Smurfs: The Lost Village UltraHD Blu-ray
By Chris Heinonen on
Audio Quality
Video Quality
Overall
Summary: In this fully animated, all-new take on the Smurfs, a mysterious map sets Smurfette and her best friends Brainy, Clumsy and Hefty on an exciting and thrilling race through the Forbidden Forest filled with magical creatures to find a mysterious lost village before the evil wizard Gargamel does. Embarking on a rollercoaster journey full of action and danger, the Smurfs are on a course that leads to the discovery of the biggest secret in Smurf history!
Movie Review: Thankfully, unlike the last Smurfs film I watched, this one is set entirely in the animated world. Gargamel looks as you remember him looking as a child, and the story takes place in the familiar world of the Smurfs and not ours.
Overall the film is about as deep and satisfying as the original Saturday morning cartoons were, and that’s OK. The film is totally fine and I bet my kids will actually enjoy watching it. It moves along quickly, coming in at just over 80 minutes before the credits start to roll. I don’t know that I’ll watch it again, but for a fun cartoon with the kids, it is perfectly fine.
Technical Review: The source for Smurfs is a 2K DI that overall looks very good. The magic world of Smurf Village pops with color, and when they visit The Lost Village there is even more to look at. Aliasing and other artifacts are not apparent, but you just don’t have that final bit of fine resolution that higher resolution masters can. It looks better than the prior Smurfs films, which is good, and overall is a very nice image.
The soundtrack for The Smurfs is superb. It really does a number with the Atmos channels and constantly has things moving all around you. The animators take advantage of the medium by having lots of panning and zooming camera shots and the soundtrack keeps up with what you are seeing. Objects move all around you and it adds a lot of immersion to the film. Dialogue remains in the center channel and easy to understand, but this soundtrack is just fantastic.
Special Features: A commentary track, music video, sneak peek of The Emoji Movie, 12 featurettes, and deleted scenes.
Review System: 65” Sony A1E OLED, Oppo UDP-203 UltraHD Blu-ray Player
, KEF Ci5160RL-THX Fronts, Ci3160RL-THX Center, 2x Ci200RR-THX Surrounds, 4x CI200RR-THX Atmos Speakers, Anthem MRX 1120 Receiver.
Pros
Bright, colorful image, reference class soundtrack, best of the Smurfs films.
Cons
Not a true 4K transfer means a bit of detail is missing.
Summary
For an enjoyable movie with the kids, Smurfs: The Lost Village provides a film that feels like the cartoon many of us grew up with as kids.
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