Ne Zha 4K Ultra HD

A young boy, "Ne Zha" is birthed from a heavenly pearl by the Primeval Lord of Heaven. Born with unique powers, Ne Zha finds himself as an outcast who is hated and feared. Destined by prophecy to bring destruction to the world, the young boy must choose between good and evil in order to break the shackles of fate and become the hero. (Gary Reber)

Special features include trailers and upfront previews.

The 2.39:1 2160p HEVC/H.265 Ultra HD HDR10/Dolby Vision picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, was animated digitally and sourced from a 2K (not 4K) master Digital Intermediate format. As the 2K Digital Intermediate has been upconverted to 2160p, there is no real gain in native resolution. The animated picture exhibits excellent saturated color fidelity, with an effectively wide color gamut displaying a vast range of nuanced hue shadings. Blues, oranges, reds and greens are prominent. Fleshtones appear natural. HDR contrast is excellent, especially during scenes with the dragon. Blacks are deep and solid, and shadow delineation is revealing. The varied lighting effects are superb and the segments of Ne Zha's flame bursts are intense. The visual effects throughout are amazing and dynamically contrasted. Underwater scenes are spectacular as is the lair of the dragons. Resolution is excellent especially during closeups depicting fine line drawings and texture. WOW! segments are numerous such as from 13:44 to 15:39, 16:06 to 17:37, 27:36 to 29:15, 33:36 to 34:17, 42:18 to 43:12, 45:37 to 46:34, 57:50 to 01:00:58, 01:19:39 to 01:20:55 and 01:32:16 to 01:35:05. This is an incredibly imaged picture that captivates throughout with eye catching colors and dynamic contrast. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack (in English) is dynamic sounding throughout with aggressive surrounds. Directionality is recurrent throughout the sound design, including a lot of ambient atmospherics and environmental effects with discrete extension to the four surrounds. Sound effects are finely resolved and supported with deep, powerful bass for effective enhancement of the action scenes. At times, the sub-25 Hz .1 LFE energy is intense. Foley effects are superb and perfectly synchronized with the animation. The English soundtrack is intelligible and well suited to the animation, never seeming out of place, ADR dialogue is nicely integrated. The orchestral/choral score occupies a wide and deep soundstage. ADR dialogue is clear and intelligible throughout.

The Immersive Sound element is comprised of the prominent extension of the orchestral/score to the height layer. Various atmospherics and sound effects are constantly heard such as swoops, hisses, bird chirping, smashing concrete, explosions and debris sounds, crackling fire sounds, wind, intense sea waves, underwater bubbles, muffled sorcerer and dragon voices, prominent din ambiance, people dropping from trees, a metal bar clanking, turbulent sounds, powerful water surges, waves washing ashore, crash sounds through buildings and other occurrences, constant wind-type ambience, clanking sounds, powerful snap sounds, a tree failing, metal clinking sounds, ice boulders crushing a village, thunder, laser ray sounds and all manner of other sounds that are indescribable. A lot of creative imagination went into this production to give live to the animation, settings, and storytelling. This is a very effective height layer rendering with a lot of ruckus and mayhem sonics.

This is a wonderful holosonic® spherical surround soundtrack that is precisely crafted with superb fidelity and dynamics. (Gary Reber)