Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Monster High: Boo York, Boo York Blu-ray Movie Review

"Boo." Finally, a 'Monster High' movie title that sums it up quite nicely.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 22, 2015

Following hot on the heels of Monster High Scaris: City of Frights is another city-themed Monster High movie in Boo York, Boo York. As expected, it's little more than a pun-filled 70-minute commercial for all things Monster High. And that's a lot of things. Store aisles -- clothes, toys, school supplies, maybe even food -- are filled with branded stuff just waiting to be plucked for marked-up prices because it bears a logo, not because it's high quality merch. And as this is the first Monster High "musical," there's also a ten-track soundtrack tie-in for the digital music collection. Yet Boo York, Boo York is really only a "musical" in name only; the music elements play second fiddle to the center story, but then again marketing sugary Pop/Rock music is a lot easier than trying to explain away a story that revolves around ancient Egyptians in New York preparing for some mystical comet ceremony. Occult style stuff or something. Yeah, just throw the soundtrack out there instead. It'll sell. But then again, so will just about anything so long as one or more of these ghouls is pictured.

It's us!

Cleo (voiced by Salli Saffioti) is being pulled out of school to attend a big to-do event in Boo York City. It's a critical gala for her Egyptian family, and she's bringing along her dunderhead boyfriend Deuce (voiced by Evan Smith) for a little comic relief, er, companionship. And she's also bringing all of her ghoul friends (read: pretty much the main cast of Monster High) because, well, she just can't choose one. They arrive to find themselves dazzled by the bright lights of the big city and all the opportunities they find to strut their stuff. But little does Cleo know that her sister Nefera (voiced by Wendee Lee) has other plans for her sister, plans that involve an ancient Egyptian ritual and a once-in-a-generation comet flyby. Meanwhile, Catty Noir (voiced by Missi Hale) hopes to use the Boo York trip to find her voice and write the perfect song.

Kudos to Monster High: Boo York, Boo York for at least thinking a little creatively and combining the modern world with ancient Egypt, though to be sure this is no Stargate or The Mummy. It's expectedly shallow yet still a little more complicated than it needs to be, thanks in large part to the randomness of it all and a pretty hefty secondary focus on Catty Noir and her effort to find her voice, which, admittedly, does loosely tie in with the main storyline towards the end. Still, it's creativity at its most shallow, offering little more than an excuse to once again deliver various puns from the mouths of equally shallow characters. "Bloodway" stands in for "Broadway," "Times Scare" for "Times Square," "Monster of Liberty" for "Statue of Liberty," and, well, the list goes on. But that's Monster High. Always has been and probably always will be. Which makes Boo York, Boo York little more than window dressing, a variation on the same themes that have been done to death in the franchise's other films.

Monster High: Boo York, Boo York Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Monster High: Boo York, Boo York is another in a growing list of series movies that don't look particularly great on Blu-ray, passing off as little improved over standard definition. This one's at least a tick or two better than some of the more simply soft and borderline blurry outings of the past. Medium and distance shots still take on that hazy, undefined look, but close-ups are largely tolerable, with nicely defined general lines and details to be seen on elements like hair and jewelry. Colors aren't exactly a source of brilliance. Even brightly colored hair and clothes don't often stand out against the dull gray, black, and blue Monster High backdrops, but once the action shifts to the city there's a more consistent and cheery flavor to the palette, with brighter shades of purple, pink, green and other louder hues dominating. Minor banding is a problem, but the transfer otherwise holds up without any major incursions of unwanted visual intrusions.

Monster High: Boo York, Boo York Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Monster High: Boo York, Boo York's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is largely representative of the entire series' Blu-ray audio output. It's aggressive in musical delivery, sending all of those sharp Pop/Rock notes spilling into the stage with unending furor. Clarity is a high point even with the volume and the music's manufactured flavor. Spacing across the front is fantastic, with well defined separation and centered vocals. The surrounds, however, are surprisingly sparse and don't spit out much more than little bits of cursory support details. General atmospherics satisfy and make a bit more use of the surrounds. The track is otherwise dialogue intensive with positive center placement and consistent verbal definition for every character, including robots, felines, males, and females all.

Monster High: Boo York, Boo York Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Monster High: Boo York, Boo York contains only one extra, an Ever After High special entitled Spring Unsprung (1080p, 46:16). Previews for Monster High Scaris: City of Frights, Monster High Haunted, Monster High Freaky Fusion, Monster High Frights, Camera, Action!, Monster High Clawesome Double Feature, and Monster High 13 Wishes are available. Also included with purchase is a DVD copy of the film as well as a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy.

Monster High: Boo York, Boo York Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Monster High's appeal is lost on this reviewer. The movies are the most dreaded on the release schedule, more so than even the Barbie movies (oh look, another one!) because they lack ambition, creativity, and despite efforts to the contrary, truly deep and meaningful insight into the modern teenage human condition. The movies just ooze "mass marketing," but no doubt the target audience feels differently. One thing's that's not disputed is that the Blu-ray's quality is ho-hum. A strong lossless soundtrack is the technical highlight, but video is bland (albeit a bit better than previous outings) and the supplements are nonexistent outside of more marketing material in the way of Monster High trailers and a freebie look at the sister show, Ever After High. Needless to say that anyone outside of the target audience should approach this, or any, Monster High movie, carefully, but fans are going to want it.