The
Adventures Of Batman
(1968/Filmation/DC Comics/Warner Blu-ray Set)/Belle
and Sebastian: The Adventure Continues
(2015/Film Movement DVD)/A
Family For 1640 Days
(2021/Icarus DVD)/Legend
Of Gatotkaca
(2022/Well Go Blu-ray)/Puss
In Boots: The Last Wish 4K
(2022/DreamWorks/Universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B/C+/C+/B-/B Sound:
B-/C+/C+/B-/B+ Extras: D/D/C-/C-/C+ Main Programs:
B-/C/C+/C/C+
Now
for the latest family/children offerings....
The
Adventures Of Batman
(1968) is the second-ever TV show featuring the Caped Crusader after
the Batmania the live-action Adam West hit TV show had just caused
and continues some of what it established while still also being
faithful to the comic books DC was producing at the time. It was
also the third-ever DC Comics animated TV show after Superman
(1966) and Aquaman
(1967,) all produced by the fledgling but soon-to-be-very-innovative
Filmation Company.
Seventeen
half-hour shows with double stories (34 in all) were produced and it
too became a big hit, paired with the previous shows in hour-long
blocks, then later syndicated, only adding to how insanely successful
the Adam West Batman
and George Reeves' Superman
shows were doing in the ratings. Olan Soule debuted voicing Batman
and Casey Kasem voiced Robin, roles they would soon continue when
Hanna-Barbera launched their massive hit series Superfriends! in
1973. I give them credit for picking up well when West and Burt Ward
were leaving off. They are never too silly here, in part because
they do not have the time, resulting in an amusing, family-friendly,
child-safe show worth revisiting.
Batman's
infamous gallery of villains return, including The Joker, The
Penguin, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze and Catwoman, while Filmation added
a few here that never appeared anywhere else again. Still, like the
previous hit DC shows, I give Filmation credit for their narrative
economy and it is a reminder of a time when the genre was all fun and
little darkness. That's a nice change in the face of all the
repetition we have seen in the genre, especially lately, especially
on the big screen (though I liked the 2022 Batman, it is NOT for
children) and the shows have a good energy and pace.
Also
a plus are the supporting voice actors including Jackson Beck, Bud
Collier, Bob Hastings, Jack Grimes (a U.S. Speed
Racer
alumni,) Jane Webb, Ray Owens and Ted Knight as the voiceover
announcer. That's very few people to do all that voice work (and
many of them had already worked on Superman
and Aquaman,)
but they pulled it off and they are the other reason it is worth
revisiting the show. Glad the episodes have survived in such
pristine condition.
There
are sadly and even shockingly no extras, including any promo for
Filmation's 1977 animated Batman
revival series or the alternate opening credits for the show. Worst
of all, besides all the Batman, animation and TV scholars around,
writer Andy Mangels just wrote an excellent book on Filmation
co-founder Lou Scheimer a few years ago, has made extras for dozens
of video releases and why he was not hired to do anything for this
and a property as high profile as Batman is a shame. Hope we see
more on the next DC/Filmation release.
Cecil
Aubry's Belle
and Sebastian: The Adventure Continues
(2015) is the sequel to a film I and no one I know has ever heard of
or seen, begging the question 'when the the adventure begin?' Maybe
it was decent, but if this sequel is any indication, the adventure is
over and only some tired formulas continue. Taking place in 1945,
the dog Belle gets the best shots and the rest fo the cast is just
going through the motions.
Of
course, this is in Europe as the Nazis and their Axis friends
continue to spread terror and murder all over the place, but that is
in the background and in a few spaces, almost trivializes that a
little bit. Only for the very curious. No extras.
Fabian
Gorgeart's A
Family For 1640 Days
(2021) wants to be a slice of life comedy, but gets mixed results as
it just gets too silly too early as a family of five, including an
adoptee, is the actual father of the child the parent raised wants
his son back. A sad situation, the film does not totally know how to
deal with it and does not examine all the implications of the
situation. At least the cast and locales are not bad.
A
few early moments work, but then it gets repetitive and was
disappointing. As foe extras, this has trailers for other Icarus
releases, but we get no extras otherwise.
In
the glut of Marvel and DC Comics high-budget feature films now seeing
the end of their first huge cycle of success, it is always
interesting to see any entry outside of the two studio powerhouses
and if they can come up with anything. Hanung Bramantyo's The
Legend Of Gatotkaca
(2022) comes from Indonesia and looks like it might the at least
their answer to Ultraman or even Super-Inframan, but it sadly is not.
Instead,
it is a long series of cliches for over two long hours as a Yuda
(yes, Yuda, not Yoda, played by Rizky Nazar) witnesses a good friend
being killed by a masked figure. This upsets him so that he decides
to investigate himself, find the killer and do something about it. He
then finds out about a magic box, superpowers and... well, you can
figure out the rest.
We
get too many scenes of talking people and little action, giving away
the fact that they had a very low budget and could not compete with
their big budget counterparts. But the lack of new ideas, low energy
and the fact that making a darker, dirtier film (think Blade,
the Thomas Jane Punisher, recent Batman) means this runs on and on
and starts to look quickly like all the films recently made. Worse,
it looks like parts of the one film it is slightly better than, thew
worst superhero genre film ever made: Black
Adam!
