Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy - Blu-ray
Fox / 2009 / 54 Minutes / NR / Street Date: May 12, 2009
by Kenneth J. Souza Jun 16, 2009
The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
Adding insult to injury, there’s very little offered here to supplement the barely one-hour presentation. The lone featurette titled Red Carpet Premiere (4:20, 480p) is nothing more than a series of one-on-one interviews with “celebrities” who attended a premiere screening of Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy at some posh Hollywood party. When the most recognizable B-list celebrity you get is the fat little sidekick from Borat, you know some important invitations must have gotten lost in the mail.
Next up is a repetitive still gallery of various character drawings divided into three sections: Rough, Cleaned Up and Colored. This apparently shows how an initial sketch is then refined and colored for final animation. Given the animation style here, there’s no great revelations to be had.
There’s also the trailer for Notorious (1080p, 2:30) and a coupon with a code to download a free “Animation Domination Sampler” including premiere episodes of Family Guy, American Dad and Futurama via iTunes. That’s it! Nothing else.
The 54-minute film is divided into fifty chapters, one for each short.
Final Thoughts
While I’m sure die-hard fans of Family Guy and creator Seth MacFarlane might clamor for a Blu-ray collection of his incongruous animated shorts, Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy promises much more than it delivers in terms of video quality, audio quality and extras. This is essentially a compendium of one-off Internet cartoons that doesn’t require a high-definition transfer or full surround sound experience to get the point across. As such, it’s better-suited for standard DVD than Blu-ray. With disappointing audio and video presentations and virtually no bonus material to speak of, this BD is not recommended.