This Magnificent Cake! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

This Magnificent Cake! Blu-ray Movie Review

An amazing collection of animated works

Appearing as a featured selection during the 2018 Cannes Film Festival (with a screening as part of the Director's Fortnight), This Magnificent Cake! is a spellbinding work of animation which cannot be missed by enthusiasts of stop-motion animation. The storyline takes place in Africa around the turn of the 19^th century and was inspired by the well-known saying by King Leopold II: “I do not want to miss a good chance of getting a slice of magnificent African cake.” Produced by Steven de Beul (Bloomstreet 11, Back to School Panic!), Ben Tesseur (Rusty, Coppelia), and Koen Vermaanen (Under the Apple Tree, Mia), This Magnificent Cake! is an experimental anthology feature which exudes creativity in spades with its gorgeous stop-motion animation leaving a strong impression.

The film is almost wordless and tells an unconventional story with intersecting characters (many of whom can be found within a hotel from the story). The film is broken down into five segments and each story is essentially a short-film within an overarching world. As an anthology feature, it's quite effective at being a cohesive whole and the core elements of the story are centered on the strange sequence of events which dramatically unfold with the key characters: a young porter boy, a musician, an ex-army officer, and a man on an unbelievable expedition in the outdoors which surpasses merely being surreal (with strange creatures lurking at every turn of a corner).

There is beauty in the world.

Animation is one of the best filmmaking tools. This Magnificent Cake! understands the significance of animation as a potent storytelling device in and of itself. The film utilizes stop-motion animation with handcrafted puppets at every turn. The level of detail in the design of these tiny puppets is surrealistic in a sense. Even though there are many stop-motion works out there, nothing else is quite like the art shown in This Magnificent Cake! It's clear that the filmmakers put in painstaking hours of hard work to craft this beautiful art. The end result was worth the long hours. The animation becomes something more than meets the eye: the film is art and truly excels as something worthy of exploration.

Written and directed by the filmmaking duo of Emma De Swaef (Oh, Willy...) and Marc James Roels (Mompelaar), This Magnificent Cake! tells its story with music and animation and not with words. There are few lines of dialogue to be featured in the film. Even though its storyline is focused on the visuals more so than the characterizations by means of the script, the filmmaking feels well composed and intelligent.

Each segment of the film unfolds with a hypnotic and dream-like state. The art is so breathtaking that the film simply pulls one into the wide canvas of these animators and their sophisticated craft. Make no mistake: stop-motion animation is one of the most inventive forms of animation. The filmmakers of This Magnificent Cake! reminds one of this fact with this charming, mysterious, and entertaining film that is a must-see for animation buffs. Don't miss this gem.

This Magnificent Cake! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray through Gkids with Kino Lorber, This Magnificent Cake! features a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition presentation in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1 widescreen. The animation quality is stellar and the high-quality presentation does a superb job of bringing out the best of the creative artwork on display. Every crevice, pore, and detail in the animation feels brought to life with exceptional clarity.

The level of precision on the transfer is superb and one can really see the minute elements of the handcrafted puppets and their tapestry. The colorful imagery is heavily stylized and the presentation brings out the best of the animators work. Whether during a scene showcasing the musical majesty of a character playing the flute to the surrealistic concluding chapter of the feature, the picture-quality on the release soars.

This Magnificent Cake! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented with a French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 5.1 surround sound lossless audio option. The audio mix preserves the original language soundtrack. No English dub is provided. Either one of the presentations will offer viewers a lossess mix. The surround sound track brings out great clarity and depth to the presentation.

From the beautiful music score (which sounds enormously enveloping with the surround speakers used effectively throughout) to the quiet soundscapes of the outdoors in the film, the track has precise clarity and the high-resolution audio gives the track a big bump in quality that is impossible to ignore. An impressive quality audio-track which is a great accompaniment to the video presentation and one destined to leave audiences satisfied.

English subtitles are superb and are free from any grammatical or spelling errors. The optional subtitles are in English (for the original language version) and in French.

This Magnificent Cake! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Oh Willy... (HD, 17:22) is a short film by Emma De Swaef & Marc James Roels. This is a unique and fascinating animated short film. Without dialogue and using a abstract story-line, the film follows the character Willy as he embarks on a strange journey into the wilderness and meets some strange fellows along the way. Perhaps due to the rampant full-frontal puppet nudity the short's title character is named Willy for a reason.

The Burden (HD, 14:58) is a short film by Niki Lindroth Von Bahr. It is one of the best animated short films that I have ever seen. The piece is highly experimental and takes place in an apocalyptic like environment with a variety of animals engaging in musical numbers: fish (at a hotel), mice (at a restaurant), monkeys (at a call center), and dogs (in a supermarket). The piece is unusual in every sense of the world and has some truly stunning music which is perfectly synced to the imaginative visuals on display. A breathtaking short film.

A Conversation with Marc James Roels (HD, 8:50) is an engaging and informative short interview featuring the director of This Magnificent Cake! as he discusses his own contributions to the production and what the process was like trying to put it together (from pre-production to staging the lighting for the short films). Roels also discusses the process of the animation development and the design of the puppets.

Behind the Scenes Gallery (2:02) which can be navigated using the directional arrows on one's remote. Features several photographs taken from during the production of the film (spotlighting the work that is done by the puppeters to bring the uniquely creative animation to life.)

Trailers (HD, 2:17) for both the U.S. release and the original theatrical release in France.

This Magnificent Cake! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Animation is one of the best mediums of storytelling there is in this magnificent world of ours. Though there are many individuals who are quick to label animation as merely being a genre (while in reality it is not: it is a medium and an essential method of filmmaking), unique works of art such as the gem that is This Magnificent Cake! stands as great examples of why there is something so special about the style and the many ways in which it can be utilized for telling stories.

The animation in This Magnificent Cake! is almost unlike anything else that is even out there in this world. Using amazing puppetry to tell this story is quite impressive. The Blu-ray release features an exceptional presentation of the film (with fantastic picture-quality and enveloping surround sound). Combined with an absorbing collection of must-see extras, the release is well worth owning. Highly recommended.