Big Fish 4K Ultra HD

Edward Bloom (Finney) didn't want to be the "Big Fish" in the small pond of his life. While raising his son William (Crudup), Edward would share his larger-than-life stories...but it left the grown William wondering who his father really was. Called to visit Edward on his deathbed, William and his wife Josephine (Cotillard) attempt to get inside Edward's tall tales and separate the man from the myth. Inevitably, William learns what a wonderful man his father was and that sometimes stories are better told with embellishments. Tim Burton's "Big Fish," based on the novel by Daniel Wallace, is a captivating tale! (Suzanne Hodges)

Special features on the Blu-ray Disc include commentary with Director Tim Burton moderated by Mark Salisbury, the featurettes "The Character's Journey" (HD 20:43) and "The Filmmaker's Path" (HD 30:41) Original Cast Interviews & Behind The Scenes (HD 39:33), Easter Eggs, the theatrical trailer and up-front previews.

The 1.85:1 2160p HEVC/H.265 Ultra HD HDR10 picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, was photographed on 35 mm Kodak Vision2 film stock using Panavision cameras and sourced from a 4K master Digital Intermediate format. Shot on film, grain is extremely light and smooth and never objectionable. The 1.85:1 picture exhibits deep blacks, excellent shadow delineation, and bold, saturated colors with natural whites. Fleshtones are naturally rendered. The production design and environments are visually compelling. The two time frames depicted in the movie have different looks, with the story-world looking bright and overblown, with a subtle softness that gives it a dreamy look. The "present time" looks more balanced, with well-captured details but slightly desaturated colors. There are scenes, however, where the details in the "present time" are noticeably softer. This is a beautiful film with compelling visuals and a great character story. (Gary Reber)

The uncompressed linear PCM 5.1-channel encoding provides very good fidelity with effects and dialogue. Danny Elfman's orchestral score is a prominent sound element that is very well mixed and sounds wonderful with effective enveloping extension to the four surrounds and the height layer. Atmospherics are dense and sound effects are aggressively portrayed. Deep bass occasionally excites the soundfield. Dialogue is intelligible throughout with generally good spatial integration. Surround activity is strongly enveloping.

The Immersive Sound element is varied with predominant extension of the orchestral score at a loud level. Other elements include wavy water sounds, subtle ambience and din, aircraft interior noise, crowd noises and applause, bird sounds and other insect creatures, tree monster sounds, Danny DeVito's circus master voice, a paratrooper airplane flying, Chinese men's voices and other atmospherics. This is a wonderful Immersive Sound presentation.

This is a wonderful holosonic® spherical surround sound design that is absolutely enjoyable and uplifting. (Gary Reber)