Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Scenic National Parks: Yosemite Blu-ray Movie Review

More lovely travelogues look quite fetching in high definition.

Reviewed by Lindsay Mayer September 17, 2008

From its granite peaks to its recent commemoration on the California state quarter, the Yosemite Valley is an enduring place. The valley, along with its companion territory, the Mariposa Grove of ancient sequoia trees, was established as the first tract of land that the U.S. federal government set aside for "public use, resort and recreation," as well as for preservation of natural space. Signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1864, the Yosemite Grant set a huge precedent for the young country, although the valley and the giant forest floundered under state rule by California officials. These issues became one of the driving factors that lead to Yellowstone becoming the first national - rather than state - park, as its borders spread beyond Wyoming and into parts of Montana and Idaho.

Yosemite itself became a national park nearly three decades later, and its territory expanded greatly, covering what is now nearly 1,200 square miles. Although the valley alone makes up only about 5% of the park's total area, it receives over 95% of tourists annually. And why not - many of the most famous monuments and natural wonders are located there. From the stony sentinels of Half Dome and El Capitan, to the tall, misty cascades of Yosemite and Bridalveil Falls, the offerings of the Sierra Nevada seem to be clumped into one convenient location. The valley itself truly is not all that large - merely 1 mile wide and 7 miles long. It has enjoyed a history of admiration from naturalists and photographers right on down to day trippers and vacationing families.

El Capitan peak in Yosemite Valley.

Before European exploration, the valley was home to native tribes, some of which were warring factions. The native term for the valley was ahwahnee, for "large mouth." Its residents referred to themselves as the Ahwahneechee, the dwellers of the valley. However, the modern name of Yosemite comes from yohhe'meti, which was the term the Miwok people used to to refer to the Ahwahneechee. It means "those who kill," referring to the violent conflicts between the two tribes. Yohhe'meti was adapted for use as the valley's name in 1851 by explorer Lafayette Houghton Bunnell.

After its designation as a state park in 1864, Yosemite became an inspiration for the concept of national parks and preserves, especially owing to the work of naturalist John Muir. First encountering the area in 1868, Muir became an enthusiastic proponent for wilderness conservation, especially of his beloved Yosemite. After the state park went national in 1890, Muir founded the Sierra Club, now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. Some years later, Yosemite became the subject of fascination for another prominent name; famed photographer Ansel Adams first visited in 1914, and he too fell in love with the landscape. Adams produced many of his most famous pieces at Yosemite, which he visited for every year thereafter.

Almost 120 years after Yosemite became a national park, it still proves an enormously popular draw for tourists from around the world. The feature, running just under an hour at 49 minutes, highlights many activities that both casual tourists and dedicated experts engage in. Some cater to high end hospitality; the Ahwahnee Hotel and Château du Sureau are nestled within the wilderness and offer luxurious pampering. Others like the Wawona Hotel have a higher degree of history - the latter being one of the oldest continuously-running hotels on site, and featuring a Victorian touch. Even some camping resorts, like May Lake's tent cabins, prove so popular that reservations must be decided by lottery.

The granite faces of the valley's geologic icons proves to be a huge attraction, and challenge, to rock climbers from around the world. A site initially identified as Camp 4 has now fully adopted the name for the popular destination and training site for climbers. Many techniques have been developed strictly for traversing the smooth, unforgiving rock surfaces, and climbers practice and learn from one another at the bustling campsite. Hikers are also challenged with areas such as the Mist Trail or the very long, very grueling trek up to the pinnacle of Half Dome. The lovely alpenglow vistas of Vogelsang pass and the spectacle of the sequoia trees - the longest-lived beings on Earth, and the largest by volume - make for an unforgettable, even sobering, experience.

Covering a portion of the land's modern history, offering beautiful vantage points of the park's best sites, and profiling the range of activities visitors can enjoy, Yosemite gives a good overall introduction to the region. Even I, loving nature but not being especially sporty, yearn to experience the awe of these glorious settings. The feature is an effective reminder of just how young the United States in its modern form really is, and it also relievedly shows that there is still some relatively unchanged habitat in existence yet. John Muir was featured on California's state quarter along with the aforementioned granite body known as Half Dome. Muir takes his place rightfully so - his work, the inspiration for the national park and all it embodies, is just as enduring as the igneous giant he stands beside.

