God bless the colonies!
The Flick
In one of Burton’s first claymation stories come to life, James and the Giant Peach tells the story of an orphaned boy sent to live with his horribly ugly, mean aunts. One night in the midst of rescuing a spider, he meets an old man who gives him the magic boiled crocodile tongues that will help him escape to New York, the place his family was going to go before they were killed by a giant rhinoceros (fantasy film, indeed). Unfortunately, James’s clumsiness flings the magic all over the soil, causing a giant peach to spring up. One night, a hole appears in the peach, allowing James to crawl up and into a magical world filled with giant talking bugs – bugs who do not want to eat him, but rather help him cross the ocean – inside the peach, naturally – and reach The Big Apple.
It takes a special kind of kid to prefer the company of enormous insects to humans, but James does it with flair and a naïve, big-hearted charm. It’s kind of hard not to love him. The bugs seem to accept him completely as well and throw themselves into his safety and wellbeing. Miss Spider, voice by Susan Sarandon, is probably the best example of this, as she is the aforementioned “saved” spider. Sarandon has been animated a few times in her career and I love that no matter who does it, you can still see her in the character – there’s no mistaking it. In contrast, I never would have guessed that the Centipede is voiced by Richard Dreyfuss.
Audio/Video
James and the Giant Peach Special Edition on Blu-ray is presented in 1080p with a 1.66:1 aspect ratio that will look like a full screen film on most high def TV’s. For the most part this is a decent looking film with a darker color pallet used throughout. Occasionally the film will dim during scenes, but it doesn’t happen enough to distract. Aside from the aforementioned occasional fading, the colors are crisp and the audio is fantastic in surround sound. The soundtrack is presented in an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio with a Spanish and French track in 5.1 Dolby Digital. French and Spanish subtitles are also included.
Special Features
James and the Giant Peach comes in a two-disc combo pack Blu-ray/DVD with a crystal clear transfer to Blu-ray. There are different special features for each disc:
On Blu-ray
– “Spike the Aunts” game – a ridiculous game where you attempt to ram the aunts with a rhinoceros. Not worth playing, really.
On DVD
– Production featurette – a little behind-the-scenes featurette that showcases just how impressive it is to put a film like this together
– “Good News” Music Video – a video featuring clips from the film sung by Randy Newman
– Theatrical Trailer
– Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas trailer
All the original DVD features are also shown on the Blu-ray disc.
Overall
James and the Giant Peach is a great film for young and old alike. It seems to be a tale of facing your fears – that the only time fear has power is when you give in to it. Burton’s touch is still very much present, but the characters and storyline are much more appropriate for a younger audience, unlike some of his more mature movies. I remember enjoying it greatly as a girl and love it even more now that I can appreciate the film style.
ComicsOnline give James and the Giant Peach on Blu-ray 4 out of 5 boiled crocodile tongues.
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