Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

A Beautiful Planet 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 19, 2018

Earth is a beautiful place, full of diverse ecosystems, stunning natural formations, incredible man-made wonders, and endless opportunity to find its inherent splendor, from gargantuan canyons to delicate flowers. But the Earth's beauty isn't limited to how it appears at ground level, viewing its majesty up close. Astronauts have long been amongst the privileged few to see the planet from a different perspective, one equally, but entirely uniquely, resplendent. Seen from well above the atmosphere, Earth takes on an entirely different shape, from flat or mountainous to perfectly spherical. Predominantly earth-colored terrain and stunning green vegetation give way to an image almost entirely blue and white, comprised of rich oceans and striking clouds and peaks of snow. The most magnificent of Earth's natural and manmade marvels are visible but are seen in an entirely new perspective within the context of the greater world around them and cosmos that surrounds the planet. A Beautiful Planet, Director Toni Myers' film shot by the International Space Station (ISS) crew on board the station traveling high and fast around the Earth, offers viewers the most dazzling view yet of the world from the heavens, a rare view of man looking down on the world rather than up from it.

While the film briefly discusses the Milky Way galaxy and traces a few moments of Earth's history from the perspective of outer space, it's primarily concerned with telling the story of how the ISS astronauts live in space and revealing the damage being done to the planet via pollution, the disappearance of the rainforests, and dwindling water supplies. Those environmental cautions are certainly not revelatory, but a few of the shots the film shows from space do help sell the point in a way that other climate alarms cannot. The film's real draws are more generalized images of Earth, both illuminated by the sun during the day and by man at night, and various scenes of the ISS astronauts performing their daily routines. The astronauts discuss the importance of organization and cataloging, hygiene and exercise challenges and requirements, prepping for space walks and removing the bulky suits upon return to the station, and fun and frivolous details like haircuts in space and leaving milk and cookies for Santa in the station's airlock, which as best as the astronauts can tell is the closest thing they have to a chimney on the station.

Like any good narrator, Jennifer Lawrence stays out of the way. She delivers her lines with an even cadence, emoting some wonder at the most magnificent details and caution in the most alarming evidence in support of climate change, but she largely remains a neutral voice that shares information rather than shapes it. The film stands on its own away from her commentary and solely on the majesty of the visuals and the large-format IMAX photography, whether offering breathtaking vistas of much of the planet Earth in a single frame or intimate portraits from within the station, revealing new crew arrivals or crew members performing various tasks on the station that may be mundane down here but pose very real challenges up there.

The only drawback is that the film isn't long enough. Outer space junkies (this reviewer included) could have happily spent double, triple, quadruple the time with the ISS crew, exploring their routines, watching them work through the challenges of zero G, peering into all the nooks and crannies on the station, and showing off some of the fun tech that made its way up there (including some choice Nikon camera gear seen hanging on walls and used to photograph various events and the planet below). But the astronaut filmmakers and the crew back home putting it all together have certainly created a well-paced, informative, and visually and aurally breathtaking program that must rank amongst the top two or three outer space documentaries out there, particularly if one is watching on this gorgeous, pristine UHD release.

A Beautiful Planet 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Note: 'A Beautiful Planet' has released to the UHD format with the HDR10+ color encoding. Unfortunately Blu-ray.com reviewers are currently not equipped with a playback device capable of decoding it, so this review pertains to the standard HDR10 color only.

Use any video quality superlative to describe A Beautiful Planet and it'll fit. This is a stunning, striking, stellar, to borrow an astronomical term, 4K UHD release. The film was reportedly shot and finished in 4K, and it shows. The image is extraordinarily crisp, clear, and finely defined. Razor-sharp details abound in the ISS, revealing all of the superficial details and the complex machinery, doodads, and doohickies carefully positioned along the station's walls and other surfaces. Astronaut skin textures, during haircuts or "bath time," are exemplary.

