The Karate Kid: Part III Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		1.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.0

The Karate Kid: Part III Blu-ray Movie Review

Mill Creek has released 'The Karate Kid: Part III' to Blu-ray and is currently only available in a bundle with 'The Next Karate Kid' Sony previously released the film to Blu-ray as part of its controversial 'Choice Collection' line. That disc offers vastly superior video and improved audio.

The Karate Kid: Part III Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Karate Kid: Part III looks much, much worse on the Mill Creek disc compared to the Sony release. While Sony's effort was not perfect, it delivered a generally pleasing, filmic presentation without much in the way of compression problems or source flaws. In comparison, Mill Creek's version is texturally deficient, appearing smoothed over, hopelessly flat, and absent any semblance of high yield texturing. The image is further degraded by the presence of sloppy artifacts. Macroblocking is a significant problem, as is wobble and some jagged edges. The image appears to be on the verge of collapse in every scene. The film does share a disc with The Next Karate Kid, and Mill Creek has chosen to hinder this film with a very low bitrate that hovers in the 11-12 Mbps range. Colors lack the nuance and vitality of the Sony disc but are at least passable in isolation. The image is borderline unwatchable. It looks like a poorly compressed digital stream.

The Karate Kid: Part III Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

In what may be another space-saving measure, Mill Creek presents The Karate Kid: Part III on Blu-ray with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack rather than a lossless option, such as the one featured on the Sony disc. The track is not the train wreck that is the picture quality, but it still has its limitations. Even with the same number of channels at its disposal, some of the more prominent moments -- a train rumbling by around the 20-minute mark -- lack the same immersion, depth, and expert stage traversal of the Sony lossless track. Surrounds do engage on occasion, to wrap the listener in some crowd din and atmosphere during the tournament at film's end. Clarity is not as good as the Sony track, either, whether considering effects, music, or dialogue though all are certainly passable.

The Karate Kid: Part III Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of The Karate Kid: Part III contains no extras. The Sony disc only offered a few trailers for the franchise.

The Karate Kid: Part III Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As it shares a disc with The Next Karate Kid, Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of The Karate Kid: Part III is a major disappointment. The video quality is horrible. The 5.1 lossy soundtrack is decent. No extras are included. Sony's Blu-ray costs more than double, but it delivers a much better A/V experience.