"Pacific Rim" DVD

The Pacific Rim DVD and Blu-ray discs have been out for a couple of days, but I finally picked up the DVD today (the 2-disc Special Edition shown above). The store didn't have the Blu-ray edition, but I decided not to wait.

I missed seeing it when it was released to theaters last summer, but now that I have it to view on my big-screen television, I can provide my initial impressions.

So far, I have watched about 45 minutes of it and I am quite impressed. There's plenty of action between the kaiju and Jaeger (meaning hunter in German) manned robots. The computer-generated images are impressive, but I still don't really quite get the feeling of size and weight with CGI as much I do with "old school" man-in-a-suit vs. miniatures smash-ups. Is it just me?

One thing I've noticed, and I am amused by the contrast, are the scenes of the Jaeger hangar facilities. They look as dirty and grimy as the neighborhood mechanics shop. Whereas, the Mechagodzilla hangar facilities shown in Godzilla x Mechagodzilla (2002) and Godzilla x Mothra x Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) look antiseptically clean in comparison (clean enough to eat off the floor or perform surgery). Maybe the management and workers of non-Japanese giant robot facilities are just slobs?

So far, I am enjoying Pacific Rim.