Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Forrest Gump 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Kirk Lazarus was right.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III July 2, 2024

Robert Zemeckis' wildly popular film adaptation of Winston Groom's novel Forrest Gump was a landmark release in 1994, immediately burrowing itself into American pop culture while dominating that year's Oscars; it even infamously took home Best Picture over now mostly better-remembered films like The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, and the eternally underrated Quiz Show (whose best domestic home video edition is a non-anamorphic DVD, but I digress). It's perfectly fine entertainment in my book, but I've always struggled to put Forrest Gump on the highest pedestal as some of its "moral lessons" and other detours still leave a sour taste in my mouth. Nevertheless, Forrest Gump still has every right to be championed for its sweeping, easy-to-watch story and groundbreaking visual effects.

For a synopsis and appreciation of the main feature, please see Martin Liebman's review of Paramount's 2018 4K UHD edition, which was later repurposed as a Steelbook edition a year after its 25th anniversary. Here's where things get a little tricky: Best Buy also issued an exclusive Blu-ray Steelbook in 2019 (back when they actually sold movies)... but now just in time for the film's 30th anniversary, Walmart dug up that old Blu-ray Steelbook design, presumably found a stockpile of unsold Forrest Gump soundtrack CDs, and got to work on this "new" store-exclusive 4K Steelbook edition. Basically, it's an "Frankenstein's monster" of a release that fuses together three formats in a clumsy manner.

Forrest Gump 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the included Blu-ray edition of the film.

I've always felt that Paramount's 2160p/HDR10+ Dolby Vision-compatible transfer of Forrest Gump was at least a bit unfairly maligned upon its 2018 release (and that also includes our above-linked review of the wide-release 4K edition), and partially because its occasionally jarring showcase of then-seamless effects will always stick out like sore thumbs in higher resolution. While I can certainly agree that there's ample room for tighter visual improvements here and there, the UHD's picture will still look consistently better than the Blu-ray on almost any medium to large display due to its better native resolution and more efficient encoding... even if it's clear that they both come from the same master and that alone is the more probable source of any perceived 4K imperfections. I didn't really see any glaring differences in color accuracy and contrast stemming from its Dolby Vision layer, and on the contrary I often found that its HDR10 enhancement supported Forrest Gump's wildly diverse color palette a little better than expected. Again, at the risk of opening a can of worms here, I'm in total agreement that this clearly isn't the strongest example of a UHD release catapulting past its Blu-ray counterpart; far from it. Yet in contrast to my less enthusiastic opinion of the film itself, I felt the need to once again offer a slightly dissenting opinion... this time going the other direction.

Forrest Gump 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For details about the film's Dolby Atmos mix, once again please see the above-linked 2018 4K review.

Forrest Gump 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This five-disc release -- and yes, this is where the trouble starts -- is quite oddly packaged indeed. The glossy outer Steelbook, which again is 100% identical in visual design to Best Buy's old Blu-ray Steelbook, is shrink-wrapped with the Digital Copy slip and the original soundtrack CD booklet tucked under the removable back cover flap. Where are the CDs, you might ask? Well, they're behind the 4K disc on a stacked three-disc spindle on the left-side interior, with the Blu-rays sitting on a two-disc stacked hub on the right I'd have definitely preferred only the 4K/Blu-ray discs on the inside (perhaps with the latter on overlapping hubs) and a slim Digipak case for the CDs packed separately. Hell, just give us a digital download code at this point. At best, consider the CDs a frivolous pack-in bonus and use them or don't. At worst, it's a downgrade in packaging efficiency from the old Steelbook, albeit again with a "bonus" 4K disc.

As for the supplements, they're all on the Blu-ray discs and identical to the familiar slate we've had since the 2009 Sapphire Series Blu-ray, with of course the two legacy audio commentaries once again included on the 4K disc as well. And for those living under a rock, a rundown of the included 2-CD soundtrack can be found here. (Please note that this version includes both bonus tracks as featured on the 2001 Collector's Edition, bringing the total up to 35.)

Forrest Gump 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Robert Zemeckis' Forrest Gump celebrates its 30th anniversary this year... and though I'd imagine most fans would have assumed we'd get a definitive home video edition of the film, Walmart's exclusive Steelbook editions is probably the best we're gonna get. That's not necessarily a compliment: it oddly combines three formats -- one "mixed reviews" 4K disc, two Blu-ray discs, and the two-disc CD soundtrack -- in recycled Steelbook packaging with stacked disc hubs rather than overlapping ones. Even so, packaging collectors and die-hard fans may want to seek out a copy.