Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

National Parks Adventure 4K + 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 19, 2019

Shout! Factory has brought the 2016 Greg MacGillivray film 'National Parks Adventure' to home video in a single package that includes the film on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3-D as well as 4K UHD. The former two presentations share a disc while the latter earns its own. The film is classic MacGillivray, boasting exceptional large-format IMAX photography of breathtaking locations, this one focusing on several of the most spectacular National Parks across the United States. Each video presentation is unsurprisingly of reference quality while the Dolby Atmos audio track is equally superb. The package includes a handful of brief supplements.

The adventure is stepping into the unknown.

The film follows naturalists and thrill-seekers Conrad Anker, Max Lowe, and Rachel Pohl on an adventure tour of America's most famous National Park hotspots. The trio visits, views, and conquers Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Devil’s Tower, Glacier National Park, and Michigan’s Pictured Rocks. As the film follows their exploits -- climbing, relaxing, soaking in the natural beauty of the world around them -- Robert Redford narrates brief histories of the Parks and the park system that has preserved the nation’s natural beauty from sea to shining sea.

Each park’s majestic views and vistas receive reciprocal majestic photography. In typical MacGillivray presentation, the world is captured both broadly and intimately. The camera makes stars of every rock face, body of water, tree, and creature that appear in the frame. The large format presentation ensures a scope and scale that is accentuated by perfectly captured imagery that is not just a result of pointing the camera at a natural wonder but rather carefully executed photographic excellence. Each shot is special, not only revealing detail but transporting the audience into the parks. The human characters are largely afterthoughts and the film could stand to expand its runtime to offer more detailed explorations of each area -- it can feel a little rapid-fire at times -- but it's an awe-inspiring journey that stirs the soul as much as it pleases the eyes.

National Parks Adventure 4K + 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

The 1080p Blu-ray presentation is unsurprisingly terrific, the first of three top-flight visual delights to be found in this collection. Very fine grain is visible, particularly across blue skies, but the picture is otherwise crystal-clear and capable of reveling complex details -- notably rock formations and close-ups of bears and prairie dogs -- with impressive ease and clarity. The picture maintains a well-defined crispness and clarity throughout. Every frame is tack-sharp and a delight to watch. Colors are bold, from blue skies to punchy natural greens. Earthen colors are stable and realistic. Nighttime black levels are wonderful and human close-ups reveal both colorful clothes and skin tones with delightful accuracy. No source or encode flaws are immediately apparent.

The Blu-ray 3-D presentation, which shares a disc with the 1080p Blu-ray, ranges from good to great. Large-scale natural vistas -- overhead shots of various wooded areas, rock formations, the shots that appear on the screen over the film's opening -- are not breathtakingly expansive. It's in some more intimate spots where the image generally shines. A shot featuring Conrad, Max, and Rachel picking up camp about five-and-a-half minutes in reveals excellent separation of near filed grasses and hanging leaves against the more distant background elements. Viewers can peer into the tent, which showcases a very natural sense of spacial volume inside, while the landscape appears to stretch on back a good distance from the camera. A similar shot introducing Devil's tower at the 10:46 mark shares these same characteristics. A scene featuring Rachel balancing on a tightrope tied between a couple of trees represents the best 3-D in the program, with the line appearing to extend straight out of the screen and the background appearing appropriately distanced. Another shot of note is one featuring a log jutting out of the screen at the 27:25 mark. There are numerous spots and scenes that take one's breath away in 3-D, including the scene featuring the climbers scaling Devil's Tower moments later. Even vintage photographs appear to have depth to them when they appear on the screen. Graphical overlays also seem to hover atop the display. Mild, but regular, crosstalk effects appeared on the review Sony XBR65Z9D.

The UHD version includes two options, one with HDR and one without, so there is more like 3.5 versions of the film in one collection rather than three. The added color depth seems immediately vital...to a point. The pluses to contrast, depth, detail, and nuance that HDR color palette brings to earthy rock faces, blue skies, and green wonders are often striking in the sheer intensity visible. There is a downside, though, namely that a few scenes look too heavily processed and artificial. Look at a shot of Three Penguins at the 4-minute mark. The way the dark clay-like earthen lines meet the dark blue sky looks horrifically artificial, like the range was inserted in front of the blue, or the blue dropped in behind the range in a computer. The problem appears to be that the colorist went a bit overboard on contrast and color depth, issues that extend to some scenes throughout where the palette runs very hot, leaving various shots and scenes almost looking like a red-hot Michael Bay film. This can extend to human clothes and skin textures, too. Otherwise, the increased resolution brings a new level of textural complexity to the various natural wonders. Finer rock face details, more definition to grasses and prairie dogs, sharper and more complex tree trunks, and other natural wonders enjoy a healthy upward boost in clarity and complexity over the Blu-ray. When viewing the film in 4K with SDR colors, the relative lack of punch is rather striking, especially in a comparative back-to-back viewing. It's also like the HDR colors are too much, at times, and the SDR colors are not enough. Still, the 4K/SDR combination might be the best bet for those who cannot watch the 3-D version, which many may consider to be the overall best option of the three (or three-and-a-half).

