General Evans Above Archive for Jul 22, 2017
Smurfs: The Lost Village Blu-ray review
Jul 22, 2017 – permalink
Smurfs: The Lost Village can now be added to your home entertainment library as Sony Home Entertainment releases it on July 11th, 2017. We took a look at the Blu-Ray version, which also comes with the option of a digital download.
This time around, the Smurfs aren’t in a live-action/animated mashup, which in the previous two films allowed them to interact with actors like Neil Patrick Harris and Hank Azaria, who played their nemesis, Gargamel. This is all animation, and this time, Gargamel is voiced by The Office’s Rainn Wilson. This film builds on the origin story of Smurfette, the female Smurf voiced by Demi Lovato.
On the video side of things, we get a 1080p AVC encoded transfer in the movie’s original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The Blu-ray looks great. The world of the Smurfs has vibrant colours and the textures, from trees and grasses to clothing and buildings, have amazing detail and sharpness. Colours pop, shadow details have great black levels, and there are no digital glitches apparent.
On the audio side, we get DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks in English, French and Portuguese and a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Subtitles are presented in English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. The soundscape on this release is smurfing wonderful. The music is clear and dynamic, while the surround channels put you clearly in the Smurfs environment. Low end frequencies give oomph where needed and dialogue is clear and understandable.
The disc also comes with a great amount of extras including a audio commentary from director Kelly Asbury and members of his team, deleted scenes, a “making-of” featurette, voice auditions, a dance-along, a music video from Meghan Trainor, and more.
Families who love the Smurfs will enjoy the story and the production of this disc is excellent.