Chaos Entertainment

Miscellaneous Reviews!

8/30/2002

Welcome to my new Misc. Reviews section! Here you will find reviews to such neat stuff like computer hardware, DVDs, toys, etc! Of course availability to reviews will depend on when I can get the stuff to review! I'll make a point to say what stuff I'm about to get so you can look forward to a review when I get it.

DVD Review:

Minority Report

01/10/2003

I gotta say, Steven Spielberg is one of the most impressive film makers ever. Just the sheer eclectic-ness (is that a word?) of his films makes me love him so much. He's got drama, action, comedies, all under his belt. And I hear he's a fun loving guy as well. Minority Report is Spielberg's latest sci-fi action offering, and it's one hell of a ride.

Film:

Minority Report is loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story of the same name. I say loosely because my friend read the story and says just the basic premise of the two are the same, everything else is pretty much different. But still, the basic story is a damn good one. Minority Report is about a cop, John Anderton, who is the chief of the Washington DC precrime unit, an experimental law enforcement agency that, with the help of three 'precogs', are able to see a murder before it happens, thus stopping it from happening. Precrime is about it voted upon to see if it should stay in place and be spread across the country, and everything is looking swell. There hasn't been a murder in 6 years, and, as is repeated numerous times in the movie, it is perfect. Then something happens that totally shatters Anderton's mind. He becomes accused of the future murder of a man he has never met. He thinks something's fishy, so off he goes on a wild chase to find out what's going on.

So that's the basic plot of the movie. Sound interesting? Yea, I know it does. And the movie just gets more and more exciting as it goes on. Tom Cruise (on of my fave actors) plays an excellent John Anderton, and the supporting cast of characters are equally amazing. Minority Report isn't just a straight sci-fi action movie, though. Nope. It's also about the detective work. It's kind of a whodunnit thing with Anderton trying to find out who set him up and how. The ending is pretty innovative and well done. There isn't a whole lot I can criticize about this movie. It's wonderfully filmed, has action, humor, romance, suspense, etc in it. It's the perfect movie! And I love it to pieces. Of course it doesn't really break any new ground, but still, it's awesome. And one more thing... don't think about it too much. Because I did and it really doesn't make too much sense and it'll just spoil the movie for you. I originally gave this movie a 9, but I just thought about it and realized there a huge plot hole (at least to me). So I'm lowering it to an 8.

FILM SCORE: 8/10

Audio:

Since I don't have a dts decoder, this review is about the Dolby Digital 5.1 track included on the disc. And I must say it's pretty good. While some parts of the movie is talking, the action scenes really flare up the surrounds. Check out the scene in the car factory. That's one of my favorites. You can hear the machines whirring around in the background. Good stuff. Also, the mag car chase is pretty good. Again, nothing that blows you away, but very very solid.

AUDIO SCORE: 9/10

Video:

The film transfer is near perfect on this disc. Like many other discs I've seen, there is a tiny bit of edge enhancement on the shoulders in some scenes. But other than that, perfection! One thing is that the way the film is shot, it looks kind of grainy and dull. But since that's how it's supposed to be, I'm not counting off because of it. Just something to note.

VIDEO SCORE: 9/10

Extras:

This DVD is a great 2-disc set. There are 6 main documentary categories each with subsets in them, so there's a lot to go through. Here they are:

-From Story to Screen

-The Debate

-The Players

-Deconstructing Minority Report

-The World of Minority Report

-Precrime and Precogs

-The Spyder Sequence

-Precog Visions

-Vehicles of the Future

-The Stunts of Minority Report

-The Mag Lev Escape

-Hoverpack Chase

-Car Factory

-ILM and Minority Report

-Intro

-Holograms

-Hall of Containment

-Mag Lift

-Hovercraft/Hoverpacks

-Cyberparlor

-Final Report: Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise

All of these features are really enjoyable. They are all the perfect length, not super long, but not those stupid 10 second spots either. There is also an extensive concept art gallery that's a lot of fun to look at. My favorite feauture has to be the one about how the Precog visions were constructed. But they are all really really fun to watch. I just wish there was a commentary with Spielberg and Cruise. That would have made this disk perfect. But it's still good without it.

EXTRAS SCORE: 9/10

Conclusion:

This is one of the best discs I have. Everything is almost perfect, but not quite. But still, great all around.

