Strays Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Strays Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Justin Dekker October 27, 2023

Josh Greenbaum’s Strays arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal. Supplemental features include multiple behind the scenes featurettes containing feedback from the voice cast (including Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher and Randall Park), a brief look at how the dogs were trained, one of the dog’s new post-filming life and a feature length commentary with director Greenbaum and writer Dan Perrault. A DVD and digital copy are also included, as is a slipcover.

Touching. Heart-warming. Emotional. These are the words that normally spring to mind when approaching a dog movie. Whether they’re going on their way back home, or trying to save their owner and/or themselves, that is the expected tone that is so often served up in creating this typically family-friendly fare. Strays, however, is a completely different animal - it goes for raunchy, filthy, hilarious, and is definitely for adults-only.

Strays tells the story of Reggie (voiced by Wil Ferrell) who has an awful owner in Doug (Will Forte). After several unsuccessful attempts to abandon Reggie, he finally rids himself of the dog he no longer wants by driving him three hours away, throwing a ball for Reggie to fetch, and speeding away before he can make it back. Not long after, Reggie meets the streetwise stray Bug (Jamie Foxx), who takes him under his wing and prepares him for life on the street. A quick visit to a dog park leads to them meeting up with Bug’s friends - the ignored and neurotic Maggie (Isla Fisher) and the anxious failed police dog Hunter (Randall Park). The gang now complete, they set out for a night on the town. As Bug shepherds them around town on the night’s adventures, he continues to impart stray dog life hacks to Reggie. It’s not long before Reggie gains confidence, grasps the true reality of his previous life, and devises a simple plan for revenge against Doug - with a little help from his friends.

Along the way, Strays checks the boxes on dog movie tropes in its own subversive and funnily profane way. Gifted with a talented cast, much of the dialogue was improvised as they also tackle and comment on a variety of behaviors that will be very familiar to dog owners. The script also conjures up scenes that riff on movies like Office Space and Stand By Me, and also inserts scenes of the dogs getting high and ending up jail which would be completely at home in buddy road movies from the 90s.

Ferrell’s Reggie is the heart of the movie, seeing him reprising the trusting and naive character we saw him inhabit so effectively and believably as Buddy in Elf. It's something he does better than anyone else and this worldview makes his situation at the start of the movie so much more tragic. He’s a victim and he doesn’t even know it. It also serves to get the audience on board with Reggie’s plan for revenge. And while it may initially sound harsh, when taken from Reggie’s point of view and experience, it does make a twisted sort of sense. The most surprising thing about Reggie making this decision is just how quickly he goes from oblivious to aware to out for revenge. Within the context of the movie, it's virtually the blink of an eye. Which isn't to say that Doug doesn't deserve some sort of comeuppance for his reprehensible treatment of Reggie. It's just that he's barely even had a chance to process his anger before rallying the troops and saying, "OK, guys, here's what we're gonna do".

The jokes come quickly and incessantly. Not every joke lands, but enough of them do to make the film consistently entertaining and each actor has room to stretch their legs. Ferrell alternates between optimistic and cringy, Foxx frequently veers toward the edgy and profane, Fisher navigates between sweet, sexy, and manic, and Park serves, more often than not, as the straight man in this canine quartet. Each cast member gets an opportunity shine. While the comedic talents of Ferrell, Fisher, and Partk are understood, for me Jamie Foxx was the biggest surprise. Although this is clearly primarily Reggie's story, Foxx is tasked with delivering some of the most outrageous, hilarious, and unexpected lines in the film, and he does so with the right amount of conviction and great comedic timing. Never dull, the only real shortcoming in the movie stems from the fact that not enough time is spent on our heroes’ backstories and their impact on their current situations, such that the intended emotional resonance of the conclusion is a bit muted. However, there is plenty here to like and I would be interested in seeing the potential Strays 2.

Strays Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1:85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and given a 1080p transfer, Strays debuts on Blu-ray from Universal. The transfer is generally quite strong. By its very nature, Strays does not present the viewer with much eye candy. There really aren't any sweeping vistas or massive cityscapes for us to explore. This is a story about a dog left in an alley and his resulting adventures. As a result, we're treated to a fair number of alleys, a lot of shots along the road and in the woods, and a fair amount of it takes place at night. Much of it is wet and dirty. That said, fine detail is still frequently on display in each of these environments where the dogs spend much of their journey. The transfer yields excellent colors and textures on leaves, trees, pavement, and some all-important mushrooms. Blacks are sufficiently inky and deep and contrast well with the fireworks that serve to create the feeling of a war movie. Urban exteriors, whether day or night, offer up rich colors and convincing grime, gore, and various bodily fluids. The level of detail present in the dogs' coats is also fantastic, especially Maggie's. I did not detect any banding or other anomalies.

Strays Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Strays is outfitted with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track which is how I watched the movie. Being the kind of film it is, the track's primary function is to deliver dialogue which it does very well. It's crisp and clean without any distortion. Thankfully, there isn't much actual barking. Directionality is spot-on, and the rear channels are used with good effect. The infectious rap and pop inspired soundtrack offers up some great rumbly bass, and the percussive booms of the fireworks help us to feel a bit of the fear that the dogs experience when the fireworks start up at the fair. It's a very satisfying audio experience. English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles are also available.

Strays Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Talk Like a Dog: Go behind the scenes with Will Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, and Randall Park as they record their dialogue and discuss their impressions of the project. (7 minutes)

The Ultimate Treat: Making Strays: Hear from the director and cast as they continue to talk about the movie and their desire to go a very different direction with a talking dog movie. (6 minutes)

Poop, Booms, and Shrooms: A discussion of how these three important scenes were filmed, tricks used, and challenges that they had to deal with. (6 minutes)

Will Forte: Stray Actor: Forte discusses the challenge of creating and portraying a character who we all need to hate, but also be interested in watching. (6 minutes)

Training to be Stray: Get a quick look behind the scenes at how the trainers go about their jobs to get the non-human actors to do the trick they need to do and hit their marks. (5 minutes)

A New Best Friend: Hear briefly about working with the dogs, and how one of the dogs used in the film ended up with a new owner by the time the film ended. (4 minutes)

Feature Length Commentary with Director/Producer Josh Greenbaum and Writer/Producer Dan Perrault: There's never a quiet moment as these two gentlemen discuss the film's origins, casting, the importance of having the voice cast record together, the challenges of having to shoot the movie at dog height (8 to 10 inches from the ground), how the trainers worked their magic, and a host of other topics.

Strays Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The strong ensemble cast of Ferrell, Fox, Fisher, and Park crafts a filthy and funny dog movie that should be kept well out of reach of children. Voice talent aside, it's remarkable for the fact that actual dogs were used for the vast majority of scenes with CGI leveraged primarily for creating the effect of the dogs speaking their dialogue. The jokes come at a furious pace with each cast member succeeding in bringing their own humor and personality to their roles. While the conclusion may not have quite the intended emotional impact that was desired as so much of the runtime is devoted to the funny instead of the feels, it does not fail to entertain. With solid video and audio presentations, Strays is recommended for adults who are not easily offended. You know who you are.