Seabiscuit, Blu-ray (2003/2009)
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper
Director: Gary Ross
Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment 61106507 [Release date: May 26, 09]
Video: 2.35:1 anamorphic/enhanced for 16:9 color 1080p HD
Audio: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1; French, Spanish DTS 5.1
Extras: Commentaries, Featurettes, Photo gallery, BD-Live content
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Feature Length: 141 minutes
Rating: *****
Seabiscuit was one of those movies almost impossible to resist, made in the grand tradition of good storytelling and eye-popping visuals that hearkened to an earlier (and perhaps better) time in Hollywood’s heyday. The based-on-a-true-story film revolves around, of course, the legendary horse Seabiscuit – a most improbable champion – and the cast of seeming losers who believe in him. That group includes unsure jockey Red Pollard (played by Tobey Maguire), who might not believe in himself, but surely does believe in Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit’s owner, Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges), is nearly bankrupt, but continues to bank on Seabiscuit as his shot at redemption. And Tom Smith (played by Chris Cooper) is Seabiscuit’s horse-whispering trainer who seems to be able to coax the thoroughbred to nearly superhuman (superanimal?) performances. But if all this must have seemed improbable way back then, just look at this year’s Kentucky Derby winner for a more modern-day reality check!
Seabiscuit was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 2004, but up against stiff competition from the third installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, unfortunately, came up empty-handed. But this excellent Blu-ray disc from Universal shows that it was Oscar-worthy indeed, and offers up one of the finest home theater experiences I’ve seen thus far this year. The image presented here is nothing short of reference quality, with crisp and highly detailed images and superb color representation. While the DVD copy looked incredibly good, this Blu-ray betters it in every possible aspect of the image presentation, and may be the best-looking Universal catalog title I’ve seen so far. And the surround sound is also superb – the DTS HD MA 5.1 track is a notable improvement over the DVD. While some of the best sound comes during the race scenes (your subwoofer will get a true workout!), the overall sound mix is excellent, and dialogue presentation is exceptionally clear. And there’s a plethora of available bonus materials that help to make this an impressive Blu-ray offering indeed!Even though most of us already know throughout that Seabiscuit will ultimately triumph, never at any point did my interest wane in this truly excellent story. Four stars – very highly recommended!
— Tom Gibbs