OVERALL SCORE: 9/10

Picture Gallery:

DVD Review:

Spider-man (Widescreen Edition)

11/13/2002

Yea, I know this review is about two weeks late, so sue me. I've been busy with midterms and stuff, okay? Plus, redesigning this site is pretty time consuming too. Anyway, on with the review. Oh yea, no screen captures for now since I left the DVD at home so my parents could watch it.

Film:

In case you're one of the ten people in the world who doesn't know who Spider-man is, he's basically a guy who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gets all these cool spider powers like crawling up wall, super strength, agility, etc. At least that's how the comic goes. The movie makes a few changes here and there, but still remains quite true to the comic.

The movie basically takes the comic and updates it for the 21st century, a lot like the current Ultimate Spider-man comic does. The spider is no longer radioactive, but genetically enhanced. That kind of stuff. Lucky for us, a very devote Spidey fan, Sam Raimi, directed the movie, and it shows. I'd say this is about as close as you're going to get to a super hero movie being true to the comics. One major change that they did do, however, is make Spidey's web shooters natural. In the comics, Peter (Spidey's alter ego) created the formula and a web shooter. I'm guessing they changed it in the movie for two reasons:

1) To save time. The movie is already 2 hours as it is, adding in creating the web shooter would probably take up another 20 minutes.

2) Realism. There's no way a high school kid, no matter how geeky, is going to come up with a formula to create a substance as undefined as his webbing (sometimes it's elasticy, sometimes it's stringy, sometimes it's hard).

So with that in mind, I can forgive them. Another thing fans got heated up about is the Green Goblin costume. No, it does not look like the comic version (which is good because the little munchkin hat and boots would make him look silly), but the costume they came up with looks a little too...wierd. Though I don't find it AS bad as everyone makes it out to be, I've seen the Alex Ross versions, and they look great. I think they should have stuck with that one instead.

On to the movie itself. It is... really good! I admit that when I first saw it in the theaters, I was more excited and pumped up by the fact that Spidey had made it to the silver screen than the movie itself. But the second time I saw it, it's actually a really great movie with some great acting. Tobey is a dead on Peter Parker and Willem Defoe is awesome as Green Goblin. The scene where he talks to himself in the mirror, switching personalities, is great.

Because this is an origin story, it moves along a little slow. The entire first hour is dedicated to how Peter gets his powers and how he becomes Spider-man. Though it's by no means boring, don't expect an action-fest until the second hour. Then things pump up and get exciting. There are some awesome battles between Spidey and the Goblin. The aerial battles are a sight to see.

A couple minor complaints about the movie: you don't get to see where the final Spider-man costume comes from. One second he has his dinky home-made one, and then the next scene he's swinging around in his awesome Spider-suit. And where'd the Goblin get his mask? I want answers! Another thing that bugged me a lot was how when the Goblin sprayed his sleep gas, he was like: 'sslllleeeeeppppp'. It just sounded really corny. That's all. But all in all, a great movie.

FILM SCORE: 9/10

Audio:

The Dolby Digital mix here is pretty good. When Spidey shoots his webs, sometimes you can hear em go 'splat' in your rears. Good surround explosions, and stuff. But most of the action takes place up front between Spidey and Goblin, so your rears don't get an extensive workout. But it's still a really good track. In the burning building, you can hear the fire in the surrounds and I especially like when Norman hears the Golbin's voice in his head. It shifts around from speaker to speaker. A really great effect.

AUDIO SCORE: 8/10

Video:

Not bad at all. Though it's nowhere as clear as say... Final Fantasy or Episode II, I guess that's because those where taken from the digital source. Here, it doesn't have the crisp look that those movies have, but it still looks good. A tiny bit of edge enhancement on a few shoulders, but you have to look really closely to see it. In the beginning half of the film, white spots flicker up a lot, but only for like half a millisecond and you have to be pretty sharp to see em. And for some reason, the burning building scene looks really really good. It has that clarity from those digital films. I have no idea why.

VIDEO SCORE: 8.5/10

Extras:

This 2-disker is loaded with extras. Sadly, they all pretty much suck. No deleted scenes, no real documentaries, and the commentaries bored me off me arse. The outtakes suck and the screen tests are kind of boring, but okay. I like the CG Spider-man test. You can see how far they went from concept the film. I wish they at least put in a real documentary of making the film. Instead you get two promotional behind-the-scenes things that were shown on TV before the film. They're long, but basically rehashes of each other. Blah.

