Christmas Lights 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Christmas Lights 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 7, 2022

Christmas lights have long been festive and fun Christmas staples and massive light displays are an annual tradition that draw countless crowds to marvel at their luminous splendor. Lights can be as complex as one wants to make them (and can afford the time and money investment) but are also an easy Christmas project for the average family to put together, even if it's just a string of lights along a roofline or wrapped around a pole or tree or draped over a bush, maybe with a nativity scene or some inflatable snowmen or light-up reindeer adorning the front yard. Still, some families go overboard. There are local favorite displays and some places put together such elaborate displays that families can literally drive through the wonder a few miles per hour at a time. Christmas Lights 2 is essentially a Christmas light virtual tour, and despite some limitations inherent to the presentation it's still quite the enjoyable background ambience for the Christmas season.

The program does not necessarily follow down a predetermined path or explore a complex light display, like the one linked above near Fort Hood. Instead, it appears that the videographer simply drove slowly through some neighborhoods and photographed individual houses decked out for the Christmas season (it would be interesting to know if the crew received permission from the homeowners or compensated them in some way, or if this was a fully rogue operation). There are no uninteresting displays, none of those halfhearted displays that are comprised of a few light strands. On the contrary, there are some serious displays and decorations to see: densely packed lights along trees and rooflines, wrapped around windows and along driveways, with various trees and wreaths and other odds and ends wrapped with lights as well. But the big draw here are the yard displays (or in some cases, like a helicopter or a string of lights spelling out the homeowner's name, appearing on the roof). There are reindeer, Santa and his sleigh, various Disney characters, rocking horses, and countless inflatables and extra-large light-up snowmen and other Christmas staples to see.

Certainly, watching these displays on TV robs them of some of the scope and splendor and majesty one would experience in seeing them in person, but it's a perfectly adequate substitute if, for whatever reason, a drive through town isn't an option or if one just happens to live in a particularly grinchy area. The film does well to offer the broad expansive vistas and focus in on some of the more interesting displays but forced to follow at its own pace and soak in its own chief selections is something of a bummer. It might have made for a much more complex authoring process, but the opportunity to select various displays and angles and focal points would have been cool, outside of the main feature.

If one is looking to make this disc into a fun family activity, here's an idea: find a Christmas display scavenger hunt game online (or make your own) and look for various items (wreaths, snowmen, presents, Santa's sleigh, and so on) with the kids. It's something we do when we drive around town looking at the various displays, but it works really well at home with this disc, too, with all of the many odds and ends crammed into each display. Hunters are sure to find most anything within reason.

Christmas Lights 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This is obviously not a Hollywood production or even a top end midgrade shoot. The lesser quality is apparent throughout, but "lesser" still yields a passable watch, particularly within the program's ambient aspirations context. Certainly, a more sophisticated production would have offered a more convincing Christmas lights travelogue but even with various limitations the presentations works well enough as background imagery. Black levels are not quite so deep as they might have been, but the stark contrast between nighttime black in the background and intense light displays in the foreground makes for a challenging setup in practically every shot that the transfer seems to resolve to the best of its limited abilities. Some light compression related issues are in evidence, too, and that the picture is not so razor sharp as might have been achieved with superior technology and workmanship is clear. There are some soft edges (look at the 3:27 mark for an example) but definition generally holds to an adequate level. Color are appropriately bold, particularly as bright lights allow. Some of the white lights are blinding and some color blooming is in evidence. However, the color spectrum holds to enough core vitality to please. Things could be better here, but for what amounts to a drive-by production the results are certainly adequate.

Note that prior to program's start a warning stating that the program contains flashing lights and rhythmic patterns appears on the screen.

Christmas Lights 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Christmas Lights 2 features a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio soundtrack. Listeners can select two overlaying tracks from the main menu screen: "Jazzy" and "Country." Both offer appropriately clear and wide musical selections, which are simply a series instrumental Christmas songs playing atop the program. Neither track is so robust and richly defined as to be mistaken for real life, but the basic definition and impressive spacing allow for a satisfying musical accompaniment. A larger selection of musical tracks, perhaps even some with lyrics rather than simply instrumentals, would have been welcome, but it would not be difficult to turn the sound down and turn up an external source to play alongside.

Christmas Lights 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Christmas Lights 2 contains no supplemental content. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase (perhaps ironic since "DVD" is in the official title). This release does not ship with a slipcover.

Christmas Lights 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is a pretty solid little video. It offers a nice mix of broad overview and intimate close-ups of the most interesting single points in various displays. The video quality is decent, and so is the audio (though a few more track selections would have been welcome, but honestly with this sort of program one could turn down the TV and turn up the sound from another source instead). No extras are included, but that's par for the course for a release of this variety. So, when the weather outside is frightful, this is the perfect little jaunt through the wonderful world of Christmas lights. Recommended!