Scenic National Parks: Yosemite Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Yosemite is presented in an interlaced VC-1 encoding, which averages about 25 Mbps. Much of the material is newly filmed in high definition and looks splendid in long shots and closeups alike. Blacks are rich and satisfactory, and whites look superb. Colors in the landscape shots and sequences are reproduced well and display often vivid tones, but like the other two titles in Questar's Scenic National Parks Blu-ray series, the flesh tones on humans are far out of whack, and often give them a "Cheeto" orange color. Other times red push is clearly apparent, with interviewees looking like they have a bad case of rosacea. Artifacts like macroblocking and pixelation were not apparent, and contrast is excellent, revealing every fissure in the faces of so much stone. Aside from the distracting flaw of red or orange flesh tones, Yosemite and its bonus feature look quite nice on this release.

Scenic National Parks: Yosemite Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Coming equipped with a basic selection of Dolby Digital 2.0 or 5.1, Yosemite has a surprisingly dynamic soundscape. As much as it can have with a compressed track, admittedly, but the audio seems well-balanced and put to adequate use. The narration remains squarely in the center channel, and the fronts mostly emit musical score. The rears pick up a fair bit of ambiance, and the LFE can even be heard at times with the roar of the falls or even low points of the score. It is at times unfortunate and frustrating that the feature comes without subtitles, because so many locale names are cited that it's difficult, once in a while, to pick up what was said by the narrator or an onscreen individual. Still, for what it is, Yosemite's audio is adequate and serves a straightforward purpose of informing the viewer.

Scenic National Parks: Yosemite Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Billed as a double feature, Wild National Parks is the sole supplement on this Blu-ray release. The 49 minute feature profiles five national parks from Alaska to Florida, and highlight the wildlife found within. Less like a tourist piece and more toward a nature documentary, Wild National Parks begins in Alaska. The massive brown bears of Katmai National Park, the favorite haunt of the ill-fated Timothy Treadwell, are genetically similar to the grizzlies found further south, but they are considerably larger in size. The second destination is Montezuma Castle National Monument in Arizona. Built into the face of the cliffs, the structures were once a shelter for prehistoric native peoples. Now, it is a haven for diamondback rattlesnakes, who are carefully monitored and tagged by a group of scientists, and educational efforts with visitors have helped to reduce the number of defensive strike incidents with the snakes.

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming is home to hundreds of mammal and bird species. The park's resident herd of bison are monitored by rangers, and calf counts commence every spring. Pronghorn populations are stagnant at best however; it is theorized that without wolves present in the area to keep the coyote population in check, more coyotes are able to pick off pronghorn fawns. The fastest land mammal in North America is making a slow recovery though, especially since wolves were reintroduced to nearby Yellowstone National Park over ten years ago.

Returning to Arizona, Saguaro National Park receive about 12 inches of rain a year, making it a habitat that's just a hair away from total desert. The many flowering plants in the area have a surprising amoutn of help - over 1,000 species of bees, including non-native European honey bees, and their more aggressive European/African hybrid cousins. The last location featured in the program is Everglades National Park, home to a thriving variety of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. The segment focuses heavily on manatees, including rescued individuals and their rehabilitation progress. The biggest threats to the slow-moving marine mammals are the propeller blades of speeding motorboats; increased speed restrictions in certain areas are reducing the number of incidents annually, however.

Scenic National Parks: Yosemite Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Full of stunning spectacle as well as succinct, useful tidbits of information, Yosemite is a successful piece of eye candy and a great incentive to experience the natural glory of the United States' national parks. Beautiful to look at, the vantage points of the parks' best attractions are a mere preview. It is one thing to witness a facsimile of the sites on a flat monitor screen - it's quite another to experience it. The overall detail, contrast, and colors of the Blu-ray are a great sell; it's just annoying that the flesh tones of human faces don't look... well... human! The audio is rather good, and adequate for its appointed task of educating the viewer. The release is fairly lovely overall, and recommended for the adventurous types. After all, you won't want to stay in your seat after watching these convincing programs!