I think the best thing on this disk is the stuff about the comic. The short documentary of the Spider-man comic is great and filled with interviews with Stan the man Lee, Todd McFarlane, and other Spidey writers/artists. Plus it has a timeline of a lot of Spidey books with covers and short descriptions of them.

EXTRAS SCORE: 7/10

Conclusion:

A great movie, good audio and video. If only they spent more time on the extras, this would have been an awesome disk to own. Instead, it's just a good one. The commentary was surprisingly boring since I was looking forward to some insight from Sam Raimi, but he doesn't talk all that much. And the special effects one was filled with a lot of techno mumbo jumbo that I didn't understand. Disk 2 is filled with lots of not-so-great behind-the-scenes stuff.

OVERALL SCORE: 8/10

DVD Review:

Beauty and the Beast Special Edition

Platinum Edition

10/12/2002

Disney's Beauty and the Beast is without a landmark event not only in animation history but also film making history. It was the first (and so far only) animated film to receive an ACADEMY AWARD nomination of Best Picture. That's right. This baby was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. It's also one of the first animated movies to extensively use computer graphics in it. Oh yea, the movie is really good too. And it doesn't hurt that Belle is the best looking Disney girl created.

Film:

Beauty and the Beast is considered by many to be one of the best of Disney's animated movies. It was the second of Disney's 'roll', which is when their movies were just taking off and unstoppable. In my opinion the list looks something like: Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Lion King. Of these four I think Lion King is probably the best, but Beauty and the Beast comes in a close second. I haven't watched Lion King recently, so my opinion could have changed. It's interesting to watch Disney cartoons when you're older because you get a different level of appreciation for them instead of just the pretty pictures, cool songs, and lame jokes (which aren't that funny anymore). After re-watching Beauty and the Beast, I can actually see why it was nominated for Best Picture. It's a very good drama and it's quite emotional (especially towards the end). It also has some amazing camera angles that have are not traditional to animated features, but were possible because of the computer graphics (the ballroom dance scene).

B&B is the traditional story about a beautiful young girl (the Beauty) who meets a really ugly monster-like thing (the Beast) and about their interactions. You've probably heard of it before, but I won't spoil anything for you just in case. B&B is one of the best looking animated movies I've seen in a while. And remember this movie was released in 1991 and they started production around 1989. And it still compares to the animated stuff coming out today? Yes! It does! Amazing, isn't it? Probably because the stuff coming out today is filled to the brim with CG work and it just doesn't have the same feel to it as a traditional hand-drawn piece does. B&B also has some of the best songs out of all the Disney movies. I still think Lion King is better, but once again, B&B is a close second.

This DVD includes three versions of the film. The original 1991 release, the recent IMAX version which includes a cut song 'Human Again', and a work in progress version. I watched the IMAX version, original release, and parts of the work in progress version. The work in progress version is neat because you get to see the unfinished movie and some parts are still pencil sketches and storyboards. It's cool to get three versions of the movie here, but it causes some problems, which I will talk about later. One more thing that bothered me was that the 'Original Theatrical Release' actually isn't. Well, actually I don't know if it is or not since I saw the thing in theaters 11 years ago, but I DO have the original soundtrack and part of the song 'Gaston' is missing. It's the part where Le Fou tries to spell Gaston's name but can't. I also noticed this was missing from the original VHS release when I got it so long ago. I think they should have put that part back in. I assume they took it out because it made French people look stupid? I dunno. But really, it's part of the song, so put it back in!

FILM SCORE: 9.5/10

Audio:

This DVD includes a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround English track as well as a French track. I watched the English version (duh). The surround is quite good. The rears are usually filled with music, but there are also a lot of parts where effects come out of the rear. The ending part is one, as well as songs like 'Be Our Guest' where you are surrounded by the little dishes and silverware dancing all around you. All in all a very very good track. The menu and games also support surround! The sound effects in the stupid Chip game on the second disk are actually not bad. You can hear the stuff rolling past you and stuff shattering behind you.