National Parks Adventure 4K + 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The program's primary audio selection, a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, constructs and delivers a terrific listening experience that is in every way perfectly complimentary to the material. Wonderfully immersive woodland ambience, such as singing birds and hooting owls, dot the listening area with seamless placement. Winds blow from anywhere and everywhere around, and above, the listener. These are gentle touches that are critical in defining more serene moments, and while not big sounds, they make a big impact in finalizing the experience. Music, contrarily, is large and majestic, boasting excellent, stage-stretching width, seamless surround integration, and a quality low end pronouncement. Lyrics, as they are utilized, gently encircle the listener with an integral, but never overwhelming, surround engagement. Raging waters pour through the stage with powerful saturation and impressive low end intensity while roaring fires pop and crackle with frightening surround implementation and bass extension, the two making for some of the most dramatic sonic moments in the film. The overhead channels don't play with much discrete usage with these aforementioned big and small sounds, but the fuller experience is obvious and the channels are vital in shaping a sound field that is able to match the visuals' majesty. Redford's narration is crisply delivered with firm front-center placement while in-film dialogue and subject thoughts are conveyed with equal clarity and attention paid to position and prioritization.

National Parks Adventure 4K + 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

National Parks Adventure 4K contains a number of brief supplements on the 2-D/3-D disc. All of the supplements are also included on the UHD disc in 1080p/SDR (as well as a few 4K trailers). A digital copy code is included and this release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Bears Catching Salmon in Alaska (1080p, 1:24): A quick jaunt to Alaska where the filmmaking team captures footage of bears in search of some fishy food.
• The Most Important Camping Trip in U.S. History (1080p, 1:50): Recreating a scene featuring Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir discussing the future of America's natural, national treasures.
• Biking in Moab (1080p, 2:55): Making some of the mountain bike scenes with emphasis on the locations and the assortment of cameras used in the shoot.
• Climbing Penguins (1080p, 3:09): Creating unique climbing stunts. This piece looks at filming techniques, working with the National Parks system, and the rigors of the climb.
• Filming with Greg MacGillivray (1080p, 2:17): The filmmaker talks up the beauty and wonder and importance of the National Parks as a "foundation" in American culture and U.S. history.
• Featurette (1080p, 3:56): A discussion of why National Parks are a magical, majestic fit for the big screen. It also looks at the film's structure and the three characters who are featured in the film. It also looks at Robert Redford's contributions as narrator.
• Pictured Rocks Michigan (1080p, 4:11): When filming in Yellowstone in winter fell through due to melting snow and ice, the crew shifted its attention to a snowy, icy locale in Michigan. It also covers shooting in 3-D and the challenges of frigid weather in which the cameras will not operate.
• Robert Redford on the Parks (1080p, 1:53): The legendary actor discusses his draw to and passion for the National Parks, as well as IMAX's ability to pull audiences into the locations.
• GoUSA TV Trailer (1080p, 0:32): A brief ad for the new travel entertainment channel.
• National Parks Trailer (1080p, 2:00): A trailer for this film.
• 4K Trailers (UHD disc only) (2160p, SDR, 10:53): Additional globetrotting/adventure films available on UHD: Flight of the Butterflies, Humpback Whales, Journey to Space, Rocky Mountain Express, The Last Reef, Wonders of the Arctic, and Dream Big.

National Parks Adventure 4K + 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

National Parks Adventure is classic MacGillivray. The film is partly educational and partly conservationist but its primary focus is on pointing its cameras at some of the most spectacular natural locations around the United States. The film is exemplary in visual construction and its only drawback is that it is too short to give the parks the full attention they deserve. Nevertheless, Shout! Factory's triple play release offers viewers the opportunity to view the film across three reference and near-reference quality presentations, including a spectacular 3-D image and a breathtakingly complex and colorful (albeit sometimes too overdone) UHD. The Atmos soundtrack is just as good and the included supplements, while relatively brief, are welcome additions. Very highly recommended.