Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Norm of the North Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 23, 2016

Watching Norm of the North is perhaps slightly equivalent to buying a gorgeously illustrated story book for your child, taking it home and opening it up, only to discover—there’s no story, simply a series of impeccably rendered visuals. A plot which seems cobbled together from any number of other (better) animated features gives this film a pretty tired feeling. It is often quite visually arresting, with good character designs and some decent voice work, but it’s a stale and unengaging enterprise that will probably only end up delighting the very young you haven’t yet been around long enough to have seen this tale told elsewhere to more felicitous effect.

Norm (voiced by Rob Schneider) is a polar bear who doesn’t have very good hunting skills, but who does have a particular talent handed down to him by his grandpa—he can communicate with humans. That comes in handy when a nefarious developer makes plans to build a housing complex in the arctic (perhaps surprisingly, the film doesn’t really play up any environmental angle). That leads Norm on a trip to the big city where he hopes to forestall if not outright prevent calamity from affecting his pristine birthplace. The film lumbers along with silly character bits assigned to a variety of “colorful” supporting characters, but the humor is juvenile at best, and unlike the best of the Pixar or Dreamworks CGI-fests, there’s virtually no emotional component at stake.

Norm of the North Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Norm of the North is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Norm of the North evidently screened theatrically in 3D, but is only presented here in its 2D version. The animation is generally excellent, if a bit rote at times. Animal characters actually fare a good deal better than any of the humans. Norm's fur rendering is quite impressive, especially in close- ups. A number of other lovable animal creatures also have nicely textured fur, feathers, and the like, while many times the human characters look pretty rubbery. Colors are more vibrant in the city sequences than in the largely white clad arctic moments.

Norm of the North Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Norm of the North features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix which offers the requisite goofy sound effects during a number of sequences which capably open up the soundfield and provide good amounts of immersion. Some fairly forgettable "song and dance" numbers also employ the surround channels. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly rendered, and the track offers no problems of any kind whatsoever.

Norm of the North Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 4:35)


• Do the Arctic Shake! (1080p; 1:25)


• That's Funny! The Movie's Best Jokes and One-Liners (1080p; 2:06). The brevity of this supplement says more about the film than I probably ever could.


• Arctic Challenge is an interactive guessing game.

Norm of the North Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Norm of the North will probably suffice perfectly well as a "video babysitter" for those with younger tots. But it's an undemanding piece at best, one that's nicely shiny and fun to look at it, but which provides little to no emotional attachment. Technical merits are strong for those considering a purchase.