Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The LEGO Movie 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

How awesome is everything in 4K?

The future is here! Warner Brothers has released its first wave of UHD Blu-ray (4K/3840x2160p resolution) discs. We've posted a companion article detailing the UHD upgrade experience here. Watch for more reviews of WB's UHD Blu-rays in the coming days and, of course, Blu-ray.com will be covering every UHD release in the future.

The chosen one.

The LEGO Movie 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

According to IMDB, The LEGO Movie's live action scenes were captured digitally at 2.8K and the movie proper finished at 2K, presumably the source for this UHD Blu-ray.

The LEGO Movie looks undeniably fantastic under the 2160p UHD/HDR microscope. In a movie like this, texture is everything, and never does the presentation disappoint. From the opening seconds forward, where all sorts of little nicks and dings on Vitruvius are apparent and fine lines, minuscule imperfections, and even fingerprints are visible on Lord Business' red headpiece, audiences know they're in for a plastic-y treat. Throughout the movie, close-ups, and even medium-distance shots, reveal an incredible array of fine detail, not just little pits and imperfections on figures or even the more generalized texture of LEGO pieces like hair, but also teeny-tiny little accents like worn paint lines, fading paint jobs, and other small blemishes that result in a lovingly assembled level of realistic texture and character to every brick. Colors are likewise very impressive. Bold primaries, such as Wyldstyle's pink and teal hair streaks, red and blue police sirens, flashy laser bolts, and all the myriad of colors in Cloud Cuckoo Land pop with regularity.

But is the UHD disc an improvement over the standard 1080 Blu-ray? Not really, not by a significant margin and barely by most any other measures. Much like San Andreas, differences are minimal, and there's not a clear path to definitively saying that one looks better than the other. The most obvious differences seem to fall more in the "personal preference" category than they do most of the objective categories. On that objective front, there's no mistaking that, generally speaking, detail is a little more refined on the UHD. It's easier to see a bottom layer of paint seeping through a thinning top layer, such as the blue undershirt Emmet wears below the "safety orange" vest. Ditto various thinning spots on Wyldstyle's clothes. Very fine imperfections gain a hair more definition with the added 2160p horsepower. Shadow details are improved, and as a result some darker corners around a frame appear to enjoy a little more depth and definition. On the other hand, some of the more pervasively dark segments go a touch too dark, resulting in an apparent loss, albeit a very slight loss, of detail. Look at the back of Batman's cape at the 56:37 mark, and a few of the surrounding objects. UHD seems to overwhelm some of them while there's a little more breathing room with the more brightly contrasted Blu-ray. Likewise, the UHD pushes the yellow "body" pieces, like heads, a very slight, but noticeable, orange. The Blu-ray disc is much brighter, more cheery, maybe a little less refined.

One can get the Blu-ray looking very close to the UHD simply by toying with, primarily, the TV's contrast level but also, to a more refined extent, the color and black adjustments. The same cannot be said of the other direction, at least not with contrast already maxed out under the default HDR settings. There's nothing wrong with the UHD -- it looks tremendous -- but so too does the Blu-ray, which, in some cases, benefits from more vibrance. There's just not a clear-cut winner in the head-to-head for this title, and the score reflects the UHD's inability to really stand head-and-shoulders above the Blu-ray. In a vacuum, however, it's a 5.0, easy. Just watching one or the other straight through without comparing wouldn't lead one to think there was anything wrong with either one of them.

The LEGO Movie 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Warner's UHD Blu-ray release of The LEGO Movie unfortunately does not contain a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X soundtrack. It instead retains the previous release's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. For a full review, please see Kenneth Brown's writing here.

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

The LEGO Movie contains no supplemental content on the UHD disc. The Included 1080p Blu-ray disc carries all of the extras. For a review, please click here. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

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

The LEGO Movie is one of the best movies of its generation. As profound as it is witty, as original as it is classically themed, it's an instant classic that should withstand the test of time and speak to generations to follow. Warner Brothers' UHD Blu-ray is a bit of a disappointment. Make no mistake, it looks and sounds absolutely terrific. But the 2160p transfer is never really a clear improvement over the already beautiful Blu-ray and the studio has not added a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X soundtrack to replace its, yes, stellar DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 presentation. Supplements are all included on the Blu-ray bundled in this set. Sad to say, for as great a movie as this is, the smart money is to hang onto the Blu-ray rather than drop a lot of cash on a release that's only marginally better at its very best.