Bottle Rocket looks great in this 1080p AVC encoded 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and where you'll immediately notice the difference between this HD transfer and the SD counterpart that Criterion released is in the detail levels and the color depth. The reds look perfect, with no bleeding, while the black levels stay strong and deep. There's a little bit of grain here and there but that's not at all a bad thing while print damage is pretty much non-existent. Skin tones look lifelike and natural while detail in the foreground and the background of the picture remains impressive throughout the film. There aren't any obvious problems with mpeg compression artifacts or edge enhancement nor is there any heavy shimmering. All in all, the picture quality is great.

As one would expect from the folks at Criterion, Bottle Rocket arrives on Blu-ray looking better than ever. Framed precisely in the film’s original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and encoded with AVC Mpeg-4, Bottle Rocket exhibits all the qualities of projected film. Grain is present and delivered in levels appropriate for a twelve year old low-budget film. It’s never distracting and adds to the movie’s remarkable cinematography from Robert Yeoman. The film also displays rich, vibrant colors and many instances of stark primary hues used to highlight the moods of the characters. It’s a stunning presentation that could only be possible with Blu-ray’s exceptional visual fidelity.

Distracting artifacts are also never an issue with Bottle Rocket. I didn’t detect a hint of edge enhancement, haloes, ringing or any of the normal culprits that detract from the viewing experience. Black levels are robust and the film displays an exceptional level of contrast throughout. Image detail is also outstanding with well-defined skin and fabric elements. The image also displays a great sense of dimensionality and depth of focus. It’s worth noting, that as with every Criterion Collection release, the film’s creators were involved in the transfer process. Both Cinematographer Robert Yeoman and Director Wes Anderson supervised the newly minted Blu-ray transfer. Therefore, it’s doubtful that Bottle Rocket will ever look better.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray - December 08': Utilizing the same high definition master as the standard DVD from a couple of weeks back, we have essentially the same color palette with better resolution. Technically over 4 times the bitrate. This is a dual-layered Blu-ray with the feature taking up approximately 26Gig of space transferred with the AVC encode. Detail shows a demonstrative improvement. Colors, especially reds, seem far more true. It looks quite impressive.

Bottle Rocket is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85.1.
Black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are normal for this format.
Supervised and approved by director Wes Anderson and director of photography Robert Yeoman, this new high-definition digital transfer was scanned on a Spirit 2K Datacine from a 35mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System and Pixel Farm's PFClean.