Paul

For the past 60 years, an alien named Paul (voiced by Rogen) has been hanging out at a top-secret military base. For reasons unknown, the space-traveling smart ass decides to escape the compound and hop on the first vehicle out of town—a rented RV containing Earthlings Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost). Chased by federal agents and the fanatical father of a young woman they accidentally kidnap, Graeme and Clive hatch a fumbling escape plan to return Paul to his mother ship. As two nerds struggle to help, one little green man might just take his fellow outcasts from misfits to intergalactic heroes. (Gary Reber)

Both the theatrical version (01:43:48) and the unrated version (01:49:18) are available. Special features include commentary with Greg Mottola, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Bill Harder, and Nira Park (theatrical edition only); bloopers (HD 10:51); Between The Lighting Strikes: The Making Of Paul in two parts (HD 40:04); eight featurettes (HD 62:49); The Evolution Of Paul featurette (HD 15:05); Simon's Silly Faces (HD 01:20); Who The Hell Is Adam Shadowchild? (HD 02:10); galleries; trailers; BD-Live, the DVD; a downloadable digital copy; and D-BOX® Motion Code™.

The 2.35:1 1080p AVC picture is nicely rendered with a terrific characterization of Paul, the alien. Colors are effectively saturated with rich and vivid hues. Fleshtones are naturally hued as well. Contrast is a bit crushed, but generally blacks are deep and solid and shadow delineation is satisfying. Resolution is generally good, with detail evident in close-ups of facial features, clothing, and object textures. The imagery is clean throughout, without any distracting artifacts. Overall, this is a bright, colorful picture that is engaging throughout and a pleasurable visual experience. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is an experience whose sonics are conventional with, at times, front focused sound interspersed with an aggressive directionalized soundfield presence with engaging surrounds. Atmospherics and sound effects are effectively presented to heighten the excitement and mayhem. The music score is supportive throughout with, at times, a forward presence that dominates the soundtrack with a wide and deep soundstage presence that engages the surrounds. The .1 LFE channel is sometimes powerfully energized, such as the farm house explosion, with deep sub-25 Hz response and also to add effect to the action sequences. Dialogue is conventional production sound and ADR and occasionally wanting in spatial integration. D-BOX Motion Code effects are pretty tame throughout most of the movie, with a dramatic pickup in intensity during the ending scenes. Overall, this is an engaging soundtrack experience that enhances the fun storytelling. (Gary Reber)