Daddy’s Home 2 (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Daddy’s Home 2 huh?  I’m a bit lukewarm when it comes to the first Daddy’s Home in 2015.  It was mildly funny and heartwarming, but I dunno.  I just haven’t always been the biggest fan of every Will Ferrell movie, but really for no reason in particular.  There’s also no denying his wealth of catalog titles that I do like too.  Am I confusing you yet?  Ha!  Let’s just say the Daddy’s Home franchise of films is nothing I would ever pay theatrically to see.  However, in the home front it’s a whole different story.  If it doesn’t cost you anything extra, then why not?  So here we are a few years later and low and behold we have a sequel.  Why not when you can make easy money on a bankable property, right?  Absolutely!  Money is what makes this world go around.  The first was popular, featured a likable cast so here we are again with a bonafide sequel primed to double its money back in Daddy’s Home 2.  Let’s take a closer look below at this feature and everything you’ll find here in this February 20th 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray package from Paramount.

Film 

Daddy’s Home 2 is brought to you on the big screen by director Sean Anders who’s working off a script written by John Morris and himself.  It stars Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, John Cena, John Lithgow and Mel Gibson.  Where the first film in this series focused on the “dads” this one focuses on the dads’ “dads.”  Of course I’m talking about the latter previously two actor names, Lithgow and Gibson.  They are respectively portraying the dads of Ferrell and Wahlberg.  On paper and via the film’s theatrical trailers this has all the right ingredients in it.  So needless to say I was interested in at least checking this out in the privacy of my own home.  That ladies and gentlemen is why we’re all gathered here today because I got that opportunity and I’m graciously sharing it all with you now.

I guess you could say Daddy’s Home 2 is a family comedy that um doubles down on the daddies, literally.  Think of it as a safer, male version of A Bad Moms Christmas (part 2 in that series with the older moms).  So since we’ve last seen Dusty (Wahlberg) and Brad (Ferrell) they finally got this dual parenting down pat.  Like I always say in my own personal life though nothing good ever lasts forever.  Ain’t that the truth.  Amen.  It’s now the holiday season and unlike my own parents (with the exception of last October) their fathers come into town.  You have Dusty’s larger-than-life macho father (Gibson) and Brad’s ultra sweet, wouldn’t hurt a fly daddy played by Lithgow.  Enter complete chaos!  Suddenly Dusty and Brad’s stable relationship is subjected to the ultimate test as their fathers create new problems over and over for them and everyone else.

Now here’s what I don’t get.  The first film earned mild praise from the critics, but this one got buried.  I was reluctant to watch this to say the absolute very least.  However, I came out unscathed and while the ending got a little utlra sappy for my personal tastes I still had a pretty fun time with it all.  I mean I stayed awake and laughed throughout despite the lack of raunchy words, rude/crude events and whatnot.  Hey now!  Mel Gibson’s larger than life charisma in his role did it for me, but really I enjoyed everyone’s performances throughout and yes despite not having a family I fell for the sappy story of it all too.  I may be childless, but I’m not heartless.  There’s a big difference there.  You come in expecting a happy resolution by the film’s end and you’re definitely not cheated of that.  The chaos leading up to it is the fun of it all.

So it’s ultimately the humor of it all that made me want to tackle this title.  I loved the relationship between Ferrell and Wahlberg in the original outing and I thought with Gibson and Lithgow entering here it’s literally the icing on the cake.  Thankfully, this film was much better than the female version I tackled here called A Bad Moms Christmas.  I’m not saying that to provoke sexist remarks, but I’m saying that in regards to sheer entertainment value.  I had a better time here with the nonsense than I did with A Bad Moms Christmas, which really didn’t resonate on a personal level with me at all.  But this one did!  The jokes are few and sparse, but just little one-liners here or there made me giggle not mention the hilarious shower scene that only Will Ferrell could sell you on.  What I’m trying to say in the grand scheme of things if if you like the first Daddy’s Home, then I think you should give this one a try.  Now let’s talk about that amazing looking 4K transfer we have here.

Video 

The below video score and related critique of things here are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Paramount’s Daddy’s Home 2.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• Dolby Vision: Yes
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Clarity/Detail: I know how crazy I sound saying this, but to my eyes this 4K Ultra HD presentation was flawless.  From what I can find it was shot on Arri Alexa and RED Weapon 8K, but I don’t know what DI this was finished in,  What I do know though is things look spectacular here.  They don’t look ultra real like a completely digital shot film usually does, but instead rather film like.  Again this is all based on my personal viewing and these views do not represent the general views of audiences here.  However, with that being said details are quite remarkable here from visible freckles, moles, stubble and hairs to the insanity of how real the textures look in items such as all the sweaters worn throughout here.  Ooh I almost forgot how intricate all the wrinkles on Gibson are too.  Sorry I could not exist.  I know I should be ashamed of myself.
• Depth: There is an excellent presence of depth of field thanks to the many outdoor shots and three-dimensional pop of the characters against their environments.  Even inside like in the school’s auditorium or this luxurious cabin the families spend the Christmas holidays in things look vast, deep and three-dimensional throughout.
• Black Levels: Black levels are quite natural looking throughout here. Exterior and some nighttime scenes get a little bump here courtesy of the inducement of HDR.
• Color Reproduction: I would go on record here saying the colors look rather accurate and natural throughout here thanks to the WGC of it all.  The reds in particular are deep and rich here.
• Flesh Tones: The skin tones are all natural looking throughout.  There weren’t any yellow or hot moments that I can recall seeing despite the many different environments we see here.
• Noise/Artifacts: I didn’t notice anything at all worth complaining about here.

