Footprints Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		1.0
Audio		1.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.0

Footprints Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 28, 2019

Mill Creek has released the family faith-based film 'Footprints' to Blu-ray. The film is currently only available as part of a double feature with 'Friends for Life.'

David Hyler (Chris Faherty) was raised by a loving mother and a hateful father, the former of whom passed away when David was only five years old. He still carries deep scars from a troubled childhood. But he's always loved dogs, beginning with a stuffed animal his father once destroyed and his mother repaired. Now a grown man, he's grown close to his longtime four-legged companion Smokey, who has been diagnosed with cancer and passes away. David is distraught but chooses to move on with his life and adopt a troubled dog named Katy. David and Katy bond immediately. The reputation of uncontrollable violence that precedes her quickly gives way to a caring, loving spirit. David trains the animal to be a therapy dog who comforts those in need, which turns into a Christian outreach program.

Footprints Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

What a mess. The film's low budget construction is certainly a critical factor in the image's less-than-appealing 1080p Blu-ray presentation, but from wherever the various shortcomings begin the final result on the screen is rather poor. Macroblocking is a regular and persistent eyesore. There's no escaping the chunky backgrounds that give the image the appearance of poorly compressed Internet video. Aliasing is another problem; take a look at an establishing shot of David's house at the 18:25 mark. Details are less than ideal, to be kind. The image is fuzzy, stability is poor, clarity is wanting, and the presentation consistently struggles to find more the the absolute baseline in terms of textural revelation. That goes for faces, clothes, and environments alike. Colors are not dull but there's no sense of life to the palette, either. Flashback scenes are presented in black and white. This is a visually unappealing presentation, but most of the flaws probably trace back to the source.

Footprints Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sloppy. Much like the poor video presentation, Footprint's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack is a painful experience. Every line of dialogue is accompanied by a harsh underlying hiss that disappears when a character is finished speaking and picks up again, at a different pitch, when the next character speaks. Sound effects, even something simple like footsteps or opening a door, a harsh-edged and only sonically identifiable thanks to visual context clues. There are some piercing shrills and tones, too, including those heard during a phone conversation at the 14-minute mark. The track does push fairly wide across the front and dialogue hovers around a front-center position, but it doesn't matter when everything else is in such a poor state.

Footprints Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplemental content is included.

Footprints Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The film's heartwarming story and sincere message are unfortunately devoured by poor production values, low-grade acting, and a terrible Blu-ray presentation. There's enough potential with the story that a more highly budgeted and more precisely acted production might be something special, but the film's technical qualities -- in-production and on-disc -- undermine its appeal and make a watch more of a laborious slog rather than rewarding experience.