King of Creation Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		1.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.5

King of Creation Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 8, 2020

King of Creation is a relaxation program that sets visuals depicting natural splendor against music and scripture reading. In the program's open, it describes the content as the union of “inspired scripture” and “the grandeur of nature” from which the "reality of God" may be declared. It's a simple construct, depicting themed imagery -- snowy locales, streams, woodlands, mountains, sometimes combinations thereof and even some outer space and floral CGI -- accompanied by relaxing music and, occasionally, narrated scripture readings. Each segment lasts mere minutes.

The program is well intentioned and, from a very crude persecutive, effective in its output. The scenery is beautiful, as is the music, and the scriptural supports reflect the on-screen content, often describing creation and life in some Biblical form or fashion. But lower end production values (see video and audio reviews below) tend to inhibit the greater presentation's impact. It's also quickly moving, offering not lengthy scripture readings but rather brief selections that do compliment the content and reinforce some key Biblical principles but don't deliver the full body of a particular passage. Most of the music is instrumental, but a few selections play with accompanying lyrics, such as heard during Seek First God's Kingdom.

The following segments, with accompanying hymns and scripture, are included:

• Opening (4:11): Beautiful Savior. Psalm 95.
• Whiter Than Snow (4:23): What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Job 37, Isaiah 55, Psalm 51.
• Living Water (3:23): Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. John 7, John 4.
• A New Creation (6:05): Amazing Grace/It Is Well with My Soul. Ephesians 4, II Corinthians 5, Psalm 139.
• An Everlasting Sign (5:35): Be Though My Vision. Isaiah 40, Isaiah 55.
• The Heavens Declare (5:37): O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing/Ode to Joy. Psalm 19, Isaiah 40, Psalm 147, Psalm 95, Job 26, Psalm 65.
• Seek First God's Kingdom (4:21): Turn your Eyes Upon Jesus. Matthew 6.
• My Only Hope (5:01): Holy, Holy, Holy. Job 38, Psalm 39.

King of Creation Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

To be blunt, much of why King of Creation doesn't work is because the visuals, spectacular though they may assuredly be in the real world and to the naked eye, are rendered looking extraordinarily poor on this Blu-ray. The 1080i resolution is just enough to show adequately clear recreations of amazing vistas and animal life, but problems abound. Sources of various qualities, of lenses pushed hard, of what look like digital zooms reaching their limits to capture distant creatures, leave many elements appearing in a rather sad state. Soft details are commonplace and would-be exquisite textures -- animal furs, rocky terrain, -- are left appearing flat, smooth, and soft. Colors are flat with no sense of fullness or vitality. Certainly natural greens, blue skies, and earthen tones are in abundance but never with anything resembling full saturation and lifelike recreation. Compression artifacts abound; backgrounds are frequently littered with macroblocking. Aliasing appears with frequency and jagged edges are commonplace. What a shame. For a title that is so reliant on its visuals and the sight-sound sensory experience to look this poor is a real shame.

King of Creation Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

King of Creation's Dolby Digital 5.1 lossless soundtrack is not quite so unkempt as the accompanying 1080i video, but it's not particularly great, either. The track is certainly not timid. It's wide and enveloping, aggressively encompassing all of the available channels. The low end brings some weight to the proceedings, too. But it can get boomy in its volume, sounding a little sloppy. The segment Living Water is a good example of the music's depth and breadth but also some of the fidelity issues, too. Some natural sounds, like rushing waters in that same episode, tend to play with a more overwhelming posture, too, lacking faithful, lifelike clarity. Narration is clear and center focused but also a little boomy. All in all a passable experience but one that could benefit from some TLC.

King of Creation Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

King of Creation contains only one supplement, if one can label it a "supplement." Hymns & Scriptures (1080i) is a still single page screen that lists the featured hymns and the corresponding scriptures seen throughout the film. Essentially, it is an expansion on the chapter selection screen and could have easily just replaced the more general text therein, which lists only the official title rather than the accompanying music and scripture. See above in the main review body for a list of segment title, hymn, and scripture listings. No DVD or digital copies are included and this release does not ship with a slipcover.

King of Creation Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The effort behind King of Creation is unquestionably noble, blending beautiful scenery with relaxing music and scripture. The presentation suffers thanks to limited technical excellence; lossy audio and poor 1080i video convey the basic message but don't do so in the grandiose, breathtaking way the material deserves. Yet maybe this is the kind of program the world needs right now: something simple, calm, gentle, an escape from the madness and the mayhem, the fear, the doubt, the uncertainty, a reminder of the beauty in the world and a few words of positivity in accompaniment. If only it could be redone with superior technical specifications.