Addams Family Values 4K review
Oct 28, 2024- Permalink
Barry Sonnenfeld’s 1993 comedy Addams Family Values gets the ooky, kooky band back together for an hilarious sequel. It’s hard to go wrong with a cast that features Anjelica Huston, Raul Juliá, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack, Christina Ricci, Jimmy Workman, and Carol Kane. This time around the family is dealing with a new child, sibling worries, and a devious nanny. Paramount has just released the film in a 4K and digital set and I had a chance to take a look.
The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Sourced from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, this transfer looks great. The image has sharp details in the trifecta (facial features, textiles and environments) and there’s is a nice natural filmic quality to the grain. Though there are occasional pops of bolder colours, this is the Addams Family after all, so a lot of the palette tends towards darker hues. The black levels are deep and there’s no loss of detail in the shadows and darker scenes. There’s no noise or compression artifacts to speak of.
On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, a descriptive audio track, and French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Some might complain that there isn’t an Atmos upgrade, but the 5.1 track treats the material well, with clear and centred dialogue and effects that populate the surrounds.
The 4K set does come with a digital code, though once again not in Canada. There are two new extras, a commentary by Barry Sonnenfeld and screenwriter Paul Rudnick and a look at the story behind the film.
A great cast and great gags coupled with an excellent audio and video presentation with two new extras makes Addams Family Values on 4K an easy recommendation.