Daddy’s Home (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Daddy’s Home is one of those films I could easily live without.  While I love Mark Wahlberg and most everything Will Ferrell does (there are exceptions) I’m just not warm on the PG rating.  It was cool when I was a kid, but now I’m an old geezer and I need my F-bombs, gratuitous nudity and raunchy comedy moments.  I’m kidding of course, but thankfully despite that family friendly PG rating I gave Daddy’s Home a tryout once it made its debut on the Blu-ray format.  I’m glad I did because I still managed to laugh and even had a good time with it all.  I must have too because I am devoting my personal time to covering this one.  Yep!  That’s right the family friendly comedy featuring two of Hollywood’s biggest men (sorry ladies) is getting a 4K Ultra HD upgrade to coincide with its sequel’s release on the format February 20th.

Film 

Daddy’s Home is directed by Sean Anders off a screenplay written by himself, Brian Burns and John Morris.  The family comedy obviously stars Ferrell and Wahlberg, but also Linda Cardellini, Thomas Haden Church, Hannibal Buress and more.  Also, if you’re counting, this is the second outing for Ferrell and Wahlberg if you count the hilarious The Other Guys.  This is also Ferrell’s highest-grossing live-action film even surpassing Elf.  It made 242 million worldwide versus its 69 million dollar budget.  If you ask me, that ain’t too shabby.

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg make comedy magic here.  Who says lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice.  It’s a feel good, family movie as I stressed before, but it actually packs quite the laughs.  So here’s what’s up in Daddy’s Home.  Brad (Ferrell), has always dreamed of having the perfect family.  He is absolutely determined to become the best step-dad to his new wife’s (the very talented Linda Cardellini) children.  However, that dream all but goes to hell when the kids’ biological father, Dusty (Wahlberg), shows up out of nowhere.  The stage is thus set and Daddy’s Home is literally all about watching it unfold.  Of course I am talking about the rivalry between Brad and Dusty as to who is the better dad or should I say more likable.

So like I said up above already please don’t let the family friendly PG rating deter you.  I know most of you won’t.  Not everyone is a snob like me.  I am glad I gave this one a chance.  Otherwise I wouldn’t be keen on doing UHD review #2, Daddy’s Home 2, up next.  However, I digress.    What makes Daddy’s Home so much fun is the charisma of its two leading men, Ferrell and Wahlberg.  Sure their both very funny men, but it’s the ridiculous competition between the two men that sets the bar high here for some laugh out loud moments and most importantly, a heartfelt, warm story.  After all, this is a family comedy.  Don’t let that fool you either though.  I have no family and I still liked this.  If you haven’t, give Daddy’s Home a spin now that it’s “sexier” than ever in 4K Ultra HD.

Okay so the majority of the critics didn’t like it.  What else is new.  I think what makes Daddy’s Home work exceptionally well is its brief runtime.  Think about it.  If you play it safe and provide laughs with a warm family friendly message, then get in and get out as soon as you can.  Don’t overstay your welcome.  Daddy’s Home doesn’t and because of that we don’t have something groundbreaking, but a feature that’s commercially palpable and acceptable.  It doesn’t hurt either that it was highly profitable too.  Ha!

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.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• Dolby Vision: Yes
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Clarity/Detail: Fine details are exceptionally strong throughout this 4K presentation from close-ups in human subjects regarding stubble, stray hairs, wrinkles, moles and more to textures in fabric, clothing, etc.  Everything pretty much has a chiseled look to it all.
• Depth: There is an excellent presence of depth of field thanks to three-dimensional pop of the foreground subjects and objects in every shot.
• Black Levels: Black levels are strong and never quite crush even in the nighttime scenes thanks in part to the infusing of HDR.
• Color Reproduction: Colors pop vibrantly and rich throughout, but for the most part everything just has a real natural look to it all.
• Flesh Tones: The skin tones were natural for the most part.  I spotted a few warm moments, but nothing alarming.
• Noise/Artifacts: There was a light veneer of source noise, but nothing that would deter you from enjoying this one to the fullest.

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 Paramount’s 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Daddy’s Home.  Both the 4K UHD Disc and the 1080p Blu-ray comes equipped with a DTS:X surround track.  Pretty impressive for a comedy, huh?  Yeah!

