Puss in Boots - Blu-ray Review

4.8 Stars (out of 5) - Rated

Synopsis

The dauntless feline of legend goes on an animated adventure to purloin a priceless golden-egg-laying goose. To help him on his mission, Puss brings along his friends Humpty Dumpty and the super-stealthy Kitty Softpaws. (Buy Now $24.99)

Starring:

Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Sedaris, Billy Bob Thornton

Director:

Chris Miller

Blu-ray Release Date:

February 24, 2012

Subtitles:

English, English SDH, French, Spanish

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.5 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison

• Subwoofer – 4.0 Stars
• Dialog – 5.0 Stars
• Surround Effects – 4.5 Stars
• Dynamic Range – 4.5 Stars

English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Puss in Boots comes with a rare Dolby True HD 7.1 mix, and it takes advantage of it too. The subwoofer gets more action than most family films do.  Firing canons, giant goose footsteps, and explosions all deliver tight low level rumbles. Rear channels come to life with sounds of wind, clanging swords, flapping wings, and of course meowing cats. No lines of dialog are lost to any of the Zorro like action. Even though this is a great sounding Blu-ray, it does not sound as bombastic as Kung Fu Panda 2 did. However, this presentation is strong enough to help keep the interest of any home theater enthusiast.

Video  5.0 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison

• Color Accuracy  - 5.0 Stars
• Shadow detail – 5.0 Stars
• Clarity – 5.0 Stars
• Skin tones – 5.0 Stars
• Compression – 5.0 Stars

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Resolution: 1080p, Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1, Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Dreamworks spent millions of dollars making sure this movie looked amazing, and it shows. It’s almost unfair to grade a film on its looks when it’s created digitally. They never have to worry about lighting problems, bad makeup, or finding the best locations to film. They just need enough time to bring the characters to life, and they did a tremendous job. Every hair in the fine textured fur is easily seen due to the high quality clarity. Clothing textures, grains of sand, and even fine textures on eggs all take advantage of the clean sharpness of this Blu-ray. Colors are rich and vivid and don’t loose detail in the dark scenes. Sunsets look spectacular, rocky canyons are filled with rich orange colors, and blue cloud filled skies look real.

Bonus Features 5.0 Stars (out of 5)

There are hours of extra features for this Blu-ray, so many in fact I can’t think of what they could have added. Several games, short animated films, and lots of interviews are included.

• Puss in Boots: The Three Diablo’s
• The Cat’s Meow:
• Kitten to Cat
• Glitter Box Dance Off!
• Klepto  Kitty
• Kitty Keyboard
• Fairytale Pop-Up
• Kitty Strikes Again
• World of Dreamworks Animation
• Purr-fect Pairings: The Voices Behind The Legends
• Deleted Scenes: Humpty Plots With Jack & Jill, Humpty Repays His Accomplices & Puss In Boots
• Blu-ray Exclusives
  • A DreamWorks Fairytale
  • Puss’ Paw Pouncing Challenge
  • The Animators’ Corner
  • Trivia Track

Movie – 3.0 Stars (out of 5)

Review

Puss in Boots is an entertaining family film, and it’s better than I thought a spinoff of Shrek would be. It basically has the plot of a heist movie and is very predictable. It’s a harmless kid friendly film, that doesn’t have as many crass jokes like some other family films do. I didn’t find it as funny as the Shrek films, but there are a few chuckles here and there. My kids enjoyed watching this movie but I have the feeling that this film won’t become part of their movie rotation.