Happy Feet - HD-DVD, Blu-ray
The Academy Award winning eco-film about a tone-deaf penguin who’s ostracized by his peers for tapping his heart out is all at once a message film (find your own voice), environmentalist (stop killing animals) and a musical. Directed by the guy who made Mad Max, Happy Feet literally has something for everyone… at some point. Again, the digital transfer is gorgeous, highlighting the whites and blues of the Antarctic and can be used as a benchmark DVD to show off to your friends. The Blu-ray version sports only a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, yet the HD-DVD version has a lossless TrueHD 5.1 mix. However, one of those formats is now dead, hopefully rendering this an easy choice.
Ice Age - Blu-ray
Who thought teaming Ray Romano, Dennis Leary and John Leguizamo as banter buddies in the coldest winter ever would work? Wait… does it? As the second ice-themed movie on the list, Ice Age was surprisingly popular with its strong teamwork and babysitting themes (they took care of some baby for Eskimos). Interestingly enough, Ice Age’s sequel, The Meltdown came out on Blu-ray in November of 2006 at the beginning of the format’s life cycle. We’re only now getting Part 1,which sports, again, an amazing level of detail in the video transfer despite the crudeness in design. Another lossless Dolby 5.1 mix rattles your ears once more.
