Inkheart (2009)

Special Edition 2 Discs Includes Digital Copy /DVD Blu-ray

Mo Folchart (Brendan Fraser) is a man who needs some adventure. He gets more than he bargained for when he starts reading a new book and the characters come off the page and into his life! While this might seem cool at first, things soon take on an interesting turn and Mo realizes that he needs to quell this new uprising in his life. Calling on the help of his daughter Maggie, Mo also enlists some real and fake characters in order to finish the story. The problem is that like many good stories they have a deal with evildoers, maniacal beasts and whatever else happens to come their way.

While Inkheart is a movie that I never saw when it was in the theater, I rather enjoyed it on Blu-ray disc. I feel that the story it is telling has a quite simple narrative... basically, while reading is good, don't do so much of it that you don't live your life.

Additional Scenes
These additional scenes were interesting to watch. The fact that they are in high definition plays very nicely here. The richness of the colors and the audio plays just like it does in the film. These additional scenes don't really open up the film any more than normal, but they play well. At 106 minutes Inkheart as a movie plays just right. To have gone longer would have carried out the proceedings too much I feel.

Eliza Reads to Us

A Story from the Cast and Crew
In this high definition featurette the cast and crew sit back and dish on the making of this movie. Sadly, it is here that the Inkheart Blu-ray really seems to lose something. I say that because there is nothing about this featurette that is anything more than pedestrian. The stories that are told take us into the making of this movie, but even the actors (who are great at lying about the importance of a given project) don't seem like they can muster up any enthusiasm. Well, except for Brendan Fraser.

From Imagination to the Page

Made for about $60 million dollars this film grossed about $60 million total worldwide. When you factor in marketing costs and eventual Blu-ray disc and DVD sales, it seems that New Line Cinema probably broke even (or not) on this whole endeavor. I must admit that I am surprised that more people didn't take to this film. Granted, adults are not going to want to see this thing but kids should really enjoy it. There is a lot to be gleaned from the story and there's also a good amount of effects.

Having had the opportunity to watch this film in its Blu-ray and Standard formats, I would certainly recommend going with the Blu-ray option if you can. This film has a strong soundtrack, strong visuals and all of this plays well in the next generation format.