Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

The Stray Blu-ray Movie Review

Family's Best Friend.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 16, 2021

The Stray is based on a true life story, but one can only imagine the real life inspirations being more impacting than what's presented on the screen. The film tells the story of its own director, Mitch Davis, whose workaholism and a couple of near miss tragedies drastically altered his perspective on life. There's compelling life drama and spirit-filled messaging at the film's core but there's also a near empty vessel movie that struggles to build more than cursory emotional attachment to its characters or to their stories. It's choppy and desperately wanting a more sure hand and a more capable craftsman, or maybe better said craftsmen, both at the helm and in nearly all facets of the production. Make no mistake; this is not a poor film, per se, it's just...choppy...sluggish...clearly missing a spark. This doesn't diminish the core message -- there's a touching story about family, fate, and sacrifice -- but as a cinematic venture the story deserves better.

Workaholic father of three Mitch Davis (Michael Cassidy) has no time for his family. He rushes out the door in the morning, comes home later and later every evening, and in those few moments when he’s home and the children are awake, he wears hearing protection to drown out their cries and desperate demands for his attention. Mitch’s answer to his family’s problems isn’t more time at home but rather a suggestion that the family get a dog to serve as both companion to the kids and a watchdog over the house. His wife Michelle (Sarah Lancaster) only agrees to take on a pet if a stray makes its way to the house. While a stray doesn’t arrive at the house, it does befriend Mitch’s son and eldest child, Christian (Connor Corum), at school. When Christian gets off the bus later that day, there is the dog – named Pluto – waiting for him. Pluto “The Wonder Dog” as it affectionately becomes known quickly integrates and becomes a part of the family.

A year passes but little has changed. Michelle is struggling. Her marriage is on the rocks: her husband is absent and her children are all but fatherless. One day while working from home, ear protection on, and drowning out the world, Mitch’s toddler escapes from the house and wanders down the street, alone. When Mitch and Michelle figure out that she’s gone, a frantic search ensues. She’s found safe and sound a good ways down the road, but the incident serves as a wakeup call for Mitch who finally realizes that it’s time to prioritize his family rather than his work. He moves his family to Colorado to work on his dream of writing movie scripts, giving up a steady, but too demanding, job in Los Angeles as a studio executive. Mitch finds himself struggling with work and struggling to integrate into his own family. Try as he might, he finds himself on an island, unable to connect to Christian as he would now like. He wrangles up a couple of neighbor kids and plans a camping trip with the boys and Pluto in tow, hoping against hope to finally draw near to his boy. What will come will indeed bring the family closer together and reveal Pluto’s true purpose in the family’s life.

The Stray is a would-be quality film with a big heart but a small command of the cinema medium. To be blunt, the movie is slow and boring. It's not that the central story or either the undercurrent or overreaching themes are poor, it's that the essential cinematic components struggle to gain a foothold and grab the audience. The script drags. The acting is substandard. The cinematography doesn't excite. The editing is sluggish. It's certainly a competent film, in the loosest definition of the term, at the most essential level but even forgiving audiences will find a movie that's simply not to par for its core technical components.

The film's story may revolve around a dog, but the dog is not a fully developed character. It's present but the resultant bonds it builds aren't explored to their fullest. By the time Pluto accompanies the family on the camping trip, the film has failed to truly explore its full impact. That lessens whatever emotional attachment the story needs and the emotional response later on when the animal's purpose is fully realized. The real theme in the movie is a father's place in the family structure. That's explored a little more deeply but, again, without much dramatic resonance. The film seems content to gloss over critical dramatic angles and core plot points and replaces them with middling moments and lingering scenes that accomplish little in truly exploring what the film has to say about several subjects. Even the survival drama plays with a lackluster feel for tension and timing. Acting is substandard, too.

The Stray Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal adopts The Stray onto Blu-ray with a midlevel 1080p transfer. In short: it's pretty standard stuff. The Stray was digitally photographed and yields a typical HD image for a lower budget film. The picture offers fundamentally sound clarity and color reproduction, though the latter is the lesser of these elements, often showing some flatness and less-than-vibrant tones, whether natural exteriors or cluttered interiors. Still, essential color output is fine; just don't expect to be dazzled by natural greenery or anything else the film has to offer. Likewise, don't expect the world of the textural output, either. Basic clarity satisfies. Close-ups reveal capable definition to faces, dog hair, and environmental backgrounds, such as trees and terrain which are prevalent through the film's second half during the camping trip exteriors. Skin tones are a little pasty and black level waver a bit, particularly inside the tent during the night. Noise can be fairly dense, particularly in even slightly lower light scenes. However, the picture is otherwise clean and clear and no other serious encode anomalies are present. The film looks fine in total but there's absolutely nothing here to excite the eyes.

The Stray Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like the video quality, Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack delivers a capable if not underwhelming audio experience. The track offers fine foundational elements. Dialogue is clear and center focused. Music plays with commendable width and fidelity, though the latter never achieves lifelike transparency or seamless stage fill. Background ambience serves as some of the more interesting audio cues the film has on offer, particularly outdoor in the second half but also some flavorful fill elsewhere, like light traffic din in the film's early minutes, office space din, or playground sounds when Christian meets Pluto. The track certainly fills the movie's meager needs but does so without much flair, which is fine for a movie of this sort.

The Stray Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Stray includes no supplemental content. This edition does ship with a DVD copy of the film and a digital copy code. A non-embossed slipcover is also included with purchase.

The Stray Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In more capable hands, with a tweaked and tightened script, better technical know-how, and improved acting The Stray could have joined the ranks of faith-based superior fare, but various constraints keep it from reaching the level of dramatic interest and emotional investment the core material deserves. Universal's Blu-ray is completely absent extras (interviews with the real family on which the movie was based would have been welcome). Video is OK-ish and audio is likewise acceptable. For families looking for clean, wholesome content this is a viable option but there are plenty of superior alternatives.