Norm
Of The North
(2015/Lionsgate Blu-ray w/DVD)/S.T.E.M.,
Vol. 2: Let's Learn
(2016/Nickelodeon compilation DVD)
Picture:
B & C+/C+ Sound: B & C+/C+ Extras: C/C- Main
Programs: C+
Here's
a few new children's titles...
Trevor
Wall's CGI-animated Norm
Of The North
(2015) is a mixed bag of the overdone, silly, too-familiar and a few
good moments done decently as Norm is unhappy humans want to build
homes in his untouched Arctic homeland, so he goes to New York City
with some of his friends to stop it. We've seen much of this idea
before (fish... or bear & friends out of water... ice, etc.) but
we have seen much worse and some children might find this fun when it
is not trying too hard (the jokes of slapping technology quickly
together are some of the most annoying) so its an OK 90 minutes,
though it could have been more. Voice
acting is dine by Rob Schneider (finally found his calling), Heather
Graham, Bill Nighy, Zachary Gordon and Ken Jeong.
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other
cyber iTunes capable devices, while the discs add a Trivia Game,
Music Video, Deleted Scenes and Jokes/One-liners Reel.
S.T.E.M.,
Vol. 2: Let's Learn
(2016) is the newest Nickelodeon compilation of shows meant to be
more educational and if it is not as good as a Sesame
Street, anything that
inspired Science, Tech, Engineering and Math can't be all bad. We
get two Blaze,
two Paw Patrol,
a Dora
and two Umizoomi
episodes that add up to 144 minutes and are not bad if not exactly
sending us to the library for a day of research and development. Not
bad and on par with the previous volume.
The
only extra is a coloring page on the inside of the sleeve you could
xerox for multiple kids to use, even enlarging it, but that's all.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Norm
is the clear performance winner here with nice color, detail and
depth, but it is not up to the latest CGI films, nor does it need to
be by working on the level it can. The anamorphically enhanced DVD
version is passable, but no match for the Blu-ray. The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the S.T.E.M.
shorts are just fine for the most part, though you have slight video
noise, aliasing and cross color here and there.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Norm
is well dubbed, mixed and presented decently, but is not always
reference level, but is better than the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on
the DVD version. Most of the S.T.E.M.
programs are also in the same 5.1 format and a little more subtle,
but Umizoomi
is only here in lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, though its only so
noticeable.
-
Nicholas Sheffo