AUDIO SCORE: 10/10

Video:

This is the only part of the DVD that disappoints. Because the first disk is crammed full of three versions of the film, a commentary, two language tracks, and a little game, the video is the one that paid the price. Every single scene is literally covered in aliasing problems. You can see the fuzz all over the place. It's actually quite annoying. Also there are some parts where there are jagged lines in some places of the film. It's not as noticeable as the fuzz, but it's still there sometimes. It's a real disappointment because I was really looking forward to some clean, crisp video because on the box it says it uses 'First-ever digital presentation using high-definition transfer technology'. Whatever that it, it sounds really clean and crisp, which is not what you get. And remember that I am no tech geek, and there are some videos that looks just fine to me, but experts can detect problems. This has got to mean this video is really bad. One saving grace, though, is that the colors shine through very well. And that's a good thing since B&B relies heavily on the mood of the color as the story progresses. You also get widescreen 1.85:1, which is always good.

VIDEO SCORE: 5/10

Extras:

This part of the film does not disappoint. Here's a list of stuff you get:

Disc 1:

-Audio Commentary by Don Hahn, Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale, and Alan Menken.

-Sing Along Track

-Stupid Game

-Trailers

Disc 2:

-Origins of Beauty and the Beast

-Development

-Story

-Music

-Characters

-Production Design

-Animation

-Tricks of the Trade

-Release and Reaction

-The Broadway Musical

-Special Edition

-Disney's Animation Magic

-Stupid games

-Music Video by Jump 5

-Making of Beauty and the Beast

-Story Behind the Story

-Beauty and the Beast Music video by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson

That's a lot of stuff, eh? And remember that almost all of the ones on disc 2 expand to show more features under that category. It took me about 4 hours to completely watch everything (not including commentary and including playing all the stupid games). They have just about everything a movie enthusiast could want here including a memorial to the late Howard Ashman. They have tons and tons of galleries of posters, character designs, etc. My favorite features where in the Release and Reaction section. It had old ads of the movie that appeared in newspapers, and had the creators talking about the shock they got when they received a nomination for Best Picture. Really really good stuff. The menus are also very nice. Presented in surround sound, disc 1 opens up like a storybook with a narrorator (sounds like the guy in the beginning of the movie, but don't know if he's the same guy) and then presents you with the options via a sign post. Disc 2 starts at the gates of the castle and presents you with stained glass windows of Chip, Lummierre and Cogsworth (sp?), Ms Pots, the Magic Mirror, and the Rose. Each leading to a different section of features. If you click on the mirror, you get to see all the features at once so you can more easily navigate. If you click the rose a couple times, you gain access to a stupid game (could be an easter egg, since you have to click a few times).

The commentary is very informative and you get the idea of how much work it takes to get an animated movie to the screen. You also learn about some interesting tidbits of the movie (did you know Regis Philbin tried for the part of Beat?). All in all a good track. I only wish they included the voices of some of the people that tried for parts but didn't make it. They said they got some pretty funny parts and I want to hear them, but oh well. Also, there are some cheap tricks to pad the extras (which they didn't need to do since there are already a ton of them) like having the same extra twice in two different places, and the sing along track is just the subtitles turned on during the songs. I thought it would be karaoke-like, but it's not.

EXTRAS SCORE: 10/10

Conclusion

What can I say? The movie is perfect, the audio is perfect, tons of extras. Disney could have had THE disc on 2002, but they blew it with the video, which is...pretty bad. If they had made it a 3 disk set, it could have solved the problem, but then the price would probably have gone up. Though I wouldn't mind paying a few extra dollars for cleaner video. I guess I can't REALLY complain cuz I got this DVD at $17.00 with a 'free 12-pack of soda' coupon attached to it. So essentially I got this at $14.00, which is a steal for such a great movie. But still, don't let the low video score keep you away from this DVD. It's probably gone be another decade before they release a better version of this movie, so get it while you can. I can only hope Disney learned from it's mistakes and next year's Lion King DVD is gonna KICK ARSE!

OVERALL SCORE: 9.5/10

Photo Gallery: (click to enlarge)

Main Menu Extras Menu

Beautiful! Back when beer could be in G movies.

Beast is ready to kick your arse. Mmmm... Belle...

Valencia and Anaheim?! Wonder what that smells like?

'My mouth is BIGGER!' She's so cuuuute!

I used to think this part was hilarious... not anymore. Gorgeous scene

You won't find this scene anywhere except on this DVD! She's so pretty with her hair down!

