Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Umbrella Academy: Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 27, 2021

It's quite staggering to consider the depth and breadth of Superhero content on the market today. Old sources, new ideas, different formats: there's absolutely no shortage of choices for today's insatiable audiences, and the good news is that so much of this content is actually quite good. What might have just been a passing fad, a showcase for visual effects, one or two (or a few billion) quick bucks for studios has instead become the defining element across the spectrum of the visual entertainment medium. So with all of the iconic Iron Man and Batman type comic characters making a pretty penny, it's no surprise to find something like The Umbrella Academy make its way to small screen. The Netflix produced show, based on Gerard Way's 2007 comic of the same name, follows a handful of eccentric superheroes who share in common a few things: miraculous conception and birth, adoption into a wealthy household, and bizarre superhuman abilities. It's sort of like The X-Men meets The Magicians in terms of essential form and style and, of course, there's a whole "save the world" element to give it a bit of a kick.

Official synopsis: On the same day in 1989, forty-three infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before. Seven are adopted by a billionaire who creates The Umbrella Academy and prepares his "children" to save the world. Now, the six surviving members reunite upon the news of their father's passing and must work together to solve a mystery surrounding his death. But the estranged family begins to come apart due to their divergent personalities and abilities, not to mention the imminent threat of a global apocalypse.

While not exactly teeming with originality, there's a certain uniqueness to The Umbrella Academy, anyway, in the way it blends together its various components and focuses on characters and relationships well beyond action. To be sure, though, there's still more than enough action to satisfy audiences looking more for a fresh Superhero thrill ride and less a rich and rewarding ensemble character study. More of the why and less of the how is the most interesting thing going on here. The series opens with a dynamic scene of a Soviet swimmer, perfectly at peace and ease and not even a hint of pregnant, and suddenly birthing a baby out of nowhere: full size, apparently perfectly healthy, much to the shock of everyone around her. The question is why? How did this happen? And for what purpose? The show asks these questions within the prism of a classic "the world is going to end" story line and it's happening in just a few days, adding a sense of urgency to the show, even as the characters often slow down to take inventory of themselves and one another, to soak in the small joys of life, to bicker and squabble, and eventually work their way up to saving the world.

Make no mistake, though, that even if the emphasis is on, and the greatest interest lies in, character formation and the ensemble in the aggregate, the season's storyline is engaging and its action robust. There are both Superhero and Sci-Fi elements at play and both of these converge as the season races towards its climax that will leave the audience breathlessly anticipating a season two resolve and a ride of its own. It's well done technically, too. The Umbrella Academy may not live up to the excellence of bigger budgeted Superhero fare but there's no apparent lack at work, either. That extends to the front of the camera, too, where the actors soak in their own wild personalities and thrive off of the divergent players opposite them. This is a creative spark ensemble that feels like family precisely because they don't look like family. It's fun to watch the interplay and absorb the subtleties the characters share that define them far better than the basic broad stroke personality traits and their essential place in the general storyline.

The following episodes comprise season one. Summaries are courtesy of the Blu-ray packaging.

Disc One:

• We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals: Years after they rose to fame as young crime-fighting superheroes, the estranged Hargreeves siblings come together to mark their father's death.
• Run Boy Run: After sharing the story of his time travel with Vanya, Five hunts for the owner of a fake eye. But two mysterious assassins are hot on his trail.
• Extra Ordinary: Worried their mother is hiding something, Luther and Allison call a family meeting. Cha-Cha and Hazel catch a big break in their hunt for Five.

Disc Two:

• Man on the Moon: The story of Luther's transformation emerges. At the motel, Klaus puts Hazel and Cha-Cha's training to the test. Allison grows suspicious of Leonard.
• Number Five: Five lets Luther in on his secret, Klaus returns from a harrowing trip through time, and Vanya begins to feel different without her meds.
• The Day That Wasn't: Sparks fly when Vanya finds her siblings holding an emergency family meeting without her. Five starts his new job at HQ. Cha-Cha faces a dilemma.

Disc Three:

• The Day That Was: With a second chance at the day, the siblings team up to find the mysterious "Harold Jenkins." Leonard takes Vanya into the woods to test her powers.
• I Heard a Rumor: As Vanya practices controlling her new abilities, Allison tags along with a local cop to find out what happened outside the restaurant.
• Changes: Vanya veers between shock and despair as she makes a string of unsettling discoveries. A serendipitous development leaves Five at loose ends.
• The White Violin: As a lifetime of secrets and resentment bring the Umbrella Academy crashing down, the Hargreeves siblings realize the worst is still to come.

The Umbrella Academy: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal enrolls The Umbrella Academy onto Blu-ray with a straightforward, cut-and-dry 1080p transfer. It's perfectly fine if perfectly unassuming in 2021. The digitally shot material translates well to the format, offering clear, crisp, well defined textures all around, including a number of interesting locations, particularly the various rooms and design cues and trinkets and furnishings around the Hargreeves mansion as seen so prominently throughout the season. Facial close-ups are good, showing natural pores and hairs and some applied makeup and prosthetics with appreciable depth and sharpness. Colors are not at all spicy. The picture is not the most energetically brilliant but that's by design. There's a mild coldness to it but that doesn't stop essential tones from offering good essential pop and accuracy. Whites are sufficiently bright and crisp and blacks never veer too far from true. Noise is not much of a concern, and neither are any other source anomalies. The encode is in fine shape.

The Umbrella Academy: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is surprisingly reserved, at times, not so much considering immersion, spacing, and activity level but rather in raw output power. At reference volume it's not particularly energetic, forceful, not particularly loud. Even the quieter moments of basic dialogue seem a bit too held in check but a small volume adjustment is all that is needed to bring a little more life to the proceedings. But when the action comes it certainly delivers a potent listen, especially with a minor upward volume adjustment. There's plenty of LFE engagement, surround intensity, and a healthy sense of space and place and effortless stage traversal and fill, whatever any given shot or scene demands. Mild atmospherics are nicely integrated, too, and music is clear and lifelike with excellent stage balance and saturation. Dialogue is clear and center positioned for the duration.

The Umbrella Academy: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This three disc Blu-ray release of The Umbrella Academy includes no supplemental content. No DVD or digital copies are included but it does ship with a lenticular slipcover.

The Umbrella Academy: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Umbrella Academy may not be expressively unique but it's a solid genre entry with a fully interesting ensemble, a decent story, and quality production values. For those looking for a basic superhero fix with a side helping of family dysfunction, The Umbrella Academy is sure to hit the spot. The three disc set is featureless but the video and audio presentations are by-and-large fine, if not nondescript. Recommended.