I, Robot (2-Disc Collector's Edition) (DVD)

If you've seen the Brad's review of I, Robot then you know this is a DVD worth catching. The only question remains, is the previous DVD enough to satisfy you? Based on this feature loaded 2-Disc edition, it probably shouldn't be!

Disc one contains the film, three commentaries and the same short "making of" that's on the first DVD. The only nugget of note in that one is the revelation that the team learned to walk like robots from the choreographer of Strictly Ballroom. As for the three commentaries we begin with Director Proyas and Goldsman, which add some decent info, although Proyas seems to fall in love with his voice occasionally. He's clearly a gifted director but less can be more on the commentary front. There is also another strange commentary with the production designer, editor, and visual effects team. It's got 11 people on it! There are some great nuggets and trivia in here but you never really get a feel for who is who. The last commentary is from the composer Marco Beltrami. I'm not sure why this is included unless other film composers out there happen to be huge fans of I, Robot. Much of the terrain covered by Beltrami is of a housekeeping nature, such as "Here is form 4, the Autopsy." If you are going to listen to one of them, the Proyas and Goldsman track is the way to go.

Disc two is where the real meat is with the features broken out into five separate categories including production diaries, a sci-fi theory and interview section, a robotic behavior interview section, CGI methods, and a filmmaker's toolbox. The Toolbox is where you'll find alternate endings, one of them showing how close they were to laying a serious egg. Also included are scenes that start with the actor's and a green screen and show you everything added in; somewhere out there a kid and a computer are salivating at the prospect of filmmaking after seeing these vignettes. One disappointment is that only 4 deleted scenes are included.

The production diaries are a great peek into how difficult filming a movie of this stature can be. Seeing how the I, Robot team tackles everything from CGI to wire work is cool and the interview sections will be fun for those extremely interested in sci-fi theory, but of limited use to everyone else.

If you don't own the DVD yet, this is a great version to buy and a worthy movie to spend some cash on. No, you probably won't sit through the hours upon hours of content, but a few of them are interesting including one commentary and some alternate endings, which will definitely hold your friend's and family's attention. If you are one of those people who had memorized the three laws even before this movie came out, well let's just say you've got next weekend mapped out for you.