My favorite shot of Belle. SKULLZ OF DEATH! Yes, they are in the movie.

All this and MORE! Even Ming-Na Wen is in this DVD! Awesome!

DVD Review:

The End of Evangelion

9/26/2002

It's finally out! Evangelion fans are no doubt rejoicing. The End of Evangelion is the mind blowing finale of an equally mind blowing anime series. So how does it fare on DVD? Read on to find out.

Film:

When the last two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion came out, fans of the show were outraged. They were looking for a more concrete ending to the series, not the intellectual, mind warping one that director Hideaki Anno gave them. Fans sent in letters of protest and Anno decided to give em what they wanted. The result is this film. It's hard to say anything about this movie without giving away a major plot element. I was going to say you get to see what was happening in the world during TV's eps 25 and 26, but that is open in interpretation. Some people think that eps 25 and 26 of the series is a totally different ending than in EoE. I am one of the people who thinks differently. You'll just have to watch the movie yourself and decide. I must say, however, that this is no doubt one of the the most powerful animated movies ever created. The violence is over the top in an almost grotesque manner. Fans of the series are not only in for a treat, but also a shock. You never knew Eva could go this far. Even as I think back to it now, it gives me chills.

Even though this film was supposed to clear up a few questions and finish everything up, do NOT...I repeat, do NOT, think that the answers will be spoon-fed to you. This movie is STILL incredibly heavy on the symbolism and I guarantee that if you do not have at least a fair grasp at the concept of the show, you will totally and utterly lost during the most of this movie (like I was the first time I watched it). But if you stick with it, and perhaps go back and watch the TV show again, this movie is incredibly rewarding. If you liked the pace/style of the TV show, you will not be disappointed here, because this basically takes all that and multiplies it by a factor of 100.

FILM SCORE: 9/10

Audio

Surprisingly, this disc got a really nice (in theory) audio treatment. It comes complete with 61. DTS ES, 5.1 DD EX, and stereo in both English AND Japanese. This was a major improvement over Manga's Death and Rebirth DVD which only had surround sound for the English track. I watched the film in 5.1 DD (actually, I only have a 4.1 setup, so the center channel stuff was routed to my front speakers). Most of it was pretty clear. I'd say it was better than the D&R disk. The only thing that disappoints me is that this film would have totally benefited from a great surround track. There were so many parts in the movie that I thought they should have put in the rear speakers more. But there are a lot of great surround moments. Missles will be flying from your surround to front speakers as will jets and bullet shots. All around, good stuff. There seemed to be a few parts where the audio kind of faded out for some reason, though. I was very minor, but kind of annoying when it happened.

AUDIO SCORE: 7/10

Video

The video on this DVD is'nt bad at all. It is noticably sharper and clearer than the D&R disk. Colors once again look a little washed out, but not as much as D&R. There is a bit of aliasing that is especially noticable in the credits, but not so much in the film. I'd say this is a very solid video release. Once again, you get a nice non-anamorphic widescreen presentation.

VIDEO SCORE: 8/10

Extras

I was a bit disappointed with the extras here. Once again you get the audio commentary (which is continued off where the D&R track left off), but not much else. You get the Manga trailers for D&R and EoE, but both were already on the D&R disk. I was hoping for at least some new Japanese trailers. The commentary this time around was a bit less interesting. Strange since it was done continuously with the D&R track, which I enjoyed. Though this one isn't bad by any means, the jokes just got annoying after a while, especially considering the content of the film. They said in the track that joking was an automatic trigger to be working with such an insane movie for so long, and I guess that makes sense. If I had to watch and scrutinize every aspect of this movie for months, I think I'd go crazy without a little humor as well. There are, however still some good info in the track and I encourage you to listen to if to learn more about the movie.

Since the DVD is only one sided this time around, you can still have the subtitles up when you watch the commentary, which is a nice improvement over the D&R disk. Once again, you can only listen to the English dub with the commentary, but you'll be listening to the commentary anyway, so it doesn't matter. Plus they talk about stuff in the English dub during the commentary, so it makes sense.

One thing about the subtitles is that they don't subtitle the entire first part of the film. I can sort of understand this because it's not really part of the movie, but I'd really like to know what the people were saying because it looked really interesting. I'm pretty sure it's just some everyday talk and probably the voice actors talking to each other, but still, it looked interesting.

