Curious
George: Royal Monkey (2019/Universal
DVD)/DC's Legends Of
Tomorrow: The Complete Fourth Season
(2018 - 2019/Blu-ray*)/Paw
Patrol: Ready Race Rescue
(2019/Nickelodeon DVD)/Teen
Titans: Lookin' For A Fight
(2019/DVD/*both DC Comics/Warner)/X-Men:
Dark Phoenix 4K
(2019/Marvel/Fox 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: C+/B/C+/C+/B Sound:
C+/B/C+/B/B+ & B Extras: C-/C/D/D/C- Main Programs:
C+/C/C/C+/C-
Now
for a mix of child/family releases that are a bit mixed themselves...
Curious
George: Royal Monkey (2019)
is the latest release of the popular book character in a new animated
released being dubbed a movie, lasting about 87 minutes and he
travels to a royal land to possibly become royalty! Though it is
amusing and has some good moments, I thought there were more missed
opportunities than usual for how good this animated series has been
over the last few years, but the idea of doing 'a movie' sometimes
comes with this bad idea of having a set of slow moments to make it
seem more serious or more 'important'' but it slows this one down.
This
could have been shortened a bit or more ideas added, but we get an
uneven result and it could have been better, but it could have been
worse. Wonder if this will hold up in repeated viewings for younger
viewers?
A
free small sheet of stickers are the only extra.
Though
it is not as discussed as much, DC's
Legends Of Tomorrow: The Complete Fourth Season
(2018 - 2019) has its following, but because it is dealing with a set
of lesser-known characters, forget it. The addition of Constantine
should have made the show take off, but it has become a bit muddled
instead. Additionally, the concept of Magic is so overdone that it
makes the writing drag and the time travel aspects are just not
handled very well.
Thus,
this is for fans only as much as any DC series in production right
now, but fans are still watching it, so its working for them
apparently. At least this set looks good.
Extras
include Digital Copy, a small paper episode guide in the Blu-ray
case, while the discs add Unaired Scenes, a Gag Reel and two Making
Of featurettes: Season Four Post Production Theater and Legendary
Storytelling.
Paw
Patrol: Ready Race Rescue
(2019) is the latest Nickelodeon DVD on the franchise, also claiming
to be a movie, but this time, it only runs 44 minutes, so the race
car tale here where the team helps a name racer is more like a double
episode than a movie, so it is really pushing it to call it anything
more. It fair, but that also makes it one of the shortest (if the
the shortest) Paw DVD to date, so this too is for fans only and
Nickelodeon should have added some extras. Just expect more of the
same, but a little less here.
There
are no extras except Digital Copy.
Now
the Teen Titans have no one left to fight, they are left to their own
devices, including having an ice cream social with H.I.V.E.. Robin
must find ways for team building activities for the Titans and get
the team to work together in a talent contest. As they journey into
space they expected to fight Apocalypse, but instead find themselves
in a property dispute. Starfire continues to learn Earth culture
from Beast Boy and Cyborg but ends up with a hilarious lesson in
history in Teen
Titans: Lookin' For A Fight
(2019).
As
you may know, the Teen Titans are a group of super powered (except
for Robin) sidekicks whom usually fights other minor bad guys in the
DC universe. But with few fights, little to do and even less
responsibilities they now search for another use for their powers.
Together they strive to be a team, but it seems like their goals are
now to drive their leader Robin up the wall. Now most of the time
their greatest enemy is boredom and they seek ways to have fun and
(maybe) learn something.
Teen
Titans GO
used to be a lot more fun, about a group of super powered teens going
on adventure and fighting bad guys, but now the series seem more like
comedy, making fun of body humor, American culture (from the '80s)
with minor factoids. It feels like the writers of the series were
trying too hard to be funny, educational and entertaining to the
audience. Sadly the series no longer have the original spirit of the
series, it lacks a plot and the characters have no character growth,
each episode is only 5 minutes long and it is just comedy for
comedies sake.
There
are no extras.
Lastly,
and I mean lastly, Simon Kinberg's X-Men:
Dark Phoenix
(2019) where a young Jean Grey goes out of control and the team (in
their earlier years) have to find a way to stop and save her. Since
it is a flashback story, there is zero suspense and the script is so
cliched that all of the combined telekinesis of the team in its
decades of history could not fix it. If anything, it fells like
lawyers at Fox told them to make another film so they did not lose
the franchise's rights to Marvel and Disney, but Disney bought Fox as
this was in production, so this misery will now finally end.
It
is stunning how very, very predictable, flat and boring it all is,
from its writing, to its directing to even a likable cast (including
Michael Fassbinder, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Holt, Jessica
Chastain, Sophie Turner and James McAvoy) even seem a little bored
and just picking up a paycheck as even all the visual effects seem
like cliches and as if they were recycled from every other CGI film
we've seen. Then, its 114 minutes never knows when to end, a problem
when you never really get off the ground.
Almost
as soulless as the infamous X-Men
3,
even Kinberg cannot get as absolutely hideously awful as Brett
Ratner, but he sure gets close as this one drones on and on and on
and on giving mind control a bad name. As this is likely the ned of
this era (make it stop...) expect Disney to relaunch the franchise
with a whole new cast in the next few years. This one really ended
with Logan.
Extras
include
Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Simon Kinberg and Hutch
Parker:
Edwards
Air Force Base
Charles
Returns Home
Mission
Prep
Beast
MIA
Charles
Says Goodbye
Rise
of the Phoenix: The Making of Dark Phoenix (5-Part Documentary)
Scene
Breakdown: The 5th Avenue Sequence (digital only!)
How
to Fly Your Jet to Space with Beast
Audio
Commentary by Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, HDR (10+; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High
Definition image on X-Men
is the best-looking presentation on this list, but it is not always
pure 4K as many of the visual effects and some other elements do not
look 4K all the way, but color and some detail is better than the
passable 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image which is a
little weaker and harder to watch by comparison.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Legends
is actually a little better looking than the regular X-Men
Blu-ray with more consistent color and warmer presentation overall.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on all three DVD releases are
c0onsistently good for the format, all animated and just fine for
what they are.
As
for sound, the Dolby Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 for older systems)
lossless mix on X-Men is also the best sonically and though there's
nothing new or demo-worthy here, it has some good moments that engage
all the tracks, if not groundbreakingly so. The DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 7.1 lossless mix on the regular Blu-ray version is not bad,
but lacks some of the range of the Atmos, as expected.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Legends
is about consistent enough in soundfield as typically all the DC
live-action TV shows have been in the last decade or so. Again,
nothing groundbreaking, but professional at least.
All
three DVDs offer lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and Titans
might have a bit of an edge, but they are otherwise about even
sonically, though the other two might be holding back being too loud
for younger audiences.
Please
note that the Warner and other titles are provided to us by each
company in screener form (press copies received free of charge as a
courtesy so they can be reviewed, often before street date) so they
can be thoroughly reviewed by approved sources like ourselves.
-
Nicholas Sheffo and Ricky Chiang (Titans)