Trolls World Tour 4K Ultra HD

"Trolls World Tour" is the sequel to the 2016 "Trolls." The movie is a music-filled, exciting adventure in an all-new Dance Party Edition. Poppy and Branch discover that their kingdom is only one of six musical realms—Funk, Country, Techno, Classical, Pop and Rock—that were once united in perfect harmony. When the power-hungry ruler of the Rocker Trolls threatens to silence all other music so her tribe can reign supreme, Poppy and Branch must embark on an epic quest to unite the realms of Trollskind, before the songs in their hearts are lost forever. The Dance Party Edition includes an interacive dance party mode where viewers are introduced to dance moves to learn while they watch the movie, lyrics to sing along, and surprises featuring their favorite characters. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary with Director Walt Dohrn, Producer Gina Shay and Co-Director David P. Smith; a Dance Play Mode in which you can sing, dance, and laugh along with the Trolls in this interactive feature; the original short movie "Tiny Diamond Goes Back To School" (HD 03:46); four featurettes: "Trolls Dance Academy" (HD 08:08), "Trolls World Tourist Map" (HD 13:25), "Trolls Perfect Harmony" (HD 04:29) and "Trolls World Tour Backstage" (HD 09:07); deleted scenes with intros by Dohrn, Shay and Smith (HD 19:24) and a Movies Anywhere digital code..

The 2.35:1 2160p HEVC/H.265 Ultra HD Dolby Vision/HDR10+/HDR10 picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, was produced 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. As with the previous "Trolls," the picture uses stop-motion scrapbook animation, along with conventional animation, incredibly well. The imagery is wonderfully colorful, with fully saturated primary and pastel hues. As before, it seems, every imaginable color and shade comprises the palette. The numerous characters are really cleverly depicted with incredible intricate features. HDR contrast is excellent, with deep blacks and dark shadows, as well as bright highlights and nuanced colors that pop. The wide color gamut is amazingly nuanced in a spectrum of hues. Resolution is superb, with fine detail throughout. The trolls from the various tribes are distinctly rendered with felt-like textures and earthy environments. WOW! segments are from 14:13 to 15:09, 24:14 to 25:22, 43:00 to 44:30, 01:06:22 to 01:27:26 and 01:16:32 to 01:17:06. This is a very colorful picture that should be a thrill for the younger ones, with fascinating characters and incredibly vivid colors throughout. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack delivers a fantastically dynamic presence with wonderful sound effects, often enhanced with deep bass. Atmospherics are often credibly nuanced as well as Foley sound effects. Of course, there is a lot of singing and dancing throughout, which is nicely enveloping throughout the soundfield. The music occupies a very wide soundstage and extends aggressively to the surrounds, all four of them, for a wonderfully holosonic® soundfield. The songs and singing are wonderful in terms of musical delivery and fidelity. ADR dialogue is intelligible with varying integrations, some of which is quite forward sounding, In one scene, voices are discretely panned within the soundfield for an effective surround effect. The soundstage is huge and extends aggressively to the surrounds for a wonderfully spatially dimensional presentation.

The Immersive Sound element is comprised of orchestral extension to the height layer and numerous sound effects involving puffs and pops, a motorcycle roar, a tiger growl, a troll yell, audience excitement and cheers, and other various atmospheric din. There were far more opportunities that were ignored, such as the various music genre numbers presented at ear-level but not at the height layer, to really deliver top-end goodness.

This is a really fun presentation with quality fidelity and dynamic punch. (Gary Reber)