G-Force (2009/Disney Blu-ray w/DVD)

 

Picture: B-/C+     Sound: B/B-     Extras: C-     Feature: C-

 

 

I have no problem with talking animals.  A staple in animation and now computer animation, Hollywood has been getting live action animals to talk since sound arrived, even adding hand-drawn animated mouths to various species in black and white shorts to the Mr. Ed series.  Computer animation on live-action animals has been popular for a while, but it is the laziest and least amusing of them all.  Hoyt H. Yeatman, Jr.’s G-Force (2009) reminded me how tired it can get and quickly.

 

The title refers to an FBI sub-division of literal guinea pigs trained for secret actions, but when the FBI closes them down, they decide they’ll continue to do what they are trained for, even when the FBI gets wind of this and has to stop them.  Can they be stopped?  Sadly no, at least in this Jerry Bruckheimer-produced feature that was a bigger hit than expected.  Silly and obvious, it is everything we have seen before, but with these new characters.  Young children may like it, but are likely to get bored quickly.  The rest of us can skip it.

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is a little softer than expected for a Bruckheimer production of any kind with motion blur and general softness throughout, which becomes a bigger problem on the anamorphically enhanced DVD that is also included.  The look is just dull, though some shots are occasionally not bad.  The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 48/24 lossless 5.1 mix is the default highlight of the Blu-ray, yet it is not as dynamic as you’d expect a Bruckheimer release to be, with some good surrounds, but more quite moments than his films usually have, even though this is enhanced with D-BOX bass and motion code for those who have that capacity.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on both discs are weaker still.

 

Extras include the DVD, a Digital Copy DVD-ROM for PC and PC portable devices, three music videos, Deleted Scenes and three making-of featurettes.  The Blu-ray adds a Cine-Explore feature hosted by the characters and two other featurettes about how the animation was done.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo