Wild Africa / Tiny Giants 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Wild Africa / Tiny Giants 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Planet Earth 1.5

Reviewed by Michael Reuben November 22, 2016

BBC Earth's first venture into the world of 4K discs is a curious affair, because it consists of two short features conceived for and released in 3D, which the current 4K spec does not support. Running at about 43 minutes each, both Wild Africa and Tiny Giants were designed for projection in large-screen theaters, primarily at museums and other specialty venues. Tiny Giants was issued on 3D Blu-ray several years ago as part of BBC's tentative venture into that format. As far as I have been able to determine, Wild Africa has never received a home video release.

Issuing this pair of short subjects on UHD appears to be something of a trial balloon for BBC Earth, which has done very little to promote what should, as their first 4K disc, be a banner event. Arriving under the radar as a Best Buy exclusive, the disc is less a standalone enterprise and more a promotion for the eagerly anticipated Planet Earth II, currently airing in the U.K. and expected here in 2017. A promotional trailer for this latest nature extravaganza from David Attenborough appears on Wild Africa/Tiny Giants, and the trailer promises a UHD release of the eleven-part series down the line (Amazon already has a listing). As an appetizer to what promises to be a substantial feast, Wild Africa/Tiny Giants provides a tantalizing diversion, effectively exploiting UHD's higher resolution and HDR encoding to compensate for the loss of stereoscopic images. (A standard Blu-ray containing both features in 2D is included in the package.)

Screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

For a description of Tiny Giants, please refer to Kenneth Brown's review of the 3D release.

Compared to 2013's massive Africa series from BBC Earth, Wild Africa plays like a "greatest hits" album, nimbly skipping around the continent and ushering favorite wildlife on and off the screen as efficiently as possible. The nominal structure is provided by following the path of water as it melts from high mountain snows, flows downhill into volcanic craters and is sucked into the air by the relentless sun, only to return as torrential rain at the end of the dry season. In between, the animals cope with dwindling resources as best they can. A vast flock of flamingos feed and mate. Mountain gorillas find nourishment in the trees. A herd of elephants treks long distances seeking a watering hole. Wildebeests quenching their thirst are ambushed by fierce crocodiles. In the deserts of Namibia, an array of lizards and reptiles stalk scarce and elusive prey—and are sometimes stalked themselves. For a diversion, the production heads briefly into the seas off Africa's coast, where coral reefs support a vast and colorful ecosystem below a surface where giant waves crash on the shore.

A highlight of Wild Africa is the view over the lip of Victoria Falls in Zambia, which is considered the largest waterfall in the world and has been has captured with a specially designed rig providing angles never previously seen on film or HD video. The majestic torrent serves as a preview to the monsoon-like downpour that ends the dry season, replenishing the parched land and restarting the flow and cycle of life-sustaining moisture.

Wild Africa was written by nature documentarian Mike Slee, who co-directed along with Neil Nightingale and Patrick Morris, both veterans of BBC Earth projects. Actress Helena Bonham Carter supplies the understated narration.

Wild Africa / Tiny Giants 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date. The screenshots accompanying this review are all from Wild Africa. Go here for images from Tiny Giants.

A familiar paradox informs BBC Video's 4K presentation of Wild Africa/Tiny Giants, since both features were shot stereoscopically and are meant to be projected in 3D. Tiny Giants in particular is filled with scenes that are obviously constructed to jump out from the screen; the title itself reads Tiny Giants 3D, even on the 2D Blu-ray (although the "3D" has been dropped from the UHD). But, as has been oft lamented, the UHD spec does not support 3D presentation, which means that both the UHD and the separate 2D Blu-ray represent a conversion from the intended viewing format of these films.

Still, within those limitations, the 2160p, HEVC / H.265-encoded UHD represents a marked and impressive upgrade over the Blu-ray, a result no doubt due to the large-format resolution of the original photography. In both features, scene after scene reveals detail of fur, feathers, scales, sand, gravel, leaf and bark with life-like immediacy. HDR encoding has left the colors largely undisturbed (they were already vivid enough), but it has significantly enhanced contrast and brightness, providing an almost tactile quality to the image. The experience of both features would no doubt be enhanced by 3D, but for the moment only Tiny Giants is available for home viewing in that format. The UHD presentation of Wild Africa is currently the best home video version available, and its 4K images are beautiful.

Wild Africa / Tiny Giants 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For a discussion of Tiny Giants' audio presentation, see the previous review by Kenneth Brown. Wild Africa's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is of similar quality, while also dispensing with the "too-cute-for-its-own-good" factor noted by my colleague. Majestic waterfalls, crackling thunder, drenching downpours, the stomping of elephants and the stampede of wildebeests fleeing from predators are rendered with broad dynamic range and deep bass extension. Helena Bonham Carter's narration gently purrs above the mix, and the score by Patrick Doyle (Brave) is nicely understated.

Wild Africa / Tiny Giants 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Both the standard Blu-ray and the UHD contain the same lone extra. The nine-minute "making of" included on the 3D disc of Tiny Giants has been omitted.

• Planet Earth II Sneak Preview (2160p; 1.78:1; 2:48).

Wild Africa / Tiny Giants 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Watching Wild Earth/Tiny Giants on UHD is an interesting experience, but let's be honest: The disc feels like what it is, a warm-up act to the headliner, Planet Earth II, which arrives next year. Depending on how aggressively Best Buy prices it, the disc may be worth a look, but primarily for Wild Africa. For Tiny Giants, get the 3D version.