Blu-ray reviews: ‘Pawn Sacrifice’ and ‘Pan’

Home theater owners watch legendary and real heroes in this week’s Blu-ray releases.

Pawn Sacrifice (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, $34.98) — Tobey Maguire portrayal of the brilliant but obsessively paranoid chess master Bobby Fischer arrives on Blu-ray to highlight his early life and greatest match against Russian dynamo Boris Spassky.

Director Edward Zwick biographical drama clocks in at just under two hours and excels at presenting the complex world of Fischer who was consumed by the game to the point of near madness.

The digital transfer (viewed in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio presentation) highlights cinematographer Bradford Young’s choices of mixing color and black-and-white shots, shaky camera work and newsreel-type effects to create a sense of realism and urgency during a game normally known for being somewhat tedious to watch.

Besides the work of Mr. Maguire, notable performances include Liev Schreiber as Mr. Spassky, Michael Stuhlbarg as Mr. Fischer’s lawyer/manager Paul Marshall and Peter Sarsgaard as his Grandmaster coach William Lombardy.

It’s also worth noting that the real match played out in the midst of the Cold War that found both the United States and Russia locked in a propaganda battle over cultural superiority, making each of their champions practically rock stars on the world stage.

Although a fantastic film, “Pawn Sacrifice” only offers a 3-minute promotional extra that makes it not worthy of purchasing. I would have loved an optional commentary track here with the director or an extended documentary on either the complexities of chess or Mr. Fischer’s scary life.

However, the film still makes a perfect choice for a rental or on demand viewing.

Pan (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, rated PG, $35.99) — Director Joe Wright’s origin movie about author J.M. Barrie’s “boy who wouldn’t grow up” arrives to home theaters after a mediocre response from movie audiences.

Also, panned by critics (you know I had to type it), the nearly 2-hour-long story saga attempts to reimagine the beginnings of such famed characters as Peter Pan, Tiger Lilly, James Hook and Blackbeard with often boring results.

Jason Fuchs’ screenplay finds Peter (Levi Miller) existing in an orphanage in World War II London. He and his pals quickly get whisked away by evil pirates to work Blackbeard’s pixum dust mines in Neverland.

Peter eventually escapes from Blackbeard (a neurotically evil Hugh Jackman) with help from new pal James Hook (played by Garrett Hedlund in an almost “Indiana Jones”-style) and must find his true mission in life with help from Tiger Lilly and the fairies.

Frankly, the adventure lost me quickly when an opening scene in Neverland found the pirates singing Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to their leader. It totally took me away from the fantasy of the movie and was simply too odd of a choice. Even worse, the movie never reveals what occurred to eventually turn Pan and Hook into archenemies.

Despite boasting some enormous sets, the film gets buried in computer-generated effects that in the sharp digital transfer actually look a bit too fake. The only highlights were a couple of slick-looking animated sequences at the Memory Tree and in the Mermaid Lagoon.

The roughly 30 minutes of featurettes on the disc have potential and often attempt to look at the originally 1904 novel, the history of the Peter Pan mythology and its key characters but quickly just become promotional pabulum.

Viewers might appreciate an optional commentary track with Mr. Wright who often pines about his choices in making a family-friendly movie loaded with special effects. His words are helpful in explaining what went right and wrong with a film not really for children but never clever enough for adults.

However, with better cinematic versions of the Mr. Barrie’s tale available, such as Walt Disney’s 1953 animated classic and Steven Spielberg’s “Hook” (starring Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman), it’s hard to recommend “Pan” for families even for on-demand viewing.