Big Hero 6 3D Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Big Hero 6 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

Disney's fantastic 'Big Hero 6' never received a Blu-ray 3D release in the United States, but the studio's United Kingdom release is region free. This two-disc set includes the 3D disc with a short film in 3D as well as a 2D Blu-ray copy that contains all of the supplements from the U.S. release and adds one. Both of these UK discs contain the same high-quality DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack found on the U.S. Blu-ray.

Big Hero 6 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Big Hero 6's Blu-ray 3D presentation certainly doesn't do much to excite the visual senses, but it handles essential depth and dimensionality well enough. Basic shape and space are largely fine. Smaller rooms lack that dynamic 3D stretch, but more open spaces find a more agreeable inward push that allows the viewer to better appreciate the scale of a large room -- Freddy's cavernous mansion, a scene featuring Hiro chasing Baymax through the streets and alleyways of San Fransokyo, the pair crawling through a cramped air duct minutes later -- that offers a fine sense of depth, with various objects, like pedestrians, cars, trolleys, and buildings all nicely offset one from another. But the image never really moves to the realm of dynamic 3D, where there's that "wow" factor in play. Various scenes barely scrape by as more than cursorily 3D, offering maybe a modest inward push that gives a sense of very small space between the edge of the screen and the image within it while maintaining a general flatness to characters and backgrounds. Additionally, the image offers only brief and modestly aggressive pop-out effects, including a swarm of microbots chasing after Hiro and Baymax or shots of hands or other protrusions jutting forward, but nothing that's intensely impressive.

On the flip side, image basics are presented very well. Colors maintain a satisfying robustness, presenting all of the costumes, Baymax's red armor, and bold hues around the streets of San Fransokyo very well. If it's any less dynamic than the 2D image, it's almost insignificant. The same goes with the detailing. Image clarity is exacting. It's crisp and clean, well defined across the board, and boasting impressive clarity and attention to detail that reveals every little digital highlight and refinement that the artists have placed in the film. Black levels are deep, too, and the image sees no banding and only blink-and-miss aliasing in one or two small background elements. The 3D image additionally revealed no crosstalk or "ghosting" effects on the review Z9D panel. In short, this 3D presentation is not at all impressive but not entirely underwhelming. It handles crude 3D basics well enough, but there's no reason to be excited about the prospects of what the film has to offer in three dimensions.

Big Hero 6 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Big Hero 6's 2D and 3D discs contain the same DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack found on the U.S. Blu-ray. For a full audio review, please click here.

Big Hero 6 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Big Hero 6's UK 3D release contains one extra on the 3D disc, the animated short film Feast (1080p 3D, 6:13). The 2D disc carries over all of the extras from the U.S. disc but adds a Mickey Mouse short. For convenience, below is a list of what's included on the 2D disc, with a brief review of the new content.

• Theatrical Short: Feast
• The Origin Story of Big Hero 6: Hiro's Journey
• Big Animator 6: The Characters Behind the Characters
• Deleted Scenes with Introductions by Directors Don Hall & Chris Williams
• Big Hero 6 Theatrical Teaser
• Mickey Mouse Short -- Tokyo Go (1080p, 3:47): Mickey visits the Far East, is accidentally shoved onto the wrong train, and must battle a Sumo wrestler en route to reaching his destination.

Big Hero 6 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Big Hero 6 is a wonderful film that was just as fun to watch in 2018 as it was several years ago. This region free UK Blu-ray 3D disc doesn't offer the sort of dynamic 3D presentation fans will want, instead offering a rather crude but generally effective presentation that handles essential depth very well but accomplishes little more. It's a decent 3D watch, but a hypothetical 2D 4K release down the road sounds more appealing. Fantastic audio and the same supplements from the U.S. release (plus one animated short) are included. Worth a buy for 3D collectors if it's super cheap (as it is at the time of publication); just don't expect 3D format greatness.