Anaconda (Blu-ray)

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Funny moments and gorgeous location footage make this boat trip less tedious than it could have been, plus there are a number of scenes that are "high concept"--like a wasp in the mouth, an aerial attack by the snake, a flaming anaconda, and a human who kills with the crush of his legs. Trouble is, the action isn't frequent enough, and director Luis Llosa ("Eight Hundred Leagues Down the Amazon") isn't able to squeeze much downtime tension out of the Hans Bauer and Jim Cash screenplay. The CGI and animatronic work is okay, but there are times when you're thinking fake, when I don't recall ever thinking that of ol' Jaws. Or maybe the rest of that film was so engaging that you were willing to believe just about anything. Unfortunately, that's not the case here. You have to just accept his on its own terms--a campy B-movie with some memorable scenes and strong scenery, if not acting--in order to enjoy it.

Video:
The AVC/MPEG-4 transfer is a good one. A nice 3-dimensionality and rich, natural-looking colors are the selling points, but the black levels and level of detail is also quite good. Fleshtones are natural, and there are plenty of different shades, too. I haven't seen the DVD, but I can't imagine it looking this good. Close-ups of the snake and everyday objects yield strong edges. There's a slight graininess in some of the misty scenes, but for the most part each frame is richly detailed. "Anaconda" is presented in 2.40:1 aspect ratio. I did experience playback problems at one point, with squiggles of distortion lasting several seconds, but it's not clear whether it's an issue with the disc or the player.

Audio:
The audio is also strong. Sony has been going with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1, and the options here are English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. For a change, Spanish doesn't get short shrift, and Sony is to be commended for sticking with an audio that's geared for Hi-Def playback rather than throwing in lesser tracks. But the bass is nice and rich, and the rear speakers get involved so that as that boat chugs deeper into the jungle you feel surrounded by the sounds of the jungle. There's no distortion, either. Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Extras:
Those who read my reviews already know how I feel about BD-Live. I'd rather the studios perfected playback rather than futzing around with Internet interactivity. I mean, here's the description from the Sony press release: "Download exclusive content, register for rewards, give feedback through our survey and more!" You really have to add that exclamation point, because none of it is exciting. If you have "exclusive content," I say just put it on the darned disc and let everyone who purchases the product enjoy it. Not everyone connects their Blu-ray players to the Internet. In fact, we ought to do a survey at DVD Town, because I'll bet that 30 percent of our readers have Blu-ray players, and out of those I'd be surprised if as much as 20 percent had their players wired to the Internet.

Bottom Line:
"Imagine, something this big, captured alive. It would be worth a lot of money," says a sneering Sarone, who as a youngster must have only watched the first half of "King Kong." But hey, "Anaconda" is campy fun if you're into B-movie creature features. Just don't look at the star list and think that the film is going to transcend the genre, because it most certainly doesn't.

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