• Audio Format(s): English DTS:X, French Canadian 5.1 Dolby Digital, French Parisian 5.1 Dolby Digital, Latin American Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Brazilian Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, Japanese 5.1 Dolby Digital, English DTS Headphone:X, English Audio Description
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, French Canadian, French Parisian, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Japanese, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
• Dynamics: Daddy’s Home is a comedy first and foremost so you should expect things to sound really front heavy here.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  The LFE channel does a lot of heavy lifting here making things sound fuller than they really are thanks in part to the soundtrack and score selections throughout.  All in all this one isn’t going to win any awards, but I’m pretty pleased with what we have here.  It’s engaging and rowdy at times, but most importantly nothing gets lost ultimately in the shuffle.
• Height: I thought this would be a gimmick, but they actually do use the height channels here like when Will crashes a motorcycle upstairs in the house out onto his Ford Flex, gets electrocuted while skateboarding, zooming along a zip line and even the announcer at the NBA game featured in here.
• Low Frequency Extension: The LFE channel gets some big moments to play with when it comes to the pumped up soundtrack on steroids at times.  Most notable is the AC/DC “Thunderstruck” when Marky Mark enters the scene.  The bass is very strong with that one.
• Surround Sound Presentation: The film is pretty heavy on dialogue, given that it’s a comedy so a lot of your activity in the rear includes the jamming soundtrack and score.  However, there are moments of ambient effects such as the hustle and bustle inside the airport or the crowd at the NBA game.  You get the big picture.
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue levels are clear and intelligible, but never overly loud so your results may vary.

Extras 

Ladies and gentlemen I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but here’s still no audio commentary for this Daddy’s Home 4K release.  All you get is what has been released before on Blu-ray, a handful of featurettes, bloopers and deleted scenes.  You also get a Digital HD redemption code too for the film as well to enjoy anywhere you happen to be.  So all in all the extras feature over 45 minutes of bonus content.  You get to go behind-the-scenes with laugh-out-loud cast interviews, deleted & extended scenes and a look at the outrageous NBA halftime stunt you have to see to believe!  So without further ado here are the extras you’re all familiar with already.

• The Making of Daddy’s Home (HD, 11:54) –  Here you can get an inside look at how the film was made, featuring hilarious cast interviews including Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

• Daddy-Off (HD, 6:44) –  Sit down here with Will and Mark as they discuss how their characters compete to be the “Best Dad” and how they eventually learn to share a common ground.

• Daddy Daughter Dance (HD, 5:11) –  Join in on the fun as Will and Mark bust out their best dance moves in this behind-the-scenes look at the Daddy Daughter Dance.  You know you wanna!

• Halftime Stunt (HD, 8:55) –  Check out the outrageous NBA halftime stunt as director Sean Anders and Will Ferrell break down the hilarious scene when a cheerleader takes a ball to the face.

• Tony Hawk: Skater Double (HD, 4:02) –  Experience the ultimate reveal as world-famous skateboarder Tony Hawk gets back on the halfpipe while doubling for Will Farrell’s character during the hilarious skateboard stand-off between dads.

• Child’s Play (HD, 5:00) –  This is a cute and heartfelt piece, which showcases the incredible talent of the child actors who play “Dylan” and “Megan” in Daddy’s Home.

• Hannibal Buress: The Perfect Houseguest (HD, 5:36) –  Go behind-the-scenes in this unfiltered featurette about rising comedic star Hannibal Buress and how he became involved in the film.

• Blooper – Jeet Kune Do (HD, 2:05) –  Here you can see the hysterical bloopers of Mark and Will as they attempt to tell the perfect bedtime story.

• Deleted and Extended Scenes (HD) – There are a total of five scenes here: Car Ride Q&A (2:38), Have Fun (1:15), Pre-Dance (1:26), Motorcycle Brad (1:39) and Special Ops (1:06).

Summary 

There you have it folks.  What’s better than a safe family comedy that actually manages to win over you despite you initially wanting nothing to do with it?  Well, that’s a rhetorical question.  What’s not surprising is how great a deal you can get this February 20th comedy for on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format.  That’s right parents.  Don’t hurt your kids’ eyes any longer with those hideous 1080p HD codecs.  Pre-order Daddy’s Home in 4K Ultra HD and save the carrots for the guinea pig, bunnies or whatever pets you have.  Kids would rather watch this anyway than eat carrots.  I’m just saying you 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

Marky Mark & Will Ferrell

Throw Down on

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

February 20th

PRE-ORDER NOW!

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