The biggest disappointment here is the lack of the cast interviews that I saw were to be included on this disk. I also thought there was to be a new Mokuji Interactive thing like the D&R disk, there are none. I'd really like a 10 or 15 minute interview with the cast for their feelings, but it's not here. Also, in the commentary they even say that they hope that some outakes would make the DVD, which they did not. I would be nice to watch outtakes after your mind has been fried by this movie. But none are to be seen. Bleh.

The menus, one again, are nice. The classical music playing matches it very well and the eroding letters are a great touch.

EXTRAS SCORE: 7/10

Conclusion

This is a pretty good disk. The movie is incredible and if you like the series, you're gonna love this movie. It really makes you think, unlike a lot of other anime. Evangelion really was a pioneer series and this movie just takes it a step further. The only letdown is the extras. I was expecting more.

OVERALL SCORE: 8/10

Photo Gallery (click to enlarge)

Main Menu Sound Options

Misato ownz j00 A very very wierd scene

Disturbing What happnens after

too much Eva

The most beautiful The most horrifying

battle scene ever battle scene ever

Touching This scene greatly

disturbs me

Reviews Coming Up!

9/09/2002

Here are a few reviews you can look forward to in the coming weeks. Summer school is over and I'll have time to play/watch and review the following:

The End of Evangelion DVD

Star Fox Adventures (Gamecube)

Animal Crossing (Gamecube)

You'll have to wait a bit longer (maybe a couple months...heehee) for the game reviews cuz I gotta beat them first... or get close to beating them to give a full review. So expect the DVDs in 3 or 4 weeks. Alright! See ya!

DVD Review:

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth

8/30/2002

Neon Genesis Evangelion... one of the most controversial anime of all time has finally come to the US shores! Actually, the TV series has been out for a while, but the movies are just arriving. This review deals with the first of two Eva movies: Death and Rebirth. Oh yea, I no longer have a scanner, so no box art image... sorry!

Film:

This movie is actually divided into two parts: Death and Rebirth (duh. Look at the title of the movie.) The TV series ended with a deep psychological profile of many of the main characters, but mainly Ikari Shinji. This left many viewers angry because it didn't seem to fully conclude the series and the many questions the series brought up. Angry viewers sent mail to the creators of Eva and finally, about a year after the show concluded, this movie was released. The first part (Death) is a rehash of the entire TV series minus the last two episodes (25 & 26). In 2000AD, the first 'Angel', Adam, was discovered in Antartica by a team or reaserchers. But due to their tampering, Adam released a huge amount of energy, causing something called Second Impact, which destroyed half of the world's population. The series actually starts in 2015 AD, when a new Angel has come to wreak havoc on the Earth. Because conventional weapons do not harm Angels, the Evangelions must be deployed. Previously cut footage from the TV series as well as some fresh new animations have been integrated into the original footage to provide a mish-mesh of about 40 minutes in length. Those who have already seen the series shouldn't just overlook this as a simple retelling of the series, though. It does go into some detail, revealing a few things unknown during the TV series. It even has footage of what happened during Second Impact! It is also set to a beautiful soundtrack that includes songs Eva fans should be familiar with as well as a few classical pieces. All in all, Death is a great review of the series if you haven't seen it in a while, but also reveals a few tidbits of information regarding the story in the process. However, if you have never seen the TV series and are hoping for a total recap, I'm afraid that is impossible. Fitting 500+ minutes of story into 40 is just impossible. And I have a feeling that newcomers to the Eva series will be totally lost while watching the film.

The second part, Rebirth, is actually the first segment of the second movie: The End of Evangelion. As far as I know, originally, GAINAX (the studio responsible for creating Eva) created the End of Evangelion movie as an alternate, more finalizing, ending to the Eva series as opposed to the TV eps 25 & 26. They originally wanted to release both the series recap and the alternate ending at once, but the latter part kept becoming bigger and bigger, so they decided to release only a part of it with Death. This part is called Rebirth. Rebirth is about the first 30 minutes of End of Evangelion. I can't say much about the plot because the plot is so shocking, I don't want to give any of it away. Something else to not is that the Rebirth included on this DVD is not the original theatrical release of Rebirth. The Rebirth shown in theaters in Japan was actually a incomplete version of the final version. The animation was a bit rough and a different soundtrack was used. I haven't personally seen the original Rebirth, so I can't say what else is different, but I have read that the difference is minimal and basically the version in Rebirth seen here is the final, End of Eva, cut. It cleans up the art and uses the final soundtrack. So I guess that it's the same thing, just cleaner, which sounds good. To sum things up, All I can say is be sure to at least watch the entire series before attempting to view this DVD. The Death segment is a great refresher and helps veterans notice things they have never seen before, and Rebirth... well, see for yourself. The only thing that hurts the content is that it isn't absolutely ESSENTIAL to watch if you've seen the movie and are going to watch End of Eva.

