to be irritating at best. 

The film is shorter than I remember, barely clocking in at 80 minutes, which makes it perfect for the short attention spans of kids out there.  Maybe not for the youngest ones though as it has a bit of darkness to it.

This release is inexplicably void of special features.  It's pretty sparse, especially for a Disney release.  In fact, the Blu-ray has ONE feature and that is a game.  The other features, a behind the scenes feature, music video and a trailer, appear on the DVD.

At $24.99, this makes this a bit of a rip off to be honest.  You're getting a gorgeous looking film, albeit it a pretty good one, that has barely a feature to speak of.  With the capacity of the format, studios should be releasing films loaded with features, especially if they're movies that are readily available on DVD.  Why rebuy a film with less features?  I don't understand it myself.

Still, the film is pretty good and is one I'm glad to own, even if it does not stand up to the history of well supplemented Disney releases.

James and the Giant Peach is available now,