The Croods 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Croods 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Universal has released the digitally animated 2013 film 'The Croods' to the UHD format. New specifications include 2160p/HDR video and DTS:X audio. No new supplements are included.

The Croods 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

The new 2160p/HDR UHD presentation of The Croods is excellent and makes for a solid-to-spectacular upgrade over the Blu-ray. While the 1080p image looks good in isolation, the UHD improves upon the picture in every major area: sharpness, clarity, and color. The picture's textural gains are surprisingly many. Rock faces, dirt and desert terrain, animal fur (both on living creatures and the clothes the characters wear), and human skin enjoy a robust upgrade. The Blu-ray appears flat in comparison while the UHD brings new life to even mundane digital elements, like caked-on dirt on character faces and other fine skin details, like freckles. There are great improvements to more complex elements, like hair. The Blu-ray cannot render it cleanly, leaving some strands looking clumpy and jagged; it's exceptionally smooth and well defined on the UHD. The entire thing is rock-solid, so to speak.

The improved clarity and sharpness are matched, and often surpassed, by the HDR color grading. Not only does the image boast the usual refinements to depth and pop but there's a more natural color spectrum at work with an obviously wider array throughout the palette, really bringing some of the intense bright sources – suns, water, natural greens – to more vivid, visually impacting life. Even earthy terrain and gray rock formations enjoy superior color accuracy and tonal nuance that offers a clearer picture of location diversity by bringing out the finite color intricacies on every surface. Skin with all of the caked-on dirt is more alive and healthier. Add in the improved shadow details and black levels and the absence of any source or encode shortcomings and The Croods makes for one of the nicer digital animation upgrades on the UHD format.

The Croods 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Croods' new DTS:X Master Audio soundtrack delivers a hearty listen that presents the film's array of sounds with aplomb and clarity aplenty. The music during the "breakfast chase" scene early in the film engages with some excellent upbeat orchestral score. Clarity is exceptional as every instrument is distinguishable and each note is delivered with full fidelity while spacing is practically impeccable; not only is the front side fully engaged, but so too are the back channels as well as the overheads to tastefully aid in more fully saturating the stage with music as well as with some of the action support, like stampeding animals and screaming cavemen. In the scene to follow, and in most any scene inside a cave, there's a high-quality feel for vocal reverb not just around, but also above, encompassing the entire stage and transforming the listening area into the prehistoric dwelling. The track is consistently engaging in its soaring orchestral score, its high energy action elements (stampedes, cracking rocks, and the like), and its ability to bring out the liveliest natural ambient effects within the family's world. Dialogue is clear, precise, and well prioritized, too. There's no faulting this one.

The Croods 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Croods UHD disc contains most all of the core supplements from the 2013 Blu-ray, missing only the film's theatrical trailer amongst the "real" extras (it also does away with "World of DreamWorks Animation" and trailers for other films). The bundled Blu-ray, which is identical to the 2013 Fox release, contains all of the legacy extras. See below for a list of what the UHD includes and please click here for full coverage. This set ships with a Movies Anywhere digital copy code and an embossed slipcover.

• The Croodaceous Creatures of Croods
• Belt's Cave Journal
• Croods' Cuts (Lost Scenes)
• Be An Artist

The Croods 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

They're crood, they're crass, they're...family. And they don't live in Chicago. The Croods is a surprisingly good family adventure film set in prehistoric times that the UHD format brings to life well beyond the old Blu-ray's capabilities. Audio enjoys a modest bump up but it's the improvements to video's clarity and color that really distinguish this release. No new extras are included, but fans are going to love this one. Highly recommended.