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Category:    Home > Reviews > Superhero > Animation > Action > Drama > Comedy > French > Fantasy > Legend Of Gatotkaca (2022/Well Go Blu-ray)/Puss In Boots: The Last Wish 4K (2022/DreamWorks/Universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)

The Adventures Of Batman (1968/Filmation/DC Comics/Warner Blu-ray Set)/Belle and Sebastian: The Adventure Continues (2015/Film Movement DVD)/A Family For 1640 Days (2021/Icarus DVD)/Legend Of Gatotkaca (2022/Well Go Blu-ray)/Puss In Boots: The Last Wish 4K (2022/DreamWorks/Universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)



4K Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B/C+/C+/B-/B Sound: B-/C+/C+/B-/B+ Extras: D/D/C-/C-/C+ Main Programs: B-/C/C+/C/C+



Now for the latest family/children offerings....



The Adventures Of Batman (1968) is the second-ever TV show featuring the Caped Crusader after the Batmania the live-action Adam West hit TV show had just caused and continues some of what it established while still also being faithful to the comic books DC was producing at the time. It was also the third-ever DC Comics animated TV show after Superman (1966) and Aquaman (1967,) all produced by the fledgling but soon-to-be-very-innovative Filmation Company.


Seventeen half-hour shows with double stories (34 in all) were produced and it too became a big hit, paired with the previous shows in hour-long blocks, then later syndicated, only adding to how insanely successful the Adam West Batman and George Reeves' Superman shows were doing in the ratings. Olan Soule debuted voicing Batman and Casey Kasem voiced Robin, roles they would soon continue when Hanna-Barbera launched their massive hit series Superfriends! in 1973. I give them credit for picking up well when West and Burt Ward were leaving off. They are never too silly here, in part because they do not have the time, resulting in an amusing, family-friendly, child-safe show worth revisiting.


Batman's infamous gallery of villains return, including The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze and Catwoman, while Filmation added a few here that never appeared anywhere else again. Still, like the previous hit DC shows, I give Filmation credit for their narrative economy and it is a reminder of a time when the genre was all fun and little darkness. That's a nice change in the face of all the repetition we have seen in the genre, especially lately, especially on the big screen (though I liked the 2022 Batman, it is NOT for children) and the shows have a good energy and pace.


Also a plus are the supporting voice actors including Jackson Beck, Bud Collier, Bob Hastings, Jack Grimes (a U.S. Speed Racer alumni,) Jane Webb, Ray Owens and Ted Knight as the voiceover announcer. That's very few people to do all that voice work (and many of them had already worked on Superman and Aquaman,) but they pulled it off and they are the other reason it is worth revisiting the show. Glad the episodes have survived in such pristine condition.


There are sadly and even shockingly no extras, including any promo for Filmation's 1977 animated Batman revival series or the alternate opening credits for the show. Worst of all, besides all the Batman, animation and TV scholars around, writer Andy Mangels just wrote an excellent book on Filmation co-founder Lou Scheimer a few years ago, has made extras for dozens of video releases and why he was not hired to do anything for this and a property as high profile as Batman is a shame. Hope we see more on the next DC/Filmation release.



Cecil Aubry's Belle and Sebastian: The Adventure Continues (2015) is the sequel to a film I and no one I know has ever heard of or seen, begging the question 'when the the adventure begin?' Maybe it was decent, but if this sequel is any indication, the adventure is over and only some tired formulas continue. Taking place in 1945, the dog Belle gets the best shots and the rest fo the cast is just going through the motions.


Of course, this is in Europe as the Nazis and their Axis friends continue to spread terror and murder all over the place, but that is in the background and in a few spaces, almost trivializes that a little bit. Only for the very curious. No extras.



Fabian Gorgeart's A Family For 1640 Days (2021) wants to be a slice of life comedy, but gets mixed results as it just gets too silly too early as a family of five, including an adoptee, is the actual father of the child the parent raised wants his son back. A sad situation, the film does not totally know how to deal with it and does not examine all the implications of the situation. At least the cast and locales are not bad.


A few early moments work, but then it gets repetitive and was disappointing. As foe extras, this has trailers for other Icarus releases, but we get no extras otherwise.



In the glut of Marvel and DC Comics high-budget feature films now seeing the end of their first huge cycle of success, it is always interesting to see any entry outside of the two studio powerhouses and if they can come up with anything. Hanung Bramantyo's The Legend Of Gatotkaca (2022) comes from Indonesia and looks like it might the at least their answer to Ultraman or even Super-Inframan, but it sadly is not.


Instead, it is a long series of cliches for over two long hours as a Yuda (yes, Yuda, not Yoda, played by Rizky Nazar) witnesses a good friend being killed by a masked figure. This upsets him so that he decides to investigate himself, find the killer and do something about it. He then finds out about a magic box, superpowers and... well, you can figure out the rest.


We get too many scenes of talking people and little action, giving away the fact that they had a very low budget and could not compete with their big budget counterparts. But the lack of new ideas, low energy and the fact that making a darker, dirtier film (think Blade, the Thomas Jane Punisher, recent Batman) means this runs on and on and starts to look quickly like all the films recently made. Worse, it looks like parts of the one film it is slightly better than, thew worst superhero genre film ever made: Black Adam!


