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The Secret of NIMH
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (4th July 2011). |
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The Film
 In 1979 Don Bluth, fellow animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, and eight other embittered Disney employees left the deteriorating animation studio to start their own company. The late seventies and early eighties were dark times for Disney. In a situation similar to the equally marred Eisner-era, penny-pinchers and ignorant suits were running Uncle Walt’s baby. The guys in charge were more interested in making money as quickly as possible than they were in producing carefully crafted works of art. And in the ultimate search for more money (“Spaceballs” (1987) reference entirely unintentional) more cost intensive and artistically elaborate animation techniques were abandoned for cheap ease, and thus quality of the films dropped visually, an perhaps even more disappointingly, at a basic story level. Bluth and his boys walked out during the early stages of “The Fox and the Hound” (1981), and formed Don Bluth Productions. They made commercials out of Bluth’s garage while preparing their end game: a film that would rival the “golden-era” Disney classics both in story content and visual indulgence. Bluth and his team’s ultimate goal – to return to a point where character, story, and exceptional experimental animation were once again the focus – was reached in 1982 with “The Secret of NIMH”. Adapted by Bluth, Goldman, Pomeroy and Will Finn from Robert C. O’Brien’s children’s novel “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”, the film tells the story of a timid field mouse named Mrs. Brisby (Elizabeth Hartman) as she desperately tries to save her seriously sick son Tim (Ian Fried) and move her family before a dangerous harvest season begins. (The name change from Frisby to Brisby was necessary when Wham-O, the company behind the Frisbee, took issue with the original name.) She turns to a colony of super-intelligent rats for help. These rats, led by a wise rodent who goes by the name Nicodemus (Derek Jacobi), use human technology to survive. It’s only when she begins to help them in turn for their assistance that Brisby learns she has a more sinister connection with the rats of “NIMH” and that the secret that they all must bear is even more horrible. The secret is in the name; NIMH is an acronym for National Institute of Mental Health, and the reason why these cute little anthropomorphic animals all walk and talk, and exists like little hair(ier) humans is because – some of them anyway – are the product of misguided experimentation on animals. (The image of a helpless mouse being injected with a terrible fluid from a syringe still haunts me to this day). It’s the darker side of Bluth’s creative genius that really sets his films apart from the usual kiddy-fair. And on that note: “NIMH” isn’t all that kid friendly, or is at least decidedly less friendly than today’s neutered family films. “NIMH” works perhaps even better for adults, who are able to grasp the complexities of the plot. Although a box office flop upon release – the film earned a little over $14 million, barely doubling its final $7 million budget (not accounting for advertising) – the film has since gained a following, and rightfully so. “NIMH” has been listed among the “10 Greatest Animated Films” by the American Film Institute and has a 95% “Fresh” rating on the Tomatometer. Bluth’s directorial debut, produced in conjunction with Aurora Pictures (a company headed by like-minded ex-Disney execs who gave Bluth the money to make his vision a reality), is often considered his masterpiece. And a great piece of work it is. Even ignoring the surprisingly dark, but ultimately well-written story that might put off some, the film is still a triumph strictly from an artistic standpoint. Bluth’s goal to produce wondrous visuals led to an unusual revival of long dormant techniques like Rotoscoping, which Disney pioneered in their “golden-age” heyday, and the use of tools that had fallen out of fashion didn’t stop there. Bluth’s team of animators also developed a modified, computerized version of the ingenious multiplane camera that Walt used on all of his original classics. One of the most unique attributes of “NIMH’s” look is the odd work with backlighting, a technique that created the film’s signature eerie glowing eye effects. As he states in the commentary included on this disc, by the end of production Goldman, Bluth and their team of animators were working 100-hour weeks – painstakingly finishing the incredibly detailed processes, like multiple passes with the camera that allowed them to create transparent shadows. On top of the box office success of the next two Bluth Production features (which also featured brilliant art design and animation), the animators taking the time and care to meticulously create something as minute as drop shadows in “NIMH” eventually forced Disney to step up their game. All of the hard work to capture the essence of classic Disney paid off and then some. In many ways “The Secret of NIMH” is more interesting to look at – in it’s