Of
course, it could have become that bad has this gone on longer, but
its still very poor and I doubt I am missing much in this import.
See it only if you REALLY need too.
A
trailer for this film is the only extra.
Lastly,
Joel Crawford's Puss
In Boots: The Last Wish 4K
(2022) continues the successful Shrek spin-off with Antonio Banderas
(still the current live-action Zorro, even if he never makes another
film) in the title role, looking for a magical item as well: The
Wishing Star.
The
one joke is apparently, he has lost track of his nine lives and
forgot how many he has left, but the real question is how many more
lives will these films have. I was not that big on Shrek in the
first place and thought the third film was really desperate. This is
the title character's fifth feature film (not counting shorts or
videos, et al) and this has been a constant since the second Shrek
film. At this point, it is a fans-only affair and maybe they should
quit while they are ahead, especially since this did only moderately
well.
The
use of songs (and abuse maybe in some cases) is just too much, but
this had a decent budget and supporting voice actors include Salma
Hayek (Banderas' Zorro co-star,) Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone,
Florence Pugh and even the director himself among many. For the
biggest fans only, maybe the subtitle should be 'The Last Meow!'
Extras
are many and include (per the press release) and ALL-NEW EXCLUSIVE
SHORT ''THE
TRIDENT'':
When you're the legendary Puss in Boots, life and death go paw in
paw. In this epic original short, Puss recalls one of his most
daring deaths yet.
DELETED
SCENES
POTTY
BREAK
LOVE
AND DEATH
WALL
O'SNAKES
A
CAST OF CHARACTERS: You know their voices, now see the faces behind
all the beloved PUSS IN BOOTS characters.
IN
THE BEGINNING: Go behind the scenes with the filmmakers of PUSS IN
BOOTS: THE LAST WISH to discover how they brought this great tale to
life.
JACK
HORNER'S LINE-O-RAMA: Jack Horner says it all in this comedic
line-o-rama.
"FEARLESS
HERO" LYRIC VIDEO: Sing along from home!
HOW
TO DRAW THE PURRFECT PAWTRAIT: Join Director Joel Crawford and
Co-Director Januel Mercado as they teach us how to draw our favorite
characters.
PUSS
IN BOOTS
KITTY
SOFTPAWS
PERRITO
HOW
TO MAKE A PAPER PERRITO: Every hero needs a sidekick and this 'how
to' will help you create your very own.
KITTY
CAM: Sit back, relax and enjoy a festive cluster of kittens as they
frolic and play. This cat-stravaganza is sure to entertain for
hours.
and
a FEATURE-LENGTH AUDIO COMMENTARY TRACK with Director Joel Crawford,
Co-Director Januel Mercado, Producer Mark Swift, Editor James Ryan
and Head of Story Heidi Jo Gilbert.
Now
for the playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, HDR
(10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Boots
was a 12-bit color Dolby Vision theatrical release, but this discs is
just 10-bit HDR, yet looks very good often and is the best performer
on the list. It has some of the most complex CGI you will see in
this era of such feature animated films and is a pleasant viewing
throughout. The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on the
regular Blu-ray is passable, but not as impressive as the 4K and
color, depth and detail limits are more obvious after watching both.
Both discs offer lossless Dolby Atmos 12-track sound (Dolby
TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) and it is a very active, solid
soundtrack, including a few moments that exceed my rating. Needless
to say it works better with the 4K version.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on the Batman
episodes look really good for their age and the fact that Filmation
was always known for their inexpensive animation, limited by the low
budgets TV series had for animation at the time. What the studio did
have was some good basic art of the characters, color-accurate and
their labwork was being done by Technicolor, so odd as high (and it
looks it here) that episodes were likely finished on
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor prints. Such color was very
new for TV shows and home viewing (1965 was the year color TV finally
started arriving) and the show's attempt to look like Batman comic
books on the stand is very successful.
The
original monophonic sound is here in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0
Mono lossless mixes and they sound as good as the mono sound for
similar animated shows from the time on Blu-ray like the original
1960s Speed
Racer
(both the Japanese and classic English dub tracks) and Casshan
(reviewed elsewhere on this site,) plus a bit better than The
Flintstones
and the Adam West live-action Batman
Blu-ray releases, so that's a plus and a pleasant surprise. I doubt
the show will ever sound any better and hope the rest of the DC
Comics/Filmation Blu-ray releases to come are as clean, clear and
warm.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Gatotkaca
is a little soft throughout due to its lower budget and has its share
of slight motion blur. Color also underwhelms and compositions are a
mixed bag. CGI is also on the weak side, but I can say that about
too many big budget films of late, so that is to be expected.
The
soundtrack choices are in two languages, odd in that the 2.0 Stereo
versions of Indonesian and English are lossy Dolby Digital, but 5.1
versions are in DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes. The English dub is awful in
both forms, while the Indonesian DTS sounds best by default, but has
more weakness than expected. The film was originally issued in Dolby
Atmos theatrical sound, but this mixdown has issues and it is either
the mixdown or just that the film was not that well recorded,
mastered or mixed well to begin with.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image in Belle
and 1.66 X 1 image on Family
are nothing special, passable digital shoots and have good color at
best. As for the sound, both offer lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo,
while Belle
adds lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, but with limited differences.
They are passable and audible, but nothing stunning.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
