LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 20, 2019

The LEGO brand has recently made a massive push to the big time in its big budget theatrical films, but those were hardly the company's first forays away from toys and into the visual entertainment medium. The company has churned out plenty of direct-to-video films (and video games) over the years, many of which tie into other, established properties. 2010's The Adventures of Clutch Powers is an original production, a zany movie that's LEGO through and through, lacking the sophistication, budget, scope, and scale of the new movies but finding serviceable laughs in a far-fetched story.

Clutch Powers (voiced by Ryan McPartlin) is considered to be the greatest explorer to ever live. And it’s in the blood. He is the son of the legendary explorer Rock Powers. He works alone, but his latest mission will require he take along a little extra help. There is a problem on planet X-4, a prison planet that holds only three prisoners, three of the galaxy’s most nefarious criminals. When Clutch and his team -- Firefighter Brick Masterson (voiced by Roger Rose), Biologist Peg Mooring (voiced by Yvonne Strahovski), and Engineer Bernie von Beam (voiced by Jeff Glen Bennett) -- travel to the world to apprehend them, the criminals escape and plan to unite all of the most powerful forces in the universe under a single banner of unspeakable evil. Now, a simple mission turns much more difficult -- and important -- with the fate of the universe at stake.

LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers isn't so much concerned with the story proper but rather the zaniness that carries it from one scene to the next. The film incorporates a number of predictable -- and some not so predictable -- LEGO shenanigans, putting its characters in oddball places and pitting them against some oddball enemies. Throughout, there are plays on other properties, from Indiana Jones to Jurassic Park, and the film relishes the opportunities to fold in familiar refrains to its unique story. After all, LEGO seems most comfortable when it's not entirely a product of its own construction, but for the most part The Adventures of Clutch Powers holds steady as its own entity and finds the joy in its own skin.

The movie is hardly a technical marvel. The voice acting is stiff and unconvincing, forcing cadence and flair where little to none need really exist. Graphically, it's a far cry from the modern big budget, big splash films. It's made on a comparative dime, but its ardent focus on laughs and silliness are a saving grace. The visuals are poor enough to be jarring if viewers are coming to this film from the newer LEGO material, but it doesn't take too long to settle into the movie and enjoy it for what it is, which is an entirely serviceable time killer in classic LEGO comic mischief style.

LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers is not a particularly good looking movie, and Universal's 1080p Blu-ray presentation, framed at 1.78:1, shows some serious warts. The Universal and studio logos look incredibly low-res, jagged and soft, unwelcoming preludes that portend poor performance. The animation proper is usually in slightly better shape, though it's certainly very crude by today's standards, and even by those when the film released, obviously by way of a relatively low budget, back in 2010. There is some evident banding throughout, usually not substantial but enough to cover solid surfaces like LEGO character faces and pieces at sometimes inopportune times. Viewers will easily spot severe aliasing around LEGO City, on spaceship exteriors, and across other objects and locations throughout. It's difficult to say with certainty whether these issues originate at the source or if some have been introduced in the transfer and encode. It's like the former -- inherent to the source -- but wherever the issues originate the image does not look very good. Textures are soft and drab, lifeless and lacking firm clarity and high resolution details. Colors are likewise drab, even fiery oranges or the variously bright colors around LEGO City. It's a dreary palette made even less dynamic by many of the bland grayscale locations, beginning at the outset when Clutch digs for jewels underground. Audiences who demand high visual quality will want to pass, but more forgiving audiences shouldn't find the image overly unpalatable.

LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack which is certainly not wanting for heightened effort but is lacking honed nuance. The track offers a suitable amount of energy and sound localization around the stage, but it's certainly not up to snuff in terms of clarity or finesse. Directional movement does not flow perfectly. There's little feel for organic movement, favoring movement in clumpy shoves rather than free flowing life. But the sheer presence of numerous high yield sonic elements helps to mask some of the more obvious shortcomings, and when the action takes off and the track engages with all its might, it serves the material well, even if the net effect is not as substantial as some nor as detailed as others. Still, the effort is appreciated and the less-than-perfect sound details at least jive with the video quality, which is relatively poor itself. This goes for music and effects alike. Dialogue does present with quality clarity. It's well prioritized and finds a home in a natural front-center position.

LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers contains no top menu. Supplements must be accessed in-film via the pop-up menu (which is also where the subtitle toggle is located). No DVD or digital copies are included. This release does not ship with slipcover. The following two extras are included:

• Bad Hair Day (1080p windowbox, Dolby Digital 2.0, 3:14): Peg (voiced by Yvonne Strahovski) is looking for her "lucky hair" which has accidentally been left on another world. A scientist named Artie (voiced by Jeff Bennett) attempts to use a new interstellar transporter to bring it back from another world, but he also brings a few skeletons (voiced by Alex Désert and Chris Hardwick) along with it.
• Mini Toy Clips (1080i windowbox, Dolby Digital 2.0, 10:58): Some fun micro clips from the LEGO Space Police universe.

LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers obviously pales in comparison to the recent string of big budget LEGO productions, but it's a serviceably entertaining excursion through the company's trademark zaniness. The Blu-ray's picture quality is substandard and the audio is only somewhat better. Two extras are included. Worth a look.