Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Boy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 22, 2016

Even as mankind shares the same basic attributes, such as the ability to love, people go about nurturing and expressing them in different ways. Those innate characteristics, such as love, are ever present, but they're honed by experience, not nature. Traumatic life experience can upset the status quo and even redefine a lifetime's worth of character building and emotional construction. That seems to be at the center of The Boy, Director William Brent Bell's (The Devil Inside) creepy Psychological Thriller about a wealthy aged English couple who have, somehow, adopted a porcelain doll as a mascot of sorts, a replacement for their deceased son. Like some people love a dog or a cat (or multiples thereof), they treat the doll as if it were their own child, all but a living, breathing -- or so it seems -- organism that they dress, put to bed, and care for as if it were the most delicate thing in the world. The film raises a few more questions than it answers by the end, but part of the curious joy in watching The Boy is figuring out character motivations and deciphering any clues that lead to the final reveal.

The boy.

Greta Evans (Lauren Cohan) is an American who has taken a nanny position for a wealthy English couple. They live in a resplendent country home. She's dropped off and asked to wait in the inviting parlor as she awaits the family's return. She snoops around a bit, anyway, and is startled when she meets Malcolm (Rupert Evans), a local grocer and charmer. The two get along well and it's not long before the stiffer older couple returns home. Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire (Jim Norton and Diana Hardcastle) show her the ropes and introduce Greta to their son, Brahms, who is not a flesh-and-bone child but rather a porcelain doll. She laughs the introduction off as a joke but quickly realizes that the Heelshire's are very much serious about their relationship with Brahms, who has essentially replaced their eight-year-old son who died in a fire many years ago. Greta is charged with his care and with following a list of prescribed rules on his treatment. When the Heelshire's leave her alone in the house, she expresses her discomfort and quickly begins to realize that there may be more to the doll than its inorganic parts.

The Boy may struggle with momentum at times, but its slow-burn approach is actually a strong asset. The movie tacks on a few traditional jump scares and integrates a handful of uneasy audio cues into the sound mix, but it's otherwise a fairly intimate psychological exploration where the question why is more important than any other, including how. There's obviously more to the story than it reveals in its first two acts, and that's all that really seems certain. The movie proves rather effective at bringing the audience along slowly as the story is almost exclusively about building towards a reveal. Everything else is just simple backstory and thick atmosphere. But the movie doesn't lose any momentum along the way. It keeps the audience engaged just enough to keep asking why and wondering what, exactly, the motivations behind all of it may be. It's almost mesmerizingly straightforward and in some ways mildly Hitchcockian in simplicity and its mysteriously odd and creepy façade.

The film is far from perfect, however. Perhaps most disappointing is the sheer lack of true psychological exploration. The movie opens a lot of doors, but it's up to the audience to walk through them. In some ways that's not a bad thing, but considering just how ripe the movie is to really dig deep, it's often content to simply scrape the surface and pick out a few core ideas without getting to the proverbial root. It's a problem that becomes increasingly frustrating when a key revelation -- one prior to the big reveal at the end -- never feels fully resolved and character psyches not more richly explored. Perhaps a second viewing, with all of surprises already in the viewing arsenal, would prove more revelatory, but audiences should prepare to be as frustrated as they are fascinated by the end. Performances are likewise a little dull, but that's just as much a result of the script's inability to more finely hone the character as it is any failure on the part of the actors to better explore them. Outside of the mysterious "mother" and "father," the primaries are interchangeably flat and add little to the movie outside of the warm bodies necessary to progress the story.

The Boy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Boy's digital source photography represents another example of the medium done right and its ability to more closely replicate film than the digital presentations before it. Though a touch on the noisy side, at times and particularly in lower lighting conditions, Universal's transfer is otherwise pristine. Details are exacting and thorough. Fine appointments around the home, such as wooden accents and furniture upholstery, reveal intimate, tactile textures in every scene, even in lower light conditions. Basic clothing fabric and facial features are revealingly complex. Exteriors spring to life with quality replication of the home's stone façade and the surrounding grassy and tree-heavy environment. Black levels hold deep and accurate, revealing strong shadow detailing. Flesh tones are healthy and natural. Compression anomalies and artifacts are never a problem. This is a top-tier video presentation from Universal.

The Boy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Boy's sound design is crucial to the movie's tone and the experience, and Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio track presents it with all of the nuance and placement detail one could hope for in a 5.1-channel configuration, though one can only imagine the added nuance and capabilities that would be available to it with added surround and overhead speakers. As it is, the track proves hugely impressive. Various creaks and moans around the house are perfectly integrated. Surrounds carry a large assortment of extra content that's naturally immersive and perfectly placed; the speakers create a seamless 360-degree sound field that's almost continuously active beyond quieter dialogue exchanges, all of which are aided by a deep and satisfying LFE support. Whether robust sound effects or minor interior and exterior ambience, there's always a tangible sense of aural authenticity to the track. Natural environmental details are equally impressive, whether mild winds and insects outside or a driving rain and rolling thunder that naturally penetrate and soak the listening area. Music is healthy and robust, enjoying wide spacing, realistic instrumental clarity and definition, a deep low end, and enveloping surround support. Dialogue is clear, focused, and well prioritized.

The Boy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Boy contains no supplemental content. A UV/iTunes digital copy voucher is included with purchase.

The Boy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Boy is rather unique and keeps the audience engaged on the whys of it all, and that's its one real saving grace. It's a slow-burn experience where curiosity dominates for the duration. The end reveal isn't necessarily surprising and not necessarily satisfactory, but it leaves the audience with more questions than answers. Some may find that the movie refuses to spoon-feed a strength, and it is, to an extent, but its failure to dive even a little deeper than it does is a disappointment. Performances are generally flat, but so too is the script. Otherwise, the movie is pretty effective, particularly in its visual and aural atmosphere, the unknown elements, and the sheer creepy factor that is the porcelain doll. Universal's Blu-ray is disappointingly absent any special content; a few behind-the-scenes pieces, and a commentary, would have been welcome. Video and audio are top-notch. Recommended, despite some imperfections with the movie and the release's dearth of bonus material.