Review added January 13, 2005.
Jurassic Park
:: DVD Review |
|
. . |
|
As befits a flagship title such as Jurassic Park, this
transfer is reference quality, and nearly flawless.
Jurassic Park was always an extremely colourful film, and
previous transfers on VHS and LaserDisc were often
deliberately undersaturated to avoid colour bleed and
excessive chroma noise, but this isn't the case here.
The DVD transfer carefully balances the fine
line between deep saturation and oversaturation, and is
much more vibrant than previous LaserDisc editions.
Colours are stunning, positively jumping off the screen,
but without a hint of colour bleed. The DVD is also very
sharp, although the film itself contains many soft-focus
and filtered sequences that preclude the transfer from
being razor-sharp throughout. Sharper scenes look very
detailed with an impressive level visible information: the
computer-generated dinosaurs look superb, with amazing
fine detail visible on their textured scales.
Film artefacts are never a problem,
demonstrating the care this DVD release has been given,
while black levels are exemplary, with deep inky blacks
and very good shadow detail. Brightly lit interior scenes
occasionally verge on blooming, but this is a creative
choice on the part of the film's makers and present on
theatrical release prints. Aliasing was never in evidence
and there is only a hint of edge enhancement to be seen;
this is impressive stuff. The only problems I could see
were some very fine shimmer and film grain, although both
are rare and of the 'blink and you'll miss it' variety.
Unsurprisingly, there are no compression artefacts to be
seen.
|
|
|
. . |
:: Audio
:: |
. . |
|
Created under the watchful eye of the legendary Gary Rydstrom
('T2', 'Toy Story' 1 & 2, 'Saving Private Ryan', 'The
Haunting') Jurassic Park was the first film presented in the
DTS Digital Sound format back in 1993, and a true showcase of
the potential of the new generation of digital 5.1-channel
audio systems. For years, Jurassic Park has been used as
demonstration material, first in Dolby Surround, then in DTS
Digital Surround, then Dolby Digital.
Despite its age, this soundtrack
still manages to impress, and is a true workout for any audio
system. The main speakers are extremely active throughout the
film, surrounding the listener with ambient and directional
cues from all directions. Surround channel activity ranges
from subtle background hum, rain and fauna to dramatic full
volume discrete effects. The surround channels are also used
to reproduce precise 360 degree directional cues, something
that is still a rarity in movie soundtracks. Dialogue is very
well recorded and always easy to understand, and although ADR
dialogue is used throughout the film, always blends seamlessly
with the front soundstage.
High frequencies are generally very
clean, with the exception of some high frequency clipping on
dialogue, although much of the clipping present on the
previous Dolby Digital LaserDisc release appears to have been
eliminated. Bass content is limited in the main effects
channels, but plentiful from the LFE channel, often to below
30Hz. LFE bass isn't as deep or as loud as that found in more
recent film, but contains enough bass to rattle doors and
walls. Needless to say, dynamic range and overall fidelity are
exemplary. This is a great soundtrack, and earns five stars.
|
|
|
. . |
|
|