Croods:
A New Age 4K
(2020/DreamWorks/Universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Lena
& Snowball
(2020/Lionsgate DVD)/Rick
and Morty: The Complete Seasons 1 - 4
(2013 - 2020/Blu-ray Set*)/Scooby-Doo!:
The Sword and the Scoob
(2020/DVD*)/Victor
and Valentino: Folk Art Foes
(2019/DVD/*all Warner)/Upside
Down Magic
(2020/Disney DVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B/C/B/C+/C+/B- Sound:
B+/C+/B/C+/C+/B- Extras: C+/D/C/C/D/B Main Programs:
C+/C-/B-/C+/B-/B+
Here
are a new set of family and children's titles for you to know
about....
Joel
Crawford's The
Croods: A New Age
(2020) brings back the newer 'stone-aged family' of animation in a
(first) sequel story about the family needing a new home. Of course,
animation and advanced sound has moved forward since the original
film was released, so DreamWorks takes advantage of that and the
outing is not bad, if often predictable.
The
film runs a viable 96 minutes and quits while it is ahead for some of
its predictability, but it is top rate product and like other CGI
sequels, keeps the older style of previous releases while improving
on them. The original voice cast returns including the
under-appreciated-of-late Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Peter Dinklage
and Ryan Reynolds. There is much hard work and money that goes on
the screen with this one and it is undeniably ambitious no matter the
results, so if you like the characters, you'll want to give this one
a look. Otherwise, its hard to say what your reaction might be, but
it is one of the bigger CGI releases since the pandemic ruined
everything, so you could do worse.
Extras
in this set include
Digital Copy, while the discs add a slew of extras (as thee press
release spells out) including:
DEAR
DIARY: WORLD'S FIRST PRANKS - In this exclusive original short film,
Eep reveals how a comical accident led her and Dawn to discover the
joys of tricking their families and set about performing ''the
world's first pranks''
FAMILY
MOVIE NIGHT: LITTLE RED BRONANA BREAD - In another exclusive original
short, join the Croods as they settle down for a very prehistoric
family movie night experience. With shadowy figures around every
corner, Eep must keep Gran and her delicious Bronana Bread safe from
punch monkeys.
GAG
REEL
TO:
GERARD - In this original DreamWorks animated short, an elderly man
brightens the day of a little girl through magic.
DELETED
SCENES
THE
CROODS' FAMILY ALBUM - Meet the actors who portray the Croods and
their new cast members, the Bettermans. What makes them tick, how do
they resemble their characters and what lessons have they learned
from making the film.
THE
EVOLUTION OF... - In this fun making of, we hear from the filmmakers
and stars of THE CROODS: A NEW AGE about the evolution of the Croods
franchise.
HOW
TO DRAW: CAVEMAN STYLE - Join one of DreamWorks talented illustrators
inside the cave as they demonstrate how to draw our favorite
characters.
FAMILEAF
ALBUM - Inspired by the prehistoric family album given to guy by the
Betterman's, we create a fun video showing you how to make your own
using real leaves or green construction paper for pages and string
(or even dental floss!) to hold it all together.
STONE
AGE ATTACK - A three-part featurette highlighting fun, easy to make
recipes that kids and parents can make together.
And
a FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR JOEL CRAWFORD, PRODUCER MARK
SWIFT, HEAD OF STORY JANUEL MERCADO AND EDITOR JIM RYAN.
For
more on the first film (now also on 4K Blu-ray) and a book on that
film, you can read our Blu-ray coverage at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12452/The+Croods+(2013/Dreamworks+Blu-ray+w/DVD
Brian
Herzlinger's Lena
& Snowball
(2020) could have been a nice, kind, fun tale of a gal and her pet
white lion cub, but instead, it lands up involving gunfire, terror,
death threats, child and animal endangerment and that is cut with
footage of animals being cute. Running a long, long, long, long
,long long 90 minutes, I thought it was awful, not for young children
and very cartoonish, disturbingly and problematically so in the face
of poachers.
This
is not trying too hard, but being exploitive and this is just awful
and dumb, so it is not recommended for any age!
There
are no extras (surprise).
Rick
and Morty: The Complete Seasons 1 - 4
(2013 - 2020) collects the rise of the hit run of the popular
animated series, and one we have covered half of before Blu-ray at
these links:
Season
One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13095/Rick+and+Morty:+Season+1+(2013+-+2014/Warn
Season
Four
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15799/The+Doorman+(2020*)/Red+Shoes+and+The+Se
So
one either really loves the show or at least can see why it is so
popular. The one thing we can say is that the popularity of the show
has not peaked yet and if you have not seen it every yet, you should
really try it out from the beginning.
