Posted on: April 5, 2009 Posted by: Jay NeuFutur Comments: 0

While I understand that there are thousands of movies that came out before The Kite Runner that should make it onto Blu-Ray (even some that never made the jump from VHS to DVD), The Kite Runner is one of the few films that I would have cut in line. The store, regarding the different paths taken by two children (which ultimately converge in some of the most emotional cinematography I’ve ever seen), shines all the brighter given the higher resolution and better picture quality of the Blu-Ray format. The film was released on DVD only a year ago, but the transition to Blu-Ray merits the additional price incurred in purchasing this release.

The video quality has already been discussed; the Dolby TrueHD (5.1) audio accurately recreates the theater experience. The bonus features on the Blu-Ray are integral in understanding what director Marc Forster and author Khaled Hosseini did in transferring Hosseini’s own vision to the big screen. Where some fans of the original title may not have appreciated specific derivations and other changes between the book and film, the commentary gives solid, logical reasoning and made me enjoy the film all the more.

Other bonus features, such as “Words” and “Images” (“From The Kite Runner”) provide further information that viewers may not be easily able to take from the film “Words” discusses in greater detail the transfer of Hosseini’s novel to film, while “Images” surrounds the specific visual choices that were made in that transfer. Overall, there could be a slight bit more in the way of bonus features given the film, but the strong advances made by DreamWorks in terms of the picture and audio quality more than make up for any weakness in that department. Purchase the Blu-Ray edition of The Kite Runner if you have not already bought the DVD, or (if you have the DVD) buy the film if you wish to see a more accurate representation of the film than was present with the DVD release.

Rating: 8.8/10

The Kite Runner (Blu-Ray) / 2009 DreamWorks / 127 Minutes / http://www.kiterunnermovie.com

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