The Prince of Egypt 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Prince of Egypt 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Universal has released the 1998 Bible-based animated film 'The Price of Egypt' to the UHD format. New specifications include 2160p/HDR video and DTS:X audio. The release also includes the legacy Blu-ray, which was first released in 2018. No new supplements are included.

The Prince of Egypt 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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

Universal's new 2160p/HDR UHD release of The Prince of Egypt looks quite good. The picture is satisfyingly filmic, offering a consistently light grain structure that accentuates the film elements while also offering animation qualities and characteristics that are not leaps and bounds better than the Blu-ray but that do offer some pleasing refinement, albeit subtle refinement, to textures both on more detailed static backgrounds and the motion animated content. The grain is more refined here as well; the Blu-ray looked noisy and clumpy, processed and at times sloppy, but the sense of smoothness and natural refinement are in plain evidence here. It looks very good on its own, but direct comparisons to the Blu-ray reveal just how far the image has come compared to Universals 1080p issue from several years ago. Lines are a bit clearer as well, but the big gain certainly comes from the general improvements to source fidelity.

On the downside, the image shows the occasional pop and speckle (and a few stray vertical lines; look at the 33:46 mark) but there is a significant reduction of these sort of problems compared to the Blu-ray, which featured this deterioration with much greater frequency. The source is generally clean more than it is problematic in this area. Hints of banding are visible from time to time but no other significant source or encode artifacts are present.

The HDR color grading also offers a stout upgrade compared to the Blu-ray. The film is made predominately of earthy colors -- beiges, browns -- and these tones enjoy fruitful depth and accuracy, even if they are not the most visually robust or resplendent ever seen. The film is dark to begin with and the HDR grading does reduce brightness, but it does so with an eye towards tonal accuracy and refinement. Overall color depth is improved here, with the points of brighter and more vivid colors offering more stable accuracy and improved clarity. Look at the 42:36 mark for an example of both earthy beiges and brighter reds and purples offering substantial gains to overall depth but also vividness and accuracy. Here, the image looks full and satisfying and the Blu-ray comparatively washed out and flat. In both areas -- source resolution and color -- this is a very stout and sturdy upgrade.

The Prince of Egypt 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As if bolstered picture was not enough, Universal has gone the extra mile and upgraded the film's audio to the DTS:X configuration, and it's a quality improvement over the previous Blu-ray's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 presentation. The track dazzles and delights in the opening minutes as "Deliver Us" powers through the stage with superb bass and seamlessly large stage engagement, making fine use of the new surround back and overhead channels, if only more in a support role rather than with discrete output, which is how they should be used in this context. The track maintains its sense of size and scale throughout, with the most powerful moments fully saturating the stage with exceptionally clear, robust, and balanced engagement, pushing the subwoofer as hard as it needs to go for this movie's action and music while also making exemplary use of the surrounds and overheads, again more fluently and fully rather than discretely. Still, the sense of new immersion and involvement within the listening area comes very welcome. The track is a fine example of size, balance, and finesse alike for both music and sound effects, be either of them subtle and gentle or aggressive and large. Dialogue is clear and center focused or the duration, and of course it is also well prioritized. This track is nearly reason enough to upgrade from the Blu-ray.

The Prince of Egypt 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This UHD release of The Prince of Egypt contains all of the legacy supplements from the 2018 disc: several featurettes and an audio commentary track, all of which appear to be recycled from previous DVD issues. See below for a list of what's included and please click here for full coverage. Note that the supplements appear on both the UHD and Blu-ray discs included with this set. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• The Making of The Prince of Egypt
• "When You Believe" Multi-Language Presentation
• The Basics of Animation: The Chariot Race
• Focus on Technical Effects
• Audio Commentary

The Prince of Egypt 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Prince of Egypt was directed by three individuals -- Simon Wells, Brenda Chapman, and Steve Hickner -- but it works as a single vision, inspired by one of the greatest stories ever told and translated to the animated realm with a nice balance of accessibility and narrative depth, even amongst some darkness. The voice cast isn't necessarily a great fit, but on paper it's one of the finest collection of talents ever assembled for an animated feature. Universal's UHD offers impressive gains for both picture and sound compred to the Blu-ray. The supplements remain unchanged, but fans will definitely want to pick this up for the bolstered A/V output. Highly recommended!