Blu Monday: Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic Blu Ray Review

When I got the press release announcing that Anchor Bay and EA Games were releasing an action video game and comp full length animated feature based on Dante Aligheri’s The Divine Comedy, better known as Dante’s Inferno, my initial reaction was “how in hell (pun intended) can they do that?!” The answer is that they kept the blueprints of hell intact, including the various rungs and their inhabitants, as well as maintaining the spirit guide Virgil and just change Dante’s character and his purpose for going to hell. In Dante’s Inferno, Dante is a crusader who has just returned from a 3 year quest of removing the Muslims from the Holy Land and returning it to God’s people in his name. As Dante arrives home, he discovers his servants and family slaughtered and left for dead. He rushes around searching for the love he left behind, Beatrice. He finds Beatrice a short distance from the house and on the verge of death. As Beatrice dies and her spirit begins to ascent into heaven, Dante is horrified to see Lucifer appear and drag her pure spirit into hell. Dante, enraged by this, sets off to confront Lucifer and regain the soul of his true love, determined that the forces of hell will not stand in his way.

At the gates of hell, Dante meets the deceased poet Virgil, who acts as his guide through hell. Trapped in spirit form, Virgil is unable to assist Dante but provides a wealth of information to his new disciple so to speak. Oh, and along the way, much much demon blood is spilled.

Along the way as Dante plows through demons we learn in flashbacks a lot about his past as well as the reasons that Beatrice has been taken by Lucifer. Virgil helps him gain an understanding of who he is and how the crusades have changed him that aids in his final showdown with Lucifer.

Dante’s Inferno from what I can tell is a parallel with the EA Games video game of the same name. It is not a prequel or alternate adventure but a non-CGI, animated telling of the events that players will experience in the game. It definitely is not short on the action as Dante’s scythe gets a real workout as the demon blood flies almost constantly in beautifully rendered animation.

Dante’s Inferno is brought to Blu Ray on a 1.78:1 framed transfer in 1080p high definition. The film has a drab, muted palette by design, to help convey the desolation of hell. This bleak landscape is often interrupted by bolder shades of red. The colors are delivered cleanly and clearly. Banding does exist in a few sequences but overall the transfer is clear and crisp. Blacks are fairly deep with a nice inky appearance. Detail is strong, especially in the surface textures of hell. Overall this is a decent Blu Ray transfer but not as good as some other recent Anchor Bay releases such as Pandorum.

The audio for Dante’s Inferno is provided in the form of a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound track. The music is perfectly prioritized and often utilizes the side and rear channels for a nice depth to the movie. Dialoge is crisp and clear, with echos often helping to convey the vast depth of hell. Ambient sound is well used, especially during the fighting sequences and, let’s face it, the majority of the movie is fighting sequences so all of your speakers will remain busy during the majority of it’s runtime. Overall this is a solid soundtrack that compliments the video nicely.

I was disappointed at the lack of extras on the Blu Ray release. Absent is any deleted footage, commentary track or “making of” featurette. I would have liked to see a piece on the process of taking a classic piece of literature such as The Divine Comedy and adapting it to a video game. What is included is a just over two minute piece on the EA Games video game release of Dante’s Inferno as well as five animatic sequences, which vary in length from 1:21 to 3:12 minutes. The sequences, of which Francesco Fight is my favorite, are interesting but brief. Overall given the shortness of the feature, I felt that more special features should have been included to fill the disc up so to speak.

Dante’s Inferno is a well animated piece of adult animation that is probably in the netflix queues of anime and video game enthusiasts everywhere. As I tend to do when reviewing animated features such as this on, I will point out to parents that there is a lot of nudity and hardcore violence in Dante’s Inferno, so don’t go under the assumption that since it is a cartoon that it is fine for all ages. I enjoyed it more than simular efforts such as the CGI Resident Evil:Degeneration release, however I do not honestly see myself rewatching it any time soon. From a rewatchability factor, I recommend Dante’s Inferno as a rental for animation fans and gamers.

Recommended for Rental

Special Features:

5 Animatic Sequences from the film
Preview of EA Games’ upcoming release of Dante’s Inferno The Video Game

Dante’s Inferno is available on Blu Ray and DVD beginning on February 9th, courtesy of Stars/Anchor Bay Home Entertainment.