Why So Blu?

Elemental – Best Buy Steelbook Edition (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Pixar has been on a bit of a rocky road for Disney. Relegating many of their A-tier releases to Disney+ exclusives and taking away a bit of the importance from the brand, the release of Lightyear last summer had many questioning if they could bounce back. And at first, Elemental looked doomed, but slowly and surely it legged out into one of the best holds of the summer. Now, you can own the film on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray with Atmos sound and extras to “hold” in your own hands. There are some different variants of this release, but this review takes a look at the Best Buy limited edition steelbook.

Film

In a city where fire, water, land, and air residents live together, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy discover something elemental: how much they actually have in common.

Elemental is easily the tale of immigration, coming to a new place, facing discriminations, recognizing our differences and finding your own route in life. Its a movie packed with themes and ideas, told in one smooth sailing fashion. There’s a love story in one corner, a coming of age in another, and then a tale of fighting through discrimination. Its a hodge podge of all sorts of inspirations, movies, characters and people you meet in life told with the elements. Because, well, fire and water are two things with a tough time mixing.

One of the key things I don’t think Elemental’s marketing sold us on enough, is how impressive the animation is. There are many different styles at play. On the bonus features you’ll hear them talk about feeling like they were making four different movies. And it shows. In a good way. There are some impressive three dimensional animation with great texture and then there is Ember and her family which have some nifty color schemes but also look like a sweet hand drawing. Wade and those made of water are ultimately the most impressive and just looks like loads of work to pull off.

The relationship of Ember and Wade pulls us through this story and does a pretty solid job of carrying through. There are parts of your favorite romantic comedies influencing this, like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movies, that make for both some nice reference material and vibe of the whole ordeal. The two’s story also boast some good drama between the family life and also Ember herself in finding out who she is or wants to be.

Pixar has a pretty solid film here in Elemental. Its pretty decent story with solid characters, but its the animation that really makes it a tick better. I was pretty impressed with it throughout. This movie was just mesmerizing or interesting to look at during pretty much any given scene. We need more pushes in the animation field. And while this is no Spider-Verse or Ninja Turtles, this does it in a way that challenges the Pixar norm.

Video

Disclaimer: Screen captures used in the review are from the standard Blu-ray disc, not the 4K UHD Blu-ray disc.

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Layers: BD-66

Clarity/Detail: Elemental has a pretty impressive presentation here on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. Its even a pretty solid step up from its Blu-ray companion disc that is terrific itself. The image is a bit darker, more refined, showcasing more details and depth. Its one of the more impressive looking animated films on the 4K format.

Depth:  Depth of field is pretty strong, considering its 3D animation easily lends itself. There is also a good display of scale here as well. Movements are smooth and have no issues with blur or jitter caused by rapid motion.

Black Levels: Blacks are deep and natural and really edge out and flourish in making this a strong image. No information is lost in any dark corners. No crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction: Colors are quite lovely especially when Ember heats up. Greens, reds, blues all shine here. HDR really pops here in many of the scenes with good contrast as well as more bursting vivid colors.

Flesh Tones:  N/A

Noise/Artifacts: Clean

Audio

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English 2.0 Descriptive Audio, French 7.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 7.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish

Dynamics: Elemental is yet another Disney title this month with a good Atmos track. Perhaps this could be the norm? This is a well mixed track with good layering/depth as well as volume placement and impact. Its a fully realized world, built from foley that engages and feels quite immersive when watching it.

Height: From above you get water pouring, things fall, characters flying over the camera and some added bits of fun here an there.

Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer booms decently from the score, heavy water, explosions, roaring fire and more.

Surround Sound Presentation: The room is well realized and having fun. There is a good capturing and tracking of offscreen activity from the rear and side channels whether it be an angle change or something else crafting the environment. Rolling sound is powerful and moves with good force in whatever direction the scene calls for.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp.

Extras

Elemental comes with the standard Blu-ray edition and a redeemable digital code. This particular edition comes in limited steelbook packaging, only available from Best Buy. All bonus material is found on the standard Blu-ray disc.

For a look at the steelbook packaging, check out this video:

Audio Commentary

• Filmmaker Commentary – This includes Peter Sohn, Sanjay Bakshi, Mike Venturini and Gwen Enderoglu

Carl’s Date (HD, 7:49) – A follow Up, featuring Carl and Doug as Carl attempts to get back out there in the dating world.

Ember and Wade (HD, 10:14) – This covers our leads’ character designs. Most of the focus is on bringing Wade to life and the incredible amount of layering and work it took to pull off.

Next Stop: Element City (HD, 10:13) – This is a look at how they made the city, where creators talk about feeling like they were making multiple movies because of mixing the different animation styles.

Deleted Scenes (HD, 10:43)

Summary

Elemental is a pretty solid movie with some really impressive animation. Disney brings it to 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray with a wonderful presentation with both top notch audio and video. Extras are pretty decent, making for a nice package for those wanting to pick it up. The Best Buy Steelbook packaging this review had was also rather pleasing with good art and sturdiness.