![](/cover/15024/BOSSBABY4KFOXBLU.jpg)
Boss
Baby (2017/DreamWorks/Fox
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray + Blu-ray/DVD Sets)/Elmo's
World: Elmo's WONDERFUL World
(2017/Sesame Street/Warner DVD)/Gifted
(2017/Fox Blu-ray w/DVD)/LEGO
Scooby Doo: Blowout Beach Blast
(2017/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)/Powerpuff
Girls: The Last Donnycorn
(2017/Cartoon Network/Warner DVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: B+ & C+/C+/B & C/B &
C+/C+ Sound: B+ & B & C+/C/B & C+/B- & C+/C+
Extras: B/C+/C/C/C+ Main Programs: C/C+/C/C+/B-
Sibling
rivalry runs amuck in Boss
Baby
(2017), a coming of age CGI digitally animated film from Fox that's
fine for kids, but nothing particularly new or groundbreaking for the
rest of us. The 'talking baby' subgenre, in my opinion, has been
quite played out over the years and even though Alec Baldwin is
charming (even his voice is charming), it can't save how downright
silly this movie is.
The
all star voice cast for Boss
Baby
includes Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Miles Bakshi, Eric
Bell Jr., ViviAnn Yee, and Tobey Maguire to name a few. The film is
directed by Tom McGrath and Hendel Butoy.
Tim
Templeton, a normal seven year old, finds his life turned upside down
when his new baby brother The Boss Baby (Baldwin) arrives, stealing
all of the attention from the parents that he once had. There's
something off about this baby though... he wears a suit, carries a
briefcase, and happens to like sushi and double expressos. Tim soon
realizes that Boss Baby is on a secret mission to make babies more
loved than puppies again. It'll take a group of Baby counterparts
and a collaboration between Tim and The Boss Baby to see this mission
to its end and expose a CEO of Puppy Co. before its too late.
Presented
in The 2160p HEVC/H.265, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra
High Definition image with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and a
great sounding English Dolby Atmos 11.1 lossless track, the home
presentation here is top of the line. Animated films usually look
good on disc, but this one particularly shines on 4K with a lot of
small character details down to the last blade of grass and textures
on the hair that bests Blu-ray. Also included, however, is the
Blu-ray edition with the film in 1080p and the same audio specs.
Also on the disc is a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless sound mix if you
don't have Dolby Atmos capabilities that mimics the theatrical
presentation at home, the best soundtrack on the regular Blu-ray.
The Blu-ray/DVD edition has the same Blu-ray, then adds a soft,
passable, anamorphically
enhanced
DVD for convenience, but not much else.
Also
included is a UV copy of the film.
Special
Features:
NEW
Mini Adventure
The
Forever Puppy
Infomercial
Babies
vs. Puppies: Who Do YOU Love?
Cookies
are for Closers: Inside BabyCorp
and
The Great Sibling Competition
While
cute, Boss
Baby
has such a ludicrous plot that it often has many jokes that will go
over the heads of kids. While the film was a hit at the box office
and a sequel on the way, it seems like the standards for digital
animation are starting to go down in terms of storytelling.
Elmo's
World: Elmo's WONDERFUL World
(2017) is the latest in the long line of Sesame
Street
DVD releases with their huge latter-day star with 13 episodes never
on DVD before, all running over two hours. It is a good collection,
but ;loving the world around you; theme is so common to all Elmo
releases, this one has trouble distinguishing itself from the many
we've covered before. As a result, it is not a bad one, but far from
the best. Fans will be happy.
Extras
include three extra
Elmo's World shows
and two Furchester
Hotel
shows.
Marc
Webb's Gifted
(2017) is the director's worst film, a dud of an entry in the
extremely tired cycle of child films where the pre-teen is a prodigy,
with Chris 'Captain America' Evans as the father of a young gal
(McKenna Grace) who has potential. You know she does when Octavia
Spencer shows up telling this to us in an early scene. However, the
script is thin on originality, ideas and I was never convinced of
anything here despite an OK cast that also includes Jenny Slate and
Lindsay Duncan.
For
being so visual adept in his underrated Spider-Man films and Music
Videos, Webb surrenders his talents to a safe, lite commercial film
as an unfortunate retreat from so much good work. His superhero
films did better than people think, so he could not find something
more challenging or watchable? Sad.
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other
cyber iTunes capable devices, while the discs add six Making Of
featurettes, Deleted Scenes and a Stills Gallery.
LEGO
Scooby Doo: Blowout Beach Blast
(2017) is on of the better LEGO, CGI and Scooby revival projects
going straight-to-video, but it is a bit short at only 77 minutes as
the gang goes to a three-day party event by the beach. Oddly, we
keep getting musical numbers out of nowhere, not only NEVER a staple
of the show (any music from that was amusing Pop/Rock during chase
sequences that worked), but why not just do a full musical?
Needless
the say the music almost dies when 'ghost pirates' crash the party,
but we don't get anything new we have not seen before (musical
numbers notwithstanding), though I enjoy the little touches of
LEGO-world logic that saves this from being a dud. Not bad, but not
very memorable either, fans should still enjoy it.
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other
cyber iTunes capable devices, while the discs add three episodes from
two previous Scooby TV shows, including the newer 'Party
Like Its 1899'
and from the original, classic first series, 'Go
Away Ghost Ship'
and 'A
Clue For Scooby Doo'.
Powerpuff
Girls: The Last Donnycorn
(2017) is the latest from the revived Cartoon Network TV series to
hit DVD. Color is good and the stores and humor are the same as the
old show, but I noticed that this time out, there is a slightly
different tone and slightly less energy than in the original show.
Why? Who knows. Its hard to pick up from a break that was probably
not even expected, but that's the way it is here. We have 12 main
episodes and the disc runs 143 minutes all in total. It is fine for
what it is, but the revival is not 100% successful, yet, what were
they going to do?
Extras
include 30-minutes of Minisodes.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1digital High Definition image on Gifted
is a passable digital shoot with little special about it, but it is
at least consistent, as is the 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition
image transfer on the all CGI Scooby
Doo,
but they are both just marginally passed up in regular Blu-ray form
by Boss
Baby,
which should give you an idea how good the 4K 2160p version of Baby
looks. Gifted
and Scooby
include anamorphically enhanced DVDs that are softer than their
Blu-ray counterparts, but Scooby
is too soft and the softest DVD on this list.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on both DVDs (Elmo
is credited as Standard aka 1.33 X 1 framing, but is also 1.78, even
in a fee supplements where older 1.33 X 1 has been centered in a 1.78
X 1 frame and bookended with black sidebars) are fine and colorful
for what they offer and represent, in keeping with previous releases
in their respective series, so no troubles here.
As
for sound, Boss
Baby's
4K disc has the 11.1 Dolby Atmos that nothing here can beat, but its
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mixdown is matched somewhat by
the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Gifted,
but the DTS-MA 5.1 mix on Scooby
Doo
is a bit awkward at tomes and has a slightly problematic soundfield,
which carries over to the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 in its DVD. The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Gifted
is slightly clearer, if trite in its own dialogue-based way. That
leaves Powerpuff
and Elmo
with lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, but Elmo
is a little lower in volume (and not just on the older extras clips)
so be careful of volume switching and loud playback levels.
-
James Lockhart (4K Set) & Nicholas Sheffo
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/