FILM SCORE: 7/10

Audio

I'm going to say it now: I am NOT an audiophile. I have no clue about how 'good' the separation of the channels is. In my book, if it's clean and loud, it's good. That being said, the audio on this disk is alright. A huge letdown is that the original Japanese track is only presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. The English dub, however is in both 2.0 and 5.1 I listened to the entire movie with the Japanese track, and a bit with the English. Strangely, the English tracks sound a bit muted compared to the Japanese one. And the 5.1 mix is alright. The surrounds see a bit of action during the fight scenes, but not a lot going on for most of the other times. The English dub is decent and some of the actors are actually pretty good. But some just sound bland and corny, which is common to English dubbed anime. That's why I always choose to watch using the Japanese language track.

AUDIO SCORE: 7/10

Video

Oh yea, I'm not a video techie either, so anyway... the video here is pretty clean, as far as an anime goes anyway. A lot of Death recycles old video from the TV series, so there's certain limit on how good it looks. But overall, it looks okay. A lot of it looks really washed out, but you shouldn't be expecting a crazy good transfer anyway since it's an anime DVD, but it's still a bit disappointing. It looks kinda like a DivX. A bit of aliasing here and there, but nothing that'll kill you. Unless of course you watch this on your computer. Then it gets pretty ugly. Oh yea, and you get 1.85:1, non-anamorphic widescreen here.

VIDEO SCORE: 7/10

Extras

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the extras on this disc. While nothing compared with the big Hollywood discs, anime DVDs rarely get any extras besides maybe a textless opening and a trailer. Perhaps because this was a really anticipated release, Manga Ent. decided to pump it up a notch. You get:

-Audio Commentary by the English director/voice actress of Ayanami Rei, Amanda Winn Lee, voice actor Taliesin Jaffe, and Jason C. Lee.

-Mokuji Interactive

-Magi Files

-Photo Gallery

-Japanese Trailers

-End of Evangelion Preview

-Other Manga release info.

The highlight was the commentary. I have never seen an anime DVD with commentary on it. The irony is that the director, Amanda Winn Lee, who should know a lot, spends most of her time laughing and making jokes. The other two, however, balance it out with a lot of very very interesting information on the movie itself. Some things they say are pretty deep and you can tell they've done their homework. The Mokuji Interactive is another interesting feature. Using this, during the film, at certain parts, you can select to learn more about a certain part of the plotline. The weird thing is that all of these can be found in the Magi Files. I guess that's good if you don't want to re-watch the entire film to read them. But they are actually quite well written and contain a lot of information on the series and helps you answer a few of the many questions that have arisen from the series. You also get the Manga Ent. trailer for their End of Eva DVD as well as Japanese trailers for D&R when it was coming out. These are interesting to watch. I just wish they had subtitles so I could understand them. This also leads to a huge problem with the extras on the disc. Since the commentary/Mokuji are on side 2 of the 2 sided disk, you can only access them while watching the English version of the film. Also, for some strange reason, Manga decided to leave out the text subtitles for the Japanese text that frequently pops up on the screen. They are on the movie side of the disk, but are absent here. I guess this is only a small downside since you should always watch the movie in it's entirety before the commentary, but it's still a little annoying. The photo gallery pretty much sucks. It has like 20 pictures all in pretty low quality. And of course you have the trailers for other videos/DVDs coming from Manga.

EXTRAS SCORE: 7.5/10

Conclusion

This is actually a really great movie. I'd still buy it even if it was bare bones like most anime DVDs, but surprisingly, it comes with a healthy set of features that rival a few Hollywood movies. I can't wait for the End of Evangelion DVD which is said to have a 6.1 DTS English soundtrack as well as a 5.1 DD Japanese one.

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10