Folklore collectors and con artists, Jake and Will Grimm, travel from village to village pretending to protect townsfolk from enchanted creatures and performing exorcisms. But actually, they conjure up their own horrific cursed creatures, terrorize the unsuspecting town and then ‘magically’ drive them from away, all for a tidy price, of course. However, after a run in with skeptical military General Delatombe (Jonathon Pryce) and threatened with a gruesome death, the charlatans opt to go to another village where young girls are being randomly abducted. The General, sure that scam artists like our hero’s are behind these abductions, orders the brothers to solve the mystery or face death. They are put to the test, however, when they encounter a real magical curse in a haunted forest with real magical beings, requiring genuine courage and skills.

The Brothers Grimm is dopey and drawn out and there is no pay off at the end. Things build up to the predictable ending but as the Queen comes back to life as the final piece of her resurrection is complete, it just doesn’t work. Not only are we are not really afraid of her waking up, but we really don’t care about the girls whose lives hang in the balance. The way she is defeated is also unimaginative. The witch’s final plans are not laid out either so one asks, ‘why do we care if she comes back to life? In fact, it would have made the story more interesting. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger do reasonably well acting out the bumbling brothers. There were a lot of kooky effects and the CGI was wanting in terms of realism but since there are no outwardly violent scenes, kids in the 10 year old range would probably like it more than us adults’ like the rolling credits at the film’s end, I parroted that effect by rolling my eyes.

Video

The Brothers Grimm is one excellent 1.85:1 video transfer. This stylized picture finally delivers the goods for Blu-ray enthusiasts waiting on a rock solid transfer. To begin, color saturation is beautiful: deep rich reds and opulent golds adorn gowns and castles. The scene where Jonathan Price is entertaining guests at dinner presents beautiful, richly colored clothing with intricate detail that is fully picked up in this transfer – just breathtaking colors. Though many scenes are filmed in the dark, enchanted Forrest, we are still treated to incredible contrast and deep, inky blacks. There is so much detail in the characters black clothing that I was shocked my digital projector could even display such a picture (Sony Qualia 004). There are few brightly lit scenes and overall the whites seemed somewhat diminished at the top end, which is a minor quibble. A slightly larger quibble was the stylized look in some parts. Occasionally the picture would take on a gold cast that though esthetically pleasing to the eye came at the cost of some softness and loss of detail – particularly in the final sequences. That being said, the picture is typically razor blade sharp and a feast for the eyes. It is just about everything you want in a HD DVD / Blu-ray picture. There were no signed of artifacts, compression or edge enhancements. Overall, this disc contains a beautiful picture.

Audio

Where to start… It gets my first 5/5 rating. I selected the standard DD 5.1 soundtrack and it delivered even greater than the outstanding image quality. First off, dialog intelligibility was nearly perfect with excellent integration. Even in louder action sequences, dialog came across clear and natural. Surround effects were excellent as well. Though not always giving a holosonic aura in the theater, it was as close to ideal as I have heard on any HD soundtrack. Surround effects were side to side, front to back and all around. As a hatchet is thrown like a boomerang, it flies over your head and fades into the back of the sound field only to whiz back in over your head for the death blow! Dynamic range is also very big hear with incredible pops and violent sound effects. Bass looms low and large with powerful effects that plumb the subsonic depths. The bass effects are also frequent and get more powerful as the film progresses. The movement of the trees causes crushing bass. Just great stuff!! It doesn’t get much better than this.

Special Features

• Commentary with Terry Gilliam: This alternative audio track traces his thoughts through various scenes and mostly parrots the interview with ‘Visual Magic’ interview with Mr Gilliam.
• Deleted Scenes: 12 Short edited spots that fortunately didn’t make it in to (lengthen the film). Nothing of consequence is missed in these spots.
• Movie Showcase: This seems to be a trend as this featurette gives you direct access to the few (three) action scenes.
• The Visual magic of Terry Gilliam: As the title suggests, this interview with the director discusses the problems with animatronics (the wolf) and the need to use CGI versus life-like models as they looked bad and unrealistic (e.g. of trees, etc.). The discussion was mostly technical with a small bit on the ‘magic’ of body warping. This feature offers nothing out of the ordinary, with many pictures of the suspended actors against green screens. Many scenes were split screen showing the simultaneous green screen footage along side the actual movie scene.

Final Thoughts

This Blu-ray presentation gets a major thumbs up! Big sound and a beautiful HD picture! Blu-ray has delivered in spades on technical merits here. However, the story leaves much to be desired (so true in Hollywood). The younger kids (10 and up) can certainly view this, as there are no horrific scenes of blood or violence, just some scary moments. The Extras are really nothing new or unusual, although the ‘Movie Showcase’ is great for enthusiasts in that it provides quick, easy access to the action-filled scenes. I like this for quick demos! Blu-ray is in its infancy, but this is certainly a solid Blu-ray offering.