Of course, it could have become that bad has this gone on longer, but its still very poor and I doubt I am missing much in this import. See it only if you REALLY need too.


A trailer for this film is the only extra.



Lastly, Joel Crawford's Puss In Boots: The Last Wish 4K (2022) continues the successful Shrek spin-off with Antonio Banderas (still the current live-action Zorro, even if he never makes another film) in the title role, looking for a magical item as well: The Wishing Star.


The one joke is apparently, he has lost track of his nine lives and forgot how many he has left, but the real question is how many more lives will these films have. I was not that big on Shrek in the first place and thought the third film was really desperate. This is the title character's fifth feature film (not counting shorts or videos, et al) and this has been a constant since the second Shrek film. At this point, it is a fans-only affair and maybe they should quit while they are ahead, especially since this did only moderately well.


The use of songs (and abuse maybe in some cases) is just too much, but this had a decent budget and supporting voice actors include Salma Hayek (Banderas' Zorro co-star,) Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Florence Pugh and even the director himself among many. For the biggest fans only, maybe the subtitle should be 'The Last Meow!'


Extras are many and include (per the press release) and ALL-NEW EXCLUSIVE SHORT ''THE TRIDENT'': When you're the legendary Puss in Boots, life and death go paw in paw. In this epic original short, Puss recalls one of his most daring deaths yet.

  • DELETED SCENES

    • POTTY BREAK

    • LOVE AND DEATH

    • WALL O'SNAKES

  • A CAST OF CHARACTERS: You know their voices, now see the faces behind all the beloved PUSS IN BOOTS characters.

    • PUSS IN BOOTS

    • KITTY SOFTPAWS

    • PERRITO

    • GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS

    • JACK HORNER

    • WOLF

  • IN THE BEGINNING: Go behind the scenes with the filmmakers of PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH to discover how they brought this great tale to life.

  • JACK HORNER'S LINE-O-RAMA: Jack Horner says it all in this comedic line-o-rama.

  • "FEARLESS HERO" LYRIC VIDEO: Sing along from home!

  • HOW TO DRAW THE PURRFECT PAWTRAIT: Join Director Joel Crawford and Co-Director Januel Mercado as they teach us how to draw our favorite characters.

    • PUSS IN BOOTS

    • KITTY SOFTPAWS

    • PERRITO

  • HOW TO MAKE A PAPER PERRITO: Every hero needs a sidekick and this 'how to' will help you create your very own.

  • KITTY CAM: Sit back, relax and enjoy a festive cluster of kittens as they frolic and play. This cat-stravaganza is sure to entertain for hours.

  • and a FEATURE-LENGTH AUDIO COMMENTARY TRACK with Director Joel Crawford, Co-Director Januel Mercado, Producer Mark Swift, Editor James Ryan and Head of Story Heidi Jo Gilbert.



Now for the playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Boots was a 12-bit color Dolby Vision theatrical release, but this discs is just 10-bit HDR, yet looks very good often and is the best performer on the list. It has some of the most complex CGI you will see in this era of such feature animated films and is a pleasant viewing throughout. The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on the regular Blu-ray is passable, but not as impressive as the 4K and color, depth and detail limits are more obvious after watching both. Both discs offer lossless Dolby Atmos 12-track sound (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) and it is a very active, solid soundtrack, including a few moments that exceed my rating. Needless to say it works better with the 4K version.


The 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on the Batman episodes look really good for their age and the fact that Filmation was always known for their inexpensive animation, limited by the low budgets TV series had for animation at the time. What the studio did have was some good basic art of the characters, color-accurate and their labwork was being done by Technicolor, so odd as high (and it looks it here) that episodes were likely finished on dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor prints. Such color was very new for TV shows and home viewing (1965 was the year color TV finally started arriving) and the show's attempt to look like Batman comic books on the stand is very successful.


The original monophonic sound is here in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes and they sound as good as the mono sound for similar animated shows from the time on Blu-ray like the original 1960s Speed Racer (both the Japanese and classic English dub tracks) and Casshan (reviewed elsewhere on this site,) plus a bit better than The Flintstones and the Adam West live-action Batman Blu-ray releases, so that's a plus and a pleasant surprise. I doubt the show will ever sound any better and hope the rest of the DC Comics/Filmation Blu-ray releases to come are as clean, clear and warm.


The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Gatotkaca is a little soft throughout due to its lower budget and has its share of slight motion blur. Color also underwhelms and compositions are a mixed bag. CGI is also on the weak side, but I can say that about too many big budget films of late, so that is to be expected.


The soundtrack choices are in two languages, odd in that the 2.0 Stereo versions of Indonesian and English are lossy Dolby Digital, but 5.1 versions are in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes. The English dub is awful in both forms, while the Indonesian DTS sounds best by default, but has more weakness than expected. The film was originally issued in Dolby Atmos theatrical sound, but this mixdown has issues and it is either the mixdown or just that the film was not that well recorded, mastered or mixed well to begin with.


The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image in Belle and 1.66 X 1 image on Family are nothing special, passable digital shoots and have good color at best. As for the sound, both offer lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, while Belle adds lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, but with limited differences. They are passable and audible, but nothing stunning.



- Nicholas Sheffo


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