...I am more than pleased with the higher definition visuals provided by this release.
Colors nearly leap off the screen and each hair on Blanchett´s wig comes through in vivid detail. The historically inaccurate blue eyes of Blanchett are captivating and a testament to how good this transfer looks when compared to the muddy original. The ornate times of the mid 1500s were populated with bright colored costumes and plenty of gold and silver. The full rainbow of colors is perfectly saturated and you´d be hard pressed to find too many films with better coloring. The metallic colors have a believable shine and luster. Detail is deep during even the darkest moments and the rough textured stone and intricate clothwork of the costumes are impressive in 1080p resolution. The source materials are clean and nary a speck of dirt can be found.
Audio:
The horns contained within "Elizabeth" sound amazingly crisp and clear and are among the more memorable sonic moments of the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. Standard Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes are also provided for English and Spanish for those without the ability to enjoy the solid TrueHD mix. "Elizabeth" is not an overly impressive experience in the realm of sound, but it is technically proficient. The mix is front-heavy and aside from the most robust musical moments, the rear speakers are not given a large supply of information to pass along to the viewer´s ears. There are some nice environmental sounds moved to the rears during a few busy crowd scenes and to convey the sound of the grand churches shown in the film, but hardly any sound effects are moved around the back channels. The .1 LFE channel rumbles when needed, but it too is not often called to the service of the Queen. Dialogue is clean and easily intelligible. The TrueHD mix doesn´t do anything wrong, but it isn´t given any opportunity to truly shine.
Extras:
When Polygram first released "Elizabeth" onto DVD, the disc was filled with a decent number of supplements. However, today´s HD-DVD port of those supplemental items is not quite as impressive as it was back in the late Nineties and they were not updated to take advantage of the high definition resolution. Some of the minor features are missing from what was included on the DVD, as the teaser trailer and cast and crew biographies are now absent. Universal has made some amends by including a short Sneak Peek of Elizabeth: The Golden Age (5:50) onto the disc and this is nothing more than a promotional vignette advertising the sequel to this film.
The ported features are still decent enough. The Feature Commentary with Director Shekhar Kapur finds the director not being the most entertaining voice to listen to for two hours, but he does provide a good commentary that details many historical facts that were not altered in the film and information surrounding the production of "Elizabeth." He goes into details about the usage of wide angle and overhead shots and dishes on his views on the various actors that worked for him on this film. There is a lot of information provided in this commentary and you can get a sense as to why "Elizabeth" garnered as many accolades as it did.
There are two features and the film´s Theatrical Trailer. The Making of Elizabeth (24:53) is lengthy enough to take a comprehensive look at the film without digging too deep into any one particular area. Kapur, producer Allison Owen and others provide talking heads moments discussing this picture and their experiences into making it, as well as providing insight into why the interpreted the personality of "Elizabeth" and not necessarily all of the historical facts. The shorter Elizabeth Featurette (6:04) is wholly promotional and can be passed over after watching the making of feature and the theatrical trailer. The commentary and the half-hour long making of feature would have been solid supplements when "Elizabeth" bowed on DVD, but they don´t stack up to today´s feature-laden releases.
Closing Comments:
I enjoyed "Elizabeth" when it was first released onto DVD. My first copy of the film had a problematic layer switch on a disc that was known to be one of the smoothest layer transitions on the fledgling DVD format. Oddly, I was able to use my information from the bad copy to win a clean copy of the film by guessing the exact second of the layer switch. Looking back, my inside information was probably closer to cheating, but I watched the film a half a dozen times and loved the period sets and costumes shown in the film. It was nominated for Best Picture and was easily one of the best films of its year. The film is still a visual feast and has held up nicely. The new HD-DVD release corrects the wrongs with the less-than-impressive visuals of the original DVD release and brings a new TrueHD soundtrack as well. The supplements are pretty much the same as the older disc and aren´t near as impressive as today´s films. This is a superior film to its sequel and one of the finer films offered on the HD-DVD format.
Audio:
The horns contained within "Elizabeth" sound amazingly crisp and clear and are among the more memorable sonic moments of the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. Standard Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes are also provided for English and Spanish for those without the ability to enjoy the solid TrueHD mix. "Elizabeth" is not an overly impressive experience in the realm of sound, but it is technically proficient. The mix is front-heavy and aside from the most robust musical moments, the rear speakers are not given a large supply of information to pass along to the viewer´s ears. There are some nice environmental sounds moved to the rears during a few busy crowd scenes and to convey the sound of the grand churches shown in the film, but hardly any sound effects are moved around the back channels. The .1 LFE channel rumbles when needed, but it too is not often called to the service of the Queen. Dialogue is clean and easily intelligible. The TrueHD mix doesn´t do anything wrong, but it isn´t given any opportunity to truly shine.
Extras:
When Polygram first released "Elizabeth" onto DVD, the disc was filled with a decent number of supplements. However, today´s HD-DVD port of those supplemental items is not quite as impressive as it was back in the late Nineties and they were not updated to take advantage of the high definition resolution. Some of the minor features are missing from what was included on the DVD, as the teaser trailer and cast and crew biographies are now absent. Universal has made some amends by including a short Sneak Peek of Elizabeth: The Golden Age (5:50) onto the disc and this is nothing more than a promotional vignette advertising the sequel to this film.
The ported features are still decent enough. The Feature Commentary with Director Shekhar Kapur finds the director not being the most entertaining voice to listen to for two hours, but he does provide a good commentary that details many historical facts that were not altered in the film and information surrounding the production of "Elizabeth." He goes into details about the usage of wide angle and overhead shots and dishes on his views on the various actors that worked for him on this film. There is a lot of information provided in this commentary and you can get a sense as to why "Elizabeth" garnered as many accolades as it did.
There are two features and the film´s Theatrical Trailer. The Making of Elizabeth (24:53) is lengthy enough to take a comprehensive look at the film without digging too deep into any one particular area. Kapur, producer Allison Owen and others provide talking heads moments discussing this picture and their experiences into making it, as well as providing insight into why the interpreted the personality of "Elizabeth" and not necessarily all of the historical facts. The shorter Elizabeth Featurette (6:04) is wholly promotional and can be passed over after watching the making of feature and the theatrical trailer. The commentary and the half-hour long making of feature would have been solid supplements when "Elizabeth" bowed on DVD, but they don´t stack up to today´s feature-laden releases.
Closing Comments:
I enjoyed "Elizabeth" when it was first released onto DVD. My first copy of the film had a problematic layer switch on a disc that was known to be one of the smoothest layer transitions on the fledgling DVD format. Oddly, I was able to use my information from the bad copy to win a clean copy of the film by guessing the exact second of the layer switch. Looking back, my inside information was probably closer to cheating, but I watched the film a half a dozen times and loved the period sets and costumes shown in the film. It was nominated for Best Picture and was easily one of the best films of its year. The film is still a visual feast and has held up nicely. The new HD-DVD release corrects the wrongs with the less-than-impressive visuals of the original DVD release and brings a new TrueHD soundtrack as well. The supplements are pretty much the same as the older disc and aren´t near as impressive as today´s films. This is a superior film to its sequel and one of the finer films offered on the HD-DVD format.
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[release]21858[/release]