But the image's strengths undoubtedly come courtesy of the HDR color grading. Earth's blue oceans are of a dazzling color depth, an intense, perfectly graded blue that is amongst the most resplendent shades ever to grace a UHD disc. It's striking at any time, but particularly when deep, intense outer space blacks encircle the planet. Dots of white cloud cover and snow on Earth's surface are brilliantly bright and clean. Some of the most unique and impressive examples of what HDR is capable of doing comes when the camera captures dots of lightning popping above Earth from space. The flashes are brilliant, the color is rich and alive, and such scenes are arguably the color highlight beyond that blue.

There is absolutely no comparison to the bundled Blu-ray, which looks very good on its own but pales in comparison to the UHD. The intensity of color is dramatically increased and the image's sharpness and clarity are much higher. Take a look at a shot at the 7:03 mark (the timestamps are slightly different on the Blu-ray, which is a few seconds behind). The Blu-ray looks good, but the UHD is otherworldly. The blue saturation and depth overpower the Blu-ray by leaps and bounds and the white dots of cloud cover and snow are strikingly brighter. Additionally, Earth's surface is much more readily defined and detailed. A scene featuring the orange and red fire-hot glow of the sun in chapter four is another milestone for the HDR format, followed by amazingly intense aurora greens. Both scenes trounce the Blu-ray. This is one of the most radical increases in color depth, density, and vibrancy the format has seen.

A Beautiful Planet 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Beautiful Planet's DTS:X soundtrack delivers a very good sense of spatial awareness and clarity. It is not a thunderous, bass-intense presentation, but it is completely immersive, making regular use of every speaker in the configuration. Musical clarity is first-rate and immersion is substantial. The track absorbs the listener into the movie. Details are precise all around the listener, readily identifiable as to what they are and where each is located. The track has obviously been carefully engineered for maximum effect, with expertly balanced surround usage and just enough low end oomph to carry, not overwhelm, the musical score. Dialogue occasionally emanates from a discrete rear position, the first and most obvious example coming at the six-minute mark when a new crew arrives on the International Space Station. There are also moments when dialogue emanates from around the listener, focused in the front but with a clear sense of encirclement to better saturate the listener into a moment. Probably the most impressive example of low end depth accompanies a breaking glacier in chapter three. What the track does best, though, is to surround the listener. It takes the term "surround sound" to heart. There are no gaps in encirclement coverage and the overhead channels are largely complimentary but critical in shaping the big sounds necessary to match the big, clear, bold visuals on the 4K/HDR screen.

The bundled Blu-ray includes the same DTS:X soundtrack.

A Beautiful Planet 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

A Beautiful Planet contains three featurettes on the UHD disc. The bundled Blu-ray includes the same three supplements. This release ships with a Mill Creek digital copy code and a non-embossed slipcover.

• An Extraordinary Vision (1080p, 2:33): A very brief overview of shooting the film on the ISS in the IMAX format. It also briefly covers how the film details climate change.
• IMAX: Astronaut Filmmakers (1080p, 3:02): A short piece the explores how the astronauts learned to operate the cameras, shoot the world from the ISS, and capture candid moments on the station. Photography fans (this reviewer included) will undoubtedly leave this extra craving more.
• ABP Computing (1080p, 2:38): A quick look at a few of the film's authentic digital renders.

A Beautiful Planet 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a life lesson in A Beautiful Planet, away from the notes about climate change and the like that the film folds into its narrative. That lesson is one of the importance of perspective. How things change when one simply sees the world from a different point of view! Though nothing really changes, the view is entirely different from down here to up there. Physical contrasts disappear. What is large here is usually invisible there. There's an entire philosophical treatise in there, obviously well beyond the purview of this writing, but the film, in a roundabout way, really finds its purpose in demonstrating how something generally unmalleable, something permanent, can seem so different through a differing perspective. Mill Creek's UHD release of A Beautiful Planet is striking. Perfect video, uncompromising audio, and a few brief extras make one of the year's best UHD releases. Very highly recommended. This is the best release Mill Creek has ever put on the market.