Seabiscuit (HD DVD)

Here we have another one of Universal's HD DVD releases that comes with nothing special including the traditional blank menu screen accompanied only by the Universal logo floating in the background. Granted Universal, along with Warner Home Video, has jumped all over the HD DVD media format but they don't really seem to be offering anything special except for their release of The Bourne Supremacy, but that was four months ago. This is quite simply a case of "What Have You Done For Me Lately?" I will admit I have enjoyed several of Universal's HD DVD releases, but I wish they would add a little something extra to the releases in an effort to encourage more people to get in line with the format.

With that rant out of the way, how about I talk about Seabiscuit? First, this movie is fantastic! It was rightly nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture and it is one of those films that I can't help but get a lump in my throat every time I watch it. Even crazier is the idea that there could possibly be a Seabiscuit story in the making as Kentucky Derby-winning horse Barbaro continues to recover from injuries suffered in the Preakness on May 20, 2006.

However, we are here to talk about Seabiscuit, the story of a horse, a jockey, a trainer and a guy with money that thought he had lost everything. This story proves that within every sport is an underdog story worth telling, and this is the largest of its kind. The film has a slightly slow start, but once it gets going it really takes off. Based on Laura Hillenbrand's book, "Seabiscuit: An American Legend," the film tells the story of a horse that was always considered too small and untrainable and the group of men brought together through a series of unfortunate events as they go on to take the horse-racing world by storm.

In HD this film is fantastic. I even remember when I saw this film on DVD on someone else's high-definition television and I couldn't believe my eyes then, but on HD DVD and watched on a plasma television it is better than you could expect.

As far as special features go however you aren't getting anything beyond what you already got on DVD. Equipped with a director's commentary and a variety of featurettes based on the making of the film and an A&E profile on the real story of Seabiscuit the real bonus feature here is the high-definition transfer.

I hadn't seen Seabiscuit in some time, but watching it again here I was reminded of just how good this movie is. It truly is a great film and a great addition to early HD DVD adopter's collections.