Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 7, 2021

This is the standalone listing for 'Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie,' the movie follow-up to the first and second seasons of 'Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle.' The film is currently only available in that linked bundle with the seasons. This is a capsule review of the film and the Blu-ray disc's audio-visual qualities.

Official synopsis: Somewhere three million light years from Earth, lies the planet M-78, also known as "Land of Light." This is where the Ultraman family lives in peace. The peace is broken when one of the ambitious family members, Ultraman Belial who has been imprisoned by Ultraman King for turning evil breaks free. Possessing the forbidden and all-mighty "Giga Battlenizer," Belial runs rampant, knocking down one Ultraman after another who tries to stop him. Eventually, Belial fights his way to the land's eco-energy storage center and snatches the energy away, leaving the whole land in darkness. As a last resort, Ultraman Mebius and the rookie Ultraman Zero, turns for help to the mysterious young man called Rei who controls over one hundred monsters to challenge Belial and his troops of monsters.

The film begins with a necessary recap of the series, introducing some Ultra history before getting into Rei, the main character from the preceding series. The film continues with an action smorgasbord that sees Belial all but defeating the Ultraman family, leaving the planet, and its population, encased in ice. What follows is a film of relentless action as a last-ditch effort to defeat Belial and restore the planet, and its inhabitants, to their proper state gets underway. It can get repetitive, particularly from a visual perspective. Action takes place on various planets and under dramatically different environmental conditions, but at the end of the day it's all pretty well straightforward in delivery and all of it pretty much cut from the same cloth. But it's fun even if it's repetitive, and that's all that matters.

The film is of clearly superior production design compared to the corresponding series. While this holds to some clunky visuals, the technical superiority is in evidence, as is improved photographic workmanship and the fight choreography. That is not to say the film is blessed with big budget delights, but one can immediately spot the difference when watching this immediately after the series.

Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mill Creek brings Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie to Blu-ray with a fairly stout 1080p transfer. The movie is heavily stylized with backgrounds usually almost monochromatic in some form or another, all of them looking somewhat murky and artificially inserted. There are some rough seams separating real foreground elements and characters with digital inserts. But essential character details and colors look fairly good. Even with some jagged edges, banding, and compression issues, the film looks a good bit better than the series.

Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie, Mill Creek offers a pair of soundtracks: a native Japanese track in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and an English dub in 2.0 lossless. The Japanese track may be the best the series has yet to offer. It's bold, loud, and unafraid of engaging the surrounds and making use of the LFE channel. Action is robust for depth and spatial engagement. Music is clear and wide with well integrated surround content. Dialogue is well prioritized with natural front center location. The English 2.0 lossless track fares well, too, lacking, of course, the surround detail and subwoofer punch but making the most of the two channels available to it.

Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplemental content has been included.

Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie plays and feels "bigger" than the series it follows, as it should. It's definitely an "event" type experience, and while it doesn't push narrative boundaries -- or really even dabble in serious storytelling all that much, period -- it will satisfy core fans looking for a core Ultra experience. It's big and loud and generally enjoyable to look at in all of its monster vs Ultra frenzied furor and pitch action. Mill Creek's Blu-ray, currently only available as part of a a bundle with the two season series, looks good enough and sounds fine, certainly more robust than the seasons. There's also a two-channel lossless English dub for anyone who wants one. Recommended.