6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of Dug, along with sidekick Hognob as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth and his Bronze Age City to save their home.
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall, Miriam MargolyesFamily | 100% |
Animation | 100% |
Comedy | 40% |
Fantasy | 19% |
Adventure | 7% |
Period | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It’s maybe a little ironic, or at least a little instructive, that Nick Park’s celebration of often befuddled underdogs includes a franchise where one of his few characters who seems to know what’s going on and knows how to get things done is a canine — the inimitable Gromit of Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection fame. While Park’s Aardman Animations group has been at least partially responsible for such enjoyable fare as Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Park’s personal filmography is actually rather limited, no doubt due to the time constraints of stop motion production. Since 1989, when the short that gave birth to Creature Comforts debuted, Park’s output includes only nine other entries, including the several Wallace and Gromit shorts included in the collection linked to above. One more Wallace and Gromit feature length film, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were- Rabbit, along with Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep Movie and a Shaun the Sheep short, Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer's Llamas, comprise the full spectrum of Park’s wonderfully whimsical oeuvre. Luckily, Park’s quality far outpaces his quantity, perhaps exactly due to the fact that he likes to take time on his projects. Park actually mentions that Early Man gestated for some five years overall, with several years spent developing ideas, storyboards, and rough pre-viz animations before even one model was crafted for the eventual stop motion enterprise. As with many other Park offerings (and in fact Aardman productions in general), Early Man deals with characters whom some may feel are “losers”, in this case a ragtag bunch of “cavemen” who find themselves engaged in a rather improbable football (i.e., soccer) match with “new, improved” Bronze Age types. It’s spectacularly weird, and therefore wonderful, at least for those who are already attuned to Park’s deliberately skewed sense of humor.
Early Man is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The IMDb lists the Canon EOS- 1D X as the camera of choice on this production, finished at a 4K DI. Aside from some intentional "distressing" in the opening vignette which can make things look fairly noisy (see screenshots 4 and 6), this is a fantastically sharp and well detailed looking presentation. Fine detail on the expertly crafted puppets and props pops off the screen at virtually every moment, with everything from Dug's almost rope like hair to the purple pill on Nooth's tunic looking precise and almost palpable. The palette is extremely varied, and some of the backgrounds are gorgeously suffused with vivid hues, especially in some of the volcanic badlands scenes. Fluidity of motion is top notch, as has come to be expected in Aardman features.
Early Man's Dolby Atmos track is a standout, too, with regular engagement of the "traditional" surround channels, but nice use of the Atmos channels in scenes like the asteroid tumbling toward Earth or the crowd sounds in the soccer arena. There's quite a bit of source music utilized which also fills the surround channels quite winningly. Dialogue and the frequent sound effects are all rendered with excellent fidelity, and typically with smart directionality, throughout the presentation.
Early Man may not be whatever the soccer equivalent to a home run might be, but it's a solid effort that provides some good laughs and a lot of that patented Aardman heart. As is usual with Nick Park and his merry band, the characters are all wonderfully distinctive and beautifully animated. Lionsgate's technical presentation is top notch, and Early Man comes Recommended.
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