intricate, creepy backgrounds and articulated animations – than it is in terms of story. And that’s not a knock, just incredibly high praise, because the film is as intellectually intriguing (almost shockingly so for a kid-pleasing, family film) as few other animated films have ever been. Is “NIMH” Bluth’s best film? Some would say yes. And I’m not going to argue with that statement. There’s no point in even attempting to suggest that “The Secret of NIMH” is anything other than a beautifully dark work worthy of considerable praise. The film remains arguably his most artistically impressive in terms of style and design. And it is probably the only time – before Bluth turned to standardized CG-assisted techniques that made “Anastasia” (1997) and “Titan A.E.” (2000) technically perfect from a visual standpoint – that he matched the might of the earliest Disney. Others (myself included) might pick one of his later works as Don Bluth’s absolute best, but it all really comes down to preference. Personally, I’m partial to “An American Tail” (1986) because the classic immigrant story of Jewish mice fleeing from evil Cossack cats and traveling to turn-of-the-century America is just too awesome (plus, it features my favorite James Horner score, which I consider his best work). But just because I prefer one of Don Bluth’s other films doesn’t mean “NIMH” is any less spectacular. It really is one of the greatest animated films ever put on screen and it proves the old adage true: they just don’t make ‘em like they used to.
Video
“The Secret of NIMH” was supposed to make its Blu-ray bow way back in 2007 but, for some reason, shortly after announcing the title MGM pulled it from their schedule. A 2-disc Family Fun Edition DVD did make it to the street sporting what claimed to be an all-new high definition restoration overseen by director Don Bluth and producer Gary Goldman. “Restoration” isn’t likely the correct term; the film was remastered and – likely for the first time – scanned in HD resolution but there’s little evidence of additional clean up or actual care having gone into the 2007 master which is reused here on Blu-ray in full resolution. In his commentary Goldman makes reference to specks and flecks that he says will be cleaned up for the final product; sadly, that clean up never happened. The picture is littered with white specks, dirt, and occasional grime. The film looks dungy and worn in comparison to so many other animated features currently available in high def (most comparatively, “The Last Unicorn” (1982) which looks shockingly gorgeous from Lionsgate and Studio Canal). Unfortunately, no additional work was attempted after the 2007 remaster and in fact I’d bet that this is the exact disc that was planned only to sit in a warehouse for three years. To say that Bluth’s film looks awful in 1080p wouldn’t quite be right. But wrapped in a 1080p 24/fps high definition AVC MPEG-4 transfer, encoded @ 28 Mbps, “NIMH” doesn’t look particularly good in HD in its current state either. Along with aforementioned print damage, a debilitating softness pervades many scenes, and detail is lackluster. But, even if the transfer is problematic, it’s also an improvement. The presentation offers consistently strong colors – nicely saturated and satisfyingly rich – with inky blacks. Line art is considerably sharper than earlier home video releases. Compression is excellent; and while grain is thick it is never reduced to noise and seems, mostly, natural. I never expected “NIMH” to look like a perfectly restored Disney classic. Disney sets aside truckloads of money to transfer their films onto Blu-ray in the best way imaginable, returning to the original elements and then digitally remastering them with care (and a bit of correctly applied noise reduction). MGM doesn’t have that kind of money to spend on every film they push out on Blu-ray, and they certainly don’t have the resources that Disney does. So, I forgive them somewhat, but that doesn’t change the fact that they probably should have spent at least some money on further restoring the best Bluth film in their catalog during the three years in languished in a vault somewhere. A note on the aspect ratio: “The Secret of NIMH” was animated at full-aperture 1.37:1 academy but composed for and matted at 1.85:1 widescreen in theaters. The 1.33:1 transfer included on the Family Fun DVD is an open-matte presentation and, technically, has more picture information on the top and bottom compared to the Blu-ray or widescreen DVD. However, “NIMH” was shown at 1.85:1 during exhibition, and Don Bluth and Gary Goldman prefer that the film be seen in widescreen. The Blu-ray then, despite noticeable image loss as a result of the matte cropping, by replicating the theatrical ratio is the correct and intended framing. For the sake of argument, I’ll admit that it would have been nice to have both options presented here like the DVD. Then again, I remember reading in an interview with Gary Goldman where he revealed that the 1.33:1 open-matte master found on disc two of the Family Fun DVD was post-produced in 480p SD due to lack of funds. It was probably for the best that the squarer-framed presentation was dropped on Blu-ray.