Audio 

Like I mentioned up above in the video section, the below audio score and critical comments of such are based solely upon my viewing of Paramounts’s 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Daddy’s Home 2.  It should be noted that both the 4K Ultra HD disc and the 1080p Blu-ray Disc contain the preferred Dolby Atmos surround track.

• Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD compatible), French Canadian 5.1 Dolby Digital, French Parisian 5.1 Dolby Digital, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, Italian 5.1 Dolby Digital, Polish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Russian 5.1 Dolby Digital, Castilian Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Latin American Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Arabic, Bahasa Malaysian, Cantonese, Mandarin Simplified, Mandarin Traditional, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French Canadian, French Parisian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Castilian Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Swedish, Thai and Turkish
• Dynamics: Daddy’s Home 2 is a comedy film.  It sounds like a comedy, very front heavy.  I will say this though that despite the front heaviness of it all it’s very full sounding.  I had to peer back at the rears to see what if anything was coming from them as the fronts did a convincing job of making things sound fuller than they really were.
• Height: Surprise!  Surprise!  This comedy film features an Atmos surround track.  While it’s mostly filled with effects, score and soundtrack it did have its moments such as the swings in a playground, a shotgun blast, a snowblower on the roof and more.
• Low Frequency Extension: The LFE channel gets some moments to play with when it comes to more action-based moments, jamming music, a tree falling, shotgun blast and the many thuds you’d expect from Will Ferrell moments.  Other than that it’s pretty subtle here.
• Surround Sound Presentation: The film is pretty heavy on dialogue, thus making it very front heavy most of the times.  Random effects do pop up from time-to-time like the hustle and bustle in an airport, light strands being sucked up in a snowblower and even moments of the score bleeding in.
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue is clear and intelligible throughout.  I had no problem whatsoever hearing a single spoken word.  I love that!

Extras 

Paramount’s Daddy’s Home 2 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack features over 45 minutes of bonus content.  You the viewer get to go behind the scenes with five featurettes, deleted/ extended/alternate scenes and a hilarious gag reel.  Plus, for a limited time only, you also get a bonus digital copy of the original Daddy’s Home with the 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray Combo Packs.   What a deal!  Of course you also get the Digital HD version of Daddy’s Home 2 included in here too.  Let’s take a closer look at all the extras down below, which you’ll find housed on the 1080p Blu-ray Disc.

• Making a Sequel (HD, 4:50) – This one explores how this sequel was unplanned and due to the success of the first one how this all came to be.
• Look Who’s Back (HD, 7:16) – The crew talk about how much they were looking forward to working with the cast again here.  The cast all talk about their return together here too as well as their characters’ growths, new scenes, etc. complete with behind-the-scenes footage.
• Co-Dads: Will & Mark (HD, 6:36) – This one takes a look at where we start off at here with the new brotherly relationship between Mark and Will’s characters, what changed since the first film and more.
• The New Dads in Town: Mel & John (HD, 7:37) – This one is all about you guessed it, Mel and John’s new characters inserted here in this second outing.  Everyone loved the kiss between Will and John.  That much is evident here.  These two new guys are the life blood of this second outing in my opinion.
• Captain Sully (HD, 2:17) – This one kind of ventures into spoiler territory for anyone that hasn’t seen this so I am going to steer clear.  Anyway, this extra is about the national hero we all know as Sully from the Eastwood/Hanks aviation film.
• Deleted/Extended/Alternate Scenes (HD, 11:17) – There’s a total of 6 here: Cabelas, El Padre Stink Eye, Kurt’s Firewood, Really Brad Advice, The Wise Man and Yammering Don.  For your convenience they include a Play All selectable option too.
• Gag Reel (HD, 3:40) – I got to admit it’s kind of funny seeing Will Ferrell cracking up himself when he’s always so busy making us laugh.

Summary 

Daddy’s Home 2 is enjoyable for the most part, and easy to recommend for many looking for a solid family comedy.  This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set features a reference 4K video presentation, average audio for a comedy, albeit an Atmos one, and even a bonus Digital Copy of the first Daddy’s Home.  So here’s my final repeated disclaimer.  If you’re a mild fan of the first film like I am, take your chances and double down with an extra dose of dads here for Daddy’s Home 2.  You never know!

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DISCLAIMER: This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified Ultra HD Premium television set found here and player here.  Make sure to check out all our 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews archived here.

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Daddy’s Home 2

Doubles Down on Dads on

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

February 20th

PRE-ORDER NOW!

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