QUICK THOUGHTS: Clash of the Titans was originally released in 1981, but I can’t tell you when I first saw it. I do know it couldn’t have been much later than ’85 and I remember loving it from the very first moment I saw it.
Now the film is just under 30-years-old and it is definitely showing its age, but hell it was showing its age long before today. It’s still a lot of fun, but like Sam Worthington, star of the upcoming remake, recently said, “I think it’s a bit corny.” He said that as he was seeing the film for the first time only last year and I can understand how someone would feel that way now. Hell, Worthington just got done making the most technologically advanced film ever in Avatar, what else was he going to think of 30-year-old stop-motion. But still, this is the work of the legendary Ray Harryhausen and I think that deserves a bit of respect.
Watching the film on Blu-ray didn’t necessarily blow me away. As a matter of fact it didn’t appear as if the high-definition transfer did anything but ensure the filming techniques of 30 years ago are even more obvious now. The picture is quite grainy and it doesn’t appear any abundance of digital cleaning was attempted. The image is obviously improved over DVD transfers and I guess it just comes down to whether you prefer perfect imperfection or… just imperfection, because this is probably as close to the source material you are going to get, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we are talking about a product that will satisfy all audiences.
SUPPLEMENTS: The supplemental material is rather limited and actually contains nothing new outside of a mini behind-the-scenes featurette for the upcoming remake that starts off the disc. Beyond that is a 12-minute conversation with Harryhausen talking about the inspiration for the film and the film’s production, which then bleeds into seven mini featurettes (about two minutes each) with Harryhausen discussing specific characters from the film including Calibos, Pegasus, Bubo, the Scorpions, Medusa, the Kraken and Dioskilos. Everything is presented in standard definition, but if you haven’t already seen it, it is actually interesting. It is, though, a bit of a letdown considering I expected at least a little something new on the disc.
As it turns out the best supplement is the 30-page booklet as part of the digi-packaging. I’ve always been impressed with the quality of Warner’s hard-bound book-like Blu-ray packaging and this is another impressive installment. It contains a short essay on Greek story-telling, several pages dedicated to the characters and the actors who played them and finally a bit of film related trivia.
FINAL THOUGHTS: It’s a tough call. The high definition presentation is certainly an improvement over any previous DVD editions, but I can’t say the image is of a quality that makes it a necessary upgrade. I also believe this is a film that is going to be best received by those that have seen it before and have fond memories of watching it as a child. I’m not so sure today’s younger audiences will find as much entertainment in it. But that’s just a hunch.