Digital
Copy and a poster are the only extras.
The
new animated Scooby-Doo!:
The Sword and the Scoob
(2020) starts with a guy watching Thundarr
on a laptop/table device, then has the Scooby Gang in the U.K., where
they accidentally land up in the days of King Arthur. It is an
interesting idea and not the first time they dealt with characters
from that era, but even at 76 minutes, it does not make the best of
its time and this lands up being a bit cliched and has a few missed
opportunities.
I
won't say the makers are slumming, but there is a new voice actor for
Velma and I am not certain she is as good as she could be, maybe
being too forward in her voice performance, but you can decide what
you think, then look up her name to be fair to her. There have been
worse Scooby outings lately, but this one is mixed at best.
Three
older episodes of various Scooby shows are the only extras.
Victor
and Valentino: Folk Art Foes
(2019) is a surprisingly good show with the title characters having a
knack of uncovering supernatural things by accident (in each show!?!)
and this is a comedy, so who knows if we need a great excuse. They
are brothers, so this is like the awful Supernatural
series, but with some heart and soul to it.;
This
is a great 3.5 hour sampling of the show, so if you and/or your
children are interested, this is a great way to be introduced to the
world it offers. It may not be a classic, but I could see it being a
hit and for its young target audience, that would not be a bad thing
at all.
There
are no extras.
Finally,
13-year-old Nory (Izabela Rose) one day discovers that she can use
magic and shape shift into animals, and she learns of Sage Academy
for Magical Studies. She, along with other children gifted in magic
goes there to learn and train, but then she discovers her magic
doesn't work right and she is grouped with the other problem children
with magic. But she will prove that even if her magic isn't normal,
she can still be a hero in Joe Nussbaum's Upside
Down Magic
(2020).
Nory
is a magical shape shifter called fluxers, she and her best friend
fire user Reina (Siena Agudong) just got accepted into Sage Academy.
However, it is there they learn they are worlds apart, while Reina is
accepted in as an honors student, Nory is considered the upside-down
magic, magic that is abnormal or uncontrollable (she turns into a
half cat/half dragon). Sage Academy just sets them aside and teaches
them nothing hoping their magic fades, because they afraid (and
prejudiced) and believe upside-down magic causes shadow magic and the
root of all evil. But truthfully, shadow magic is born from magical
discrimination, hatred and ignorance. Nory's best friend Reina
becomes seduced to the dark side and the school learns that shadow
magic can come from even the best of them. Nory and the others will
have to save the school when shadow magic returns for revenge on the
school.
This
was like a Disney version of Harry Potter, yes, it's another group of
kids with magic and they are out to save the world. Why is it always
the kids saving the world while the adults sit around (and argue) and
do nothing? Extras include bloopers, music videos, deleted scenes
and trailers.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Croods
is easily the best-looking of all the discs as expected, though some
scenes excelled more than others, but not enough of them to give this
an even higher rating. The disc definitely takes advantage of the
12-bit color and fans should be pleased. The
lossless Dolby Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 for older systems)
soundmix appears on both the 4K and regular 1080p Blu-ray, which has
some fine moments, but also some odd ones that are a bit silly and
that becomes a bit repetitive. Otherwise, soundfield, dialogue,
sound effects and music are fine. The Blu-ray looks good, but cannot
match the 4K for color range, depth and detail.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Morty
looks as good as the previous Blu-ray sets we covered, while the
lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes are just fine and hold up well on the
older shows as the new ones continue to have fine soundfields.
All
four DVDs are presented in an anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image
and Magic
tends to just edge out the rest, while Snowball
is the poorest with some motion blur and too many soft scenes
throughout. The animal footage looks the best by default. All DVDs
also offer lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 sound that can have some good
moments, but it can be a bit disappointing in this lossless sound
era.
Extras
in this great slipcase packaging include a DigiPak with a nicely
illustrated booklet on the film including informative text and yet
another excellent, underrated essay by the great film scholar Julie
Kirgo, feature length audio commentary track (s), Behind The Scenes,
Making Of, Isolated Music Score with select Sound Effects, Photo
Gallery, Poster Gallery, Stills Gallery, Teasers, Original Theatrical
Trailer, TV Spots, Radio Spots, Deleted Scenes, Alternate Scenes,
Extended Scenes, Director's Cut, Gag Reel, Documentary, Bloopers,
bonus DVD version and miniature reproductions of the lobby cards,
Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other cyber
iTunes capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds BD Live interactive
functions, a Making Of featurette
-
Nicholas Sheffo and Ricky Chiang (Magic)