Audio
No multi-channel remix here. “NIMH” hasn’t had its audio reworked for Blu-ray and so a lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 surround (48kHz/24-bit) is the best option on the disc. The mix is decent, replicating the original stereo, with Jerry Goldsmith’s underrated score (his first foray into animation and one of his personal favorites) getting a nice bump and dialogue having better clarity over the DVD. Despite the lack of a dedicated LFE channel, low-end bass has some power in the more impressive, action scenes, and the track also matrixes nicely to the rears on my setup. Despite the 2-channel origins, MGM’s lossless upgrade manages to funnel the brilliantly moody score and effects backward without producing an overly phony quality via Dolby PLxII processing. Unfortunately, the dated nature of the thirty-year-old audio sometimes shows its age. The high-end sounds brittle and a little thin in places. The source occasionally has some defects – pop, hiss and crackle aren’t a constant bother, but neither are they completely absent. It’s not that “The Secret of NIMH” sounds bad; it really doesn’t at all. I just think it could sound better given a proper restoration. Foreign dub options include: Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo, French Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono, German Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono, Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono, and Castilian Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono (all 48kHz/256kbps). Optional subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French.
Extras
Like most other recent MGM discs “The Secret of NIMH” has no main menu screen. The decision to author these discs with only a pop-up menu is made even worse in the case of “NIMH” by the existence of a forced bonus trailer for “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (1080i, 32 seconds) that plays before the film. Extras duplicate the earlier DVD release from 2007 with an audio commentary, featurette and theatrical trailer. Unfortunately there are no new extras and the supplemental package that is offered, while informative, isn’t particularly impressive. Director Don Bluth and producer/co-director Gary Goldman offer a thoughtful audio commentary that makes up for the relatively sparse assortment of extras to follow. Recorded in 2007 for the Special Edition DVD the two directors discuss their early days as young interns and animators at Disney, moving away from the House of Mouse and their first work outside of the company producing commercials and small animations, the difficulties of producing a dark children’s film on such a low budget, the adaptation of “NIMH” from book to film and much more. The two are a wonderful listen and if you haven’t heard this track yet do so immediately. A featurette titled “Secrets Behind the Secret” (non-anamorphic 1.78:1 480p, 14 minutes 25 seconds) is too short, but otherwise decent. Don Bluth and Gary Goldman offer a condensed version of their commentary – portions of it anyway – talking about adapting the book to film and the origins of Aurora and Don Bluth Productions. What makes this piece worth watching is the inclusion of old home movies of Bluth and his staff working out of his garage while making “NIMH”. It’s an okay featurette but I really wish a longer retrospective had been commissioned for the Blu-ray. Finally, the original theatrical trailer for “The Secret of NIMH” (1.37:1 1080p, 2 minutes 20 seconds) is an old open matte piece of nostalgia. The trailer looks far worse for wear compared to the film proper, so perhaps the Blu-ray isn’t as bad as I thought.
Packaging
The single layer BD-25 is packaged inside an eco-base. Despite the logo on the packaging, “The Secret of NIMH” is region free. Also: the cover art is hideous, no?
Overall
Don Bluth’s “The Secret of NIMH” is a film deserving of much better treatment than what it gets here. MGM’s Blu-ray release is only passable with problematic HD video, dated if improved lossless audio, and the exact same supplemental package as the earlier DVD. Die hard fans will probably want to upgrade, and the relatively low price point makes that all the more justifiable, but I’d have liked to see “NIMH” get a proper remaster and a more thorough selection of extras. Perhaps one day, when MGM is in better shape financially, Bluth’s animated treasure will get the better edition it deserves and the full-blown restoration it needs.
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