Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 4K Blu-ray Movie 
+ Unrated cut on the Blu-ray / 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital CopyParamount Pictures | 2013 | 1 Movie, 2 Cuts | 88 min | Rated R | Sep 14, 2021
Movie rating
|
| 6.6 | / 10 |
Blu-ray rating
| Users |  | 4.2 |
| Reviewer |  | 3.0 |
| Overall | | 3.0 |
Overview click to collapse contents
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 4K (2013)
Fifteen years after the gingerbread-house incident, siblings Hansel and Gretel are bounty hunters looking for revenge.
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Peter Stormare, Famke Janssen, Zoë BellDirector: Tommy Wirkola
| Action | Uncertain |
| Fantasy | Uncertain |
| Horror | Uncertain |
Specifications click to expand contents
Video
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
German: Dolby Digital 5.1
Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles
English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Czech, Dutch, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (Traditional), Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Thai, Turkish
Discs
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Digital copy
4K Ultra HD
Packaging
Slipcover in original pressing
Playback
Region A (B, C untested)
Review click to expand contents
Rating summary
| Movie |  | 2.0 |
| Video | | 4.5 |
| Audio | | 4.5 |
| Extras |  | 1.5 |
| Overall | | 3.0 |
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 4K Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 5, 2021Paramount has released the lame-brained 2013 film 'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters' to the UHD format. New specifications include 2160p/Dolby Vision video. The UHD simply ports the existing Dolby TrueHD audio track. The UHD disc is featureless but the bundled Blu-ray is identical to the 2013 issue and includes the trio of legacy extras. A fresh digital copy code is included. Note that this UHD only offers the theatrical cut, which runs a scant 1:27:56. Only the Blu-ray offers the unrated cut, which runs exactly 10 minutes longer (1:37:56). Also note that this set includes only the 2-D Blu-ray; the 3-D disc is not included.
Two young children are abandoned in the woods and stumble upon a unique home made of delicious candy. Unfortunately, a snack on the wall and a knock on the door leads them into hell on Earth. A witch aims to fatten them up for food, but the children get the best of her, tossing her in her own oven and escaping her hungry clutches. They grow into locally renowned witch hunters. Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have been hired by the mayor of a mid-sized village to track down several missing children. The mayor is at odds with the short-tempered local sheriff (Peter Stormare) who would rather his own posse find the children and who prefers to burn witches -- or those simply accused of witchcraft -- at the stake first and ask questions later. Hansel and Gretel soon piece together the case. The "Blood Moon" is fast approaching; it's a rare astrological event that's a powerful night for black witches, and it's only three days away. With the chase underway, Hansel and Gretel soon learn the identity of their foe, a particularly powerful witch named Muriel (Famke Janssen) who has developed a spell to make her and her minions invincible. With the fate of a dozen children -- and perhaps even the world -- at stake, Hansel and Gretel must team up with several unlikely allies to stop the witches at all costs and before the Blood Moon passes overhead.
For a full film review, please click here.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.
Paramount unleashes Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters to the UHD format with new and improved visuals. The disc boasts 2160p resolution
and
Dolby Vision color grading, both of which make for a pleasing, well rounded improvement over the 2013 Blu-ray, though it is certainly the latter that
makes the bigger visual impact. The resolution increase does bring with it some advantages, too, particularly in overall clarity. The image appears
crisper, cleaner, more efficient on this format. Add to that a modest, but obvious, improvement to object sharpness and intimate definition -- and the
movie is rich with opportunity to soak in fine-pint details on makeup, complex attire, and various environments -- and this is a much improved
surface and
appears to bring out the very best the material has to offer.
The Dolby Vision color grading actually brings a very nice improvement to the image as well. Perhaps most immediately evident are the vastly
superior black
levels.
Look at a nighttime scene at the 1:58 mark. On the old Blu-ray, blacks look red and noisy. Not here. The UHD offers a much better picture, offering
true
black depth, excellent shadow detail, and removes the red push from the black elements. The green foliage in the scene, even in darkness, is
brighter
yet not in a way that seriously betrays the nighttime setting, and the lantern's light source is more intense and true as well. The candy house
in
the moments to follow offers more intense rainbow colors for pop and overall improvements to shot brightness as well. The entire movie is
significantly
brighter, obvious
even in daytime scenes. Whites are abundantly richer and more intensely luminous while blacks, again, appear more richly deep and pure. Overall,
colors leap off the
screen with impressive command, notably natural greens but even earthy colors in downtrodden towns and clothes. This is a well rounded
improvement
from the Blu-ray and probably approaches best case scenario for this film's UHD presentation. Fans are going to be delighted.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
For this UHD release of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Paramount has foregone what must have been the incredible temptation to re-encode the soundtrack for Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, instead leaving well enough alone and including the existing Blu-ray's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This remains a fine listen, but for fans hoping for something new, well, sorry. For a full audio review, please click here.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
Paramount's UHD release of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters includes all three of the extras on the bundled Blu-ray, which is identical to the
2013
release. See below for a list of what's included and please click here for brief reviews. This release does ship
with a fresh digital copy code and a non-embossed slipcover.
- Reinventing Hansel & Gretel
- The Witching Hours
- Meet Edward the Troll
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters isn't exactly a movie that, it is safe to guess, a whole lot of people were wishing for on 4K, particularly with all of the great films in the Paramount catalogue awaiting the UHD treatment or even simply considering some of the great 4K remasters the studio has been dropping on Blu-ray via its "Paramount Presents" line (Nashville, Breakdown, and 48 Hrs. being just three recent releases to that line which are far more "deserving" than this). Nevertheless, fans will be pleased to find that this film does look a good bit better, particularly because of the more vibrant and stable Dolby Vision color grading but also thanks to some marginal gains in overall image clarity and sharpness. For those fans, this release comes recommended.
