Little
Q (2019/Well Go
Blu-ray)/Luca 4K
(2021/Disney 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Spirit:
Untamed
(2021/DreamWorks/Universal Blu-ray w/DVD)/The
Water Man (2020/RLJ
Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A Picture: B+/B+/B & C+/B Sound: B/A-/B
& C+/B Extras: D/B/C/A Films: B+/C+/C/B+
Now
for our latest children/family titles...
Little
Q is a dog who was trained to be a guide dog for the blind. But he is
paired up with Lee Bo Ting, a master chef who lost his sight. At
first, Lee Bo is angry at the world and his fate pushed everything
and everyone away, but through the steadfast loyalty of Little Q,
Little Q teaches him that life is not over and through Little Q's
eyes Lee Bo is still able to live a full and happy life in
Wing-Cheong Law's Little
Q
(2019).
Little
Q is also a sweet yellow lab that any kid would be happy to have as a
pet, but he is trained as a guide dog to help the blind see. His
master, Lee Bo, is an angry old man, proud of his achievement in life
he feels he has lost it all when he discovers he is going blind. He
abuses and even pushes away Little Q at first, but slowly he begins
to learn happiness with Little Q being his eyes. Through the years
the two become one as they learn to care for one another, but after
10 years of service however, Little Q becomes old and his strength
and health begins to fade and now it is Lee Bo's turn to take care of
Little Q.
If
you like stories about dogs this is a tear jerker for you. The story
of a blind man and how his guide dog changed his life, how his dog
not only saved his life (several times) but saved him from also
turning into a lonely, bitter old man. Through the life of the dog,
Little Q, it shows the story of all those he touched and even when no
one believed the angry old man would change, Little Q did.
The
human cast includes Simon Yam, Gigi Leung, Him Law, Charlie Yeung,
Shanshan Yuan and Angela Yuen. Extras include trailers.
The
latest Disney animated feature, Luca
(2021), is a distant cousin to The
Little Mermaid
and features human-like sea creatures with a different spin. The
film takes place on the Italian Riveria and centers on two young boys
who make some new friends that are certainly far from ordinary and
part of a secret held by the townspeople. The film is fine for kids,
but not as impressive as the Pixar-produced features as of late or
even the recent Raya
and The Last Dragon
(which is reviewed elsewhere on this site.)
Luca
features the voices of Maya Rudolph, Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan
Grazer, Giacomo Gianniotti, and Jim Gaffigan.
Special
Features:
Our
Italian Inspiration Featurette
Secretly
A Sea Monster Featurette
Best
Friends Featurette
Deleted
Scenes
Introduction
- Director Enrico Casarosa introduces scenes not included in the
final version of "Luca."
Starfish
Hunt
(Alternate Opening) - Luca explores the shore and the sea, gathering
mussels and starfish, in this serene alternate opening to the film.
Isola
Del Mare
(Alternate Opening) - Luca welcomes viewers to the quiet island he
calls home.
Festa
Del Mare
- The boys go to a festival filled with fun ...and danger.
Here
Comes Giulia
- Giulia explores Isola Del Mare, where she meets Luca and Alberto,
and asks so many questions.
Gelato
Trouble
- Giulia offers to treat Luca and Alberto to something called
"gelato."
and
Sea
Monster Cannery
- Luca dreams about a magical place filled with Vespas and gelato,
but things aren't quite what they seem
Spirit:
Untamed
(2021) is a sequel to the DreamWorks theatrical animated hit Spirit
for years ago, this time with a young girl (it is usually a female in
these horse films, live action included) with her pain of the loss of
a family member and the love of a horse that will help her through
it. Cliched to some extent, including a villain trying to stop her
from even being with any horses.
Despite
Andre Braugher, Julianne Moore and Jake Gyllenhaal being a plus among
the supporting voice cast, the film is just more of the same from the
first film and like films, but is likely going to be newer and fresh
to a very, very young viewer. For fans only, it is child-friendly
and you could do much worse, so see it with so-so expectations.
Extras
include Digital Copy, while the discs add Bloopers, Sing-A-Long
video, Finding Your Spirit featurette, Snack
Time S'Mores,
Extended/Deleted Scenes, 8 additional behind-the-scenes featurettes
and a feature length audio commentary track with Director Elaine
Bogan, Co-Director Ennio Torresan and Producer Karen Foster.
Gunner
is a small boy, after learning about his mother's illness he learns
about a legend of the Water Man, a man who cheated death and found
immortality and set off to find him. He meets and encounters a
mysterious girl named Jo who claimed she's seen and met the Water Man
and joins him. Their goal is to find and journey through Wild Horse
Forest where mysterious things happen and magic is said to still
exist there in David
Oyelowo's The
Water Man
(2020).
Gunner's
mother is dying of cancer, and Gunner is willing to do anything to
save his mother. After finding a book he learns of his town's legend
of the Water Man, a man who somehow discovered immortality and lives
in the forbidden Wild Horse Forest. He is joined by a mysterious
blue haired tomboy girl name Jo and she said she is willing to guide
him. Armed with nothing but his father's samurai sword they go to
protect them. But while Gunner and Jo are off on their adventure,
his father mistaken Gunner for running away and chases after him and
Jo, but Gunner will stop for nothing (even his father) if it means it
can save his mother.
This
was an inspirational movie about a boy and the power of his wish to
save his mother. As the main character journeys deeper into the
adventure seemly impossible things begin to happen, but is it his
imagination ...or is it really magic? As reality begins to blur, it
has the audience questioning the power of belief, if you truly
believe in something, does that have to power to then bring something
into reality?
Besides
a supporting role by the director (who is a long time actor,) the
cast include Rosario Dawson, Maria Bello, Alfred Molina, Amiah Miller
and Lonnie Chavis. Extras include booklet, The
Making of The Water Man,
animation behind the scenes, Toronto International Film Festival Q&A
and filmmaker's commentary.
Now
for playback performance. Luca
looks fantastic on his 4K UHD release, which presents the film in a
2160p Ultra High Definition presentation, regular HDR, an HEVC/H.265
code, and a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 paired with a lossless
English Dolby Atmos mix, and audio mixes in Dolby True HD 7.1, Dolby
Digital Plus 7.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, and Dolby Digital 2.0. As
always, the high end animation looks its best in 2160p and the detail
in the animation and wide spectrum of colors and HDR (high dynamic
range) aids the image in a significant upgrade when compared to the
also included 1080p Blu-ray disc, which has the same audio features.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Little
Q is
as clear as it can be for the format and looks good, while the
Cantonese DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is fine, but a little more
standard with dialogue and some music.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Spirit
is fine and has some good color, but is also not the best CGI film
we've ever seen, though a 4K edition would be interesting to see
where the improvements would happen. The DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix likely a trade-down from a
12-track soundmaster) is also fine, but not an out of the ballpark
experience. The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on the DVD is
passable and much softer, but much less effective than the Blu-ray
indeed. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix also suffers accordingly,
but is fine for what it is.
Finally,
the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Water
Man
looks good, but can look a little ordinary, while the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is professional and
consistent throughout, but just do not expect blockbuster sound.
This fits the film.
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Spirit),
Ricky Chiang and James Lockhart (4K)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/