Josie
and the Pussycats in Outer Space: The Complete Series
(1972/Hanna-Barbera*)/Shrek
4K
(2001/DreamWorks Animation/Universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
w/Blu-ray)/The
Yearling
(1946/MGM/*both Warner Archive Blu-rays)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: B-/B+/B Sound: B-/A-/C+
Extras: D/B+/C Main Programs: C+/B+/C
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Josie
and the Pussycats
and Yearling
Blu-ray is are now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the links below.
Here
are a batch of classic (or semi-classic) child/family releases in
upgraded editions...
Jealous
Alexandra is at a photo promo shoot of the band in front of a
new-fangled space capsule, instead losing her balance, falling
backwards, knocking the entire group gang (but not their instruments)
into the capsule (luckily, the door slams shut and air tight) and
that leaves Josie
and the Pussycats in Outer Space: The Complete Series
(1972). The only characters from Archie Comics not licensed for an
animated series by Filmation was a big hit for Hanna-Barbera, so what
to do for a follow-up series.
In
fairness, many characters in fiction were going to space since the
early 1960s space race, then Kubrick's 2001
(1968) and the work of David Bowie only continued the trend, so you
can see why this seemed like a good, fun idea at the time. Star
Trek
was about to find its permanent audience on syndicated Tv after
bombing in its original run, other space and sci-fi programs were
going well and the country believed more fully in the great things
science could do. Even other Saturday Morning TV shows were jumping
in on the cycle.
However,
as colorful as the show is and it has a few good moments, it gets
played out quickly, especially since they are not performing music
anymore, a strange issue for a 'rock band' and the aliens they meet
look too much like they were recycled from the likes of Space
Ghost
and other series the studio had produced a few years before. They
still managed to get 16 half-hour shows out of this, which was a
common number for most such Saturday shows at the time, but it feels
like the show is less energetic and on auto pilot.
Even
the lively trend could not turn this into a big hit like its
predecessor, so the band was finished until the ever-odd 2001
live-action revival film. For completists only, this is still not
awful, but has not aged well and makes an odd curio. The original
voice cast did return, though.
There
are no extras, but a memorabilia or comic book covers gallery would
have been nice.,
The
DreamWorks animated classic, Shrek
(2001), celebrates its 20th Anniversary with this very beautiful new
transfer on the 4K UHD format. This bump up in quality to 2160p from
1080p and HDR shows more definition and texture in the animation then
the previous versions of the film that we have seen before. The
20-year-old animated film has aged pretty well and is still as much
for adults as it is kids, and still the strongest entry in the long
running franchise – although Shrek
2 was
pretty strong and introduced fan favorite character Puss in Boots.
The
original Shrek
features the all star voice cast of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron
Diaz, and John Lithgow. The film is written by Ted Elliot and Terry
Rossio, who later when on to write the Pirates
of the Caribbean
franchise. The film is directed by Andrew Adamson (Chronicles of
Narnia) and Vicky Jenson.
The
green recluse ogre named Shrek (Myers) lives in a peaceful swamp,
but is whisked up on an adventure involving many bizarre fairy tale
creatures. Aided by a hilarious Donkey (Murphy), Shrek seeks to
rescue the Princess Fiona from a tower guarded by a dragon in order
to get people in the kingdom to once to leave him in solitude once
and for all. Hired by Lord Farquad (Lithgow) who wants to marry the
Princess so he can gain royalty, Shrek and Princess Fiona end up
falling in falling love, but do they get the fairy tale storybook
ending they desire?
Special
Features are plentiful and sure to satisfy Shrek fans including...
Shrek's
Interactive Journey
Spotlight
on Donkey
Secrets
of Shrek
Deleted
Scenes
Shrek
in The Swamp Karaoke Dance Party
Music
Videos
Commentary
with Director Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson and Producer Aron
Warner
ADDITIONAL
BONUS FEATURES: TEN SHORT FILMS:
Shrek
in the Swamp Karaoke Party
Far
Far Away Idol
Puss
in Boots: The Three Diablos
The
Ghost of Lord Farquaad
Scared
Shrekless
Thriller
Night
The
Pig Who Cried Werewolf
Shrek
the Halls
Donkey's
Caroling Christmas-tacular
Shrek's
Yule Log
and
FIVE EPISODES FROM "THE ADVENTURES OF PUSS IN BOOTS" TV
SERIES:
Episode
1: Hidden
Episode
2: Sphinx
Episode
3: Brothers
Episode
4: Duchess
Episode
5: Adventure
Shrek
is a great movie that anyone old or young can watch and enjoy and
it's even better now that its on glorious 4K UHD disc with this great
new transfer. I would recommend it to fans.
Finally,
we have Clarence Brown's The
Yearling
(1946) with an up and coming Gregory Peck as the father of a small
household in rural America where he has a nice wife (Jane Wyman) and
their son (Claude Jarman, Jr.) who lands up befriending and loving
the title animal, taking care of him and making him part of the
family... That is until events make it harder to do so.
MGM
promoted the film well, it got two Oscars, did well enough at the box
office and was critically pushed as an important film with the idea
that this (then rare) family film would be a stepping stone for
younger viewers to move onto more 'mature' works in film and print.
However, it is an odd film, an incredibly sappy melodrama and when
you really think about it, falls in that endless cycle of poor people
tales that has them always trapped and have all kinds of unfortunate
things happen to them.
I
believe many making it were sincere in intent, but I was never a fan
of the film, always felt it was overrated and now that I can see and
hear it restored, that opinion has not changed a bit. If anything,
it just confirms my issues with it.
Extras
include the classic Tom & Jerry Technicolor cartoon Cat
Concerto,
an Original Theatrical Trailer and a radio drama version of the film
from the Screen Guild Players in lossless DTS-MA Mono.
Now
for playback performance. Shrek
is presented in upscaled 4K in 2160p with an HEVC / H.265 codec and a
widescreen aspect ratio in 1.85:1 and audio mixes in English lossless
DTS: X 12-track sound and DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 (48kHz,
24-bit). The animation is maybe slightly less detailed than later
entries, but it still looks fantastic and has aged much. The
soundtrack to Shrek
has a lot of hits on it from the time and is one of the only aspects
that slightly dates it, but that isn't a bad thing. Also included is
a 1080p high definition Blu-ray disc with a 1:85:1 aspect ratio and a
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix. The Blu-ray looks fine but not as
much so as the 4K UHD obviously.
The
remaining releases happen to both be 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High
Definition image transfers, with Josie
in decent color for a TV production of the time and budget, but all
the Hanna-Barbera shows looked colorful at the time and this was near
the peak of this for them. Unfortunately, there are more than a few
soft parts in the various episodes for some reason, so this does not
land up looking as good as the original show on Blu-ray.
Yearling
may be a studio-bound production, but was originally shot in 35mm
three-strip Technicolor and this transfer reflects that about as well
as possible, though it is supposed to be set outdoors, so it also has
to be rustic, naturalistic (to the extent it can be) and is not going
to be a color-fest. Still, it looks about as good as it ever will
here.
Both
film also have the same kind of audio in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0
Mono lossless mixes. Josie
has some distortion here and there, but sounds as good as it ever
will otherwise and has less warped moments than the original series
when we reviewed it, while Yearling
has very old audio and the mix here reveals just how limited it is
now. Likely, it sounded better at the time, but there is only so
much you can do about it.
To
order either of the Warner Archive Blu-rays Josie
and the Pussycats
and The
Yearling,
go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases
at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
