- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: Italian 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Italian, English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English and French
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: PG-13
- Run Time: 116 Mins.
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: Lionsgate
- Blu-ray Release Date: October 4th, 2011
- List Price: $14.99
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BestBuy.com:
Purchase Life is Beautiful on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Life is Beautiful stars Roberto Benigni as Guido, a Jewish waiter who uses his imagination and colorful spirit to help him woo a schoolteacher named Dora (Nicoletta Braschi). Shortly after, the two end up getting married. All seems well until their town is invaded by Fascists. Gudio, Dora and their 5 year old son, along with the rest of the town, are forced into concentration camps. In hopes of bringing some sense of hope to his son, Guido uses his imagination to create this magical game for his son. The idea is whoever can get to 1000 points first would win a tank, not a toy tank, but rather a physical tank. What results is not only a well made film but one that reminds us that even in the most dire times, a little imagination can truly make something beautiful.
What makes Life is Beautiful work on the level it does, what makes it so, well, beautiful, is the way the film presents itself. The idea of WWII, Nazi’s, Jewish citizens and concentration camps has been done numerous times over. We all know that the Holocaust was a horrible time for those involved. Unlike every other film, Life is Beautiful would rather show the beauty, show life exists in any situation rather than show the true horror of the moment. That is what makes the film so powerful. Taking the road less traveled, in this case the road of showing the beautiful side to horror, works. Benigni has made the kind of film that doesn’t need to be seen often as the message within is one that will stick with the viewer forever.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Life is Beautiful arrives with an AVC-MPEG 4 encoded transfer, one that is a solid upgrade to the DVD. The film’s color palette features mostly muted colors. There are your occasional brighter colors like reds (of which look fine) but greys and whites tend to dominate the transfer. Clarity and detail can tend to be a bit soft at times almost making the image appear a bit flat and bland. I’m not sure if Benigni intended the film to look like this in order to help capture the themes. It’s not to say that there’s almost no life to the transfer, just there isn’t as much detail as I had initially expected. Perhaps I’m comparing it too much to another era film in The Pianist. Moving on though, grain is kept in check as is the digital noise. No instance of print damage either. While I wasn’t as pleased, I still found that this offers up a fine upgrade from the DVD.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The film features an Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Dialogue is well reproduced via the center channel. The film’s wonderful score by Nicola Piovani (which won the Academy Award) is (pun intended) beautiful. Even though the film is quite silent at times, there is a good amount of atmosphere found here. Discrete effects offer up your standard effects like background dialogue, cars, etc. The sound design just handles everything well from the quieter sequences to those more robust moments. All in all, fans will be pleased with the audio mix.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
The supplements found here are brief but interesting. All are presented in Standard Definition.
- “Making Life Beautiful” – This feature runs right around 24 minutes in length and features cast and crew interviews as well as seeing Benigni on set directing.
- Academy Award TV Commercials – Roughly 5 minutes of commercials are shown.
- Theatrical Trailer
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
Life is Beautiful isn’t the kind of movie everyone wants to watch. But if you can set aside any initial thoughts based on the plot, what you’ll find is a truly great film. Featuring solid video and audio, along with a few features, this one comes recommended.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B0033AI48Y[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Life is Beautiful on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
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