Plot: What’s it about?
War Of The Worlds: Goliath is an animated sci-fi film that finds earth battling giant machines known as Martians. In 1899 earth was attacked by the Martians. These are giant tripods with various tentacles that can shoot heat-rays. Now, 15 years later the earth is more prepared for any further attacks. Some of the technology from the first attack has been harnessed and used to create machines of equal power to fight against the Martians. There’s an early flashback sequence showing a major character (Eric Wells) who’s father was killed in the first attack. He has now joined the A.R.E.S. to battle tripod Goliath. Truth be told there’s not a lot going on here in terms of story. At least the animation is nice. I grew bored by a lot of the film which was heavy on repetition, but it was always a treat for the eyes. Of course, visuals only take you so far and that’s part of the problem I had. Some of the action sequences are nice here, but there’s little else that kept me interested. I admit that I am also not the target audience for this type of film. The delivers on it’s PG-13 rating and might be too intense for a lot of younger viewers, but I’m sure plenty of teens will enjoy this quite a bit. Most, if not all of the characters here inherit the typical “Square Head Syndrome”. They have those big, bulky heads that a lot of animated films and TV shows of this nature often have. I can’t say this did much for me, but if you’re the target demographic then you might get more enjoyment than I did. The overall look of the film is very appealing, but that’s about all I took away from it.
The edition reviewed here was the standard version, but this Blu-ray disc features a 3D version as well. Since I don’t have a 3D TV I can’t comment on that area, but I could definitely see a few instances where 3D would’ve added to the film. There are several shots that appear as if they were made exclusively for the format and I’d like to one day revisit this just to see the 3D effects. That is assuming I ever upgrade to a 3D TV. I also wasn’t crazy about a lot of the voice actors here. Usually this isn’t a problem for me, but I found a lot of them distracting here and almost comical to an extent. The film is just under 90 minutes, but it felt a lot longer than that to me and I think it’s because there’s just so little story here to sustain the running time.
Video: How’s it look?
One thing the film has going for it is the look. Visually speaking, the film is absolutely striking. The colors are deep and well saturated and there’s an overall clean and detailed look to the transfer. I mention there being a 3D version as well, but I can’t comment on that part. I did wanted to mention its inclusion, however. We get a 1.78:1 aspect ratio here. There are plenty of nice background shots of the city with a nice vintage look. I have no issues here, the film looks darn good in HD and will satisfy fans.
Audio: How’s it sound?
Also strong is the DTS HD track. Vocals were strong and consistent throughout and the action fires across all channels and makes quite an impression. There are various scenes of destruction during the film and this gives the rear channels a chance to stay active. The bass kicked in on a number of occasions. As with the video, I see no problems here.
Supplements: What are the extras?
- Stories Before the War – This offers two brief sections that act as a sort of prelude to the main feature. They’re presented in storyboard fashion and kind of fun to see. The two sections are: St Petersburg and The Oath.
- The Movie in Storyboards – This is played alongside the film with storyboards shown as the film is played. This didn’t do much for me, but if you’re into storyboards then you might enjoy it.
- Meet Our Voice Actors – This offers little bios of the actors and the characters they play. It can be kind of neat to get a little more background on some of the characters from the film.
- The Art of War – This is broken into two sections (War Machine Blueprints and a Production gallery). We see various drawings of the characters and props and vehicles from the film.
- The Lovers – This takes a long at a small deleted love scene from the film. We see the storyboard and the actors doing the voice work over them.
- The Making Of War Of The Worlds: Goliath – This is a nice 24 minute look at the making of the film. There’s some good information here and fans should enjoy this.
- Previews – This includes the films trailer too
