Elena Of Avalor: Realm Of The Jaquins (DVD Review)
Elena of Avalor is a show that has run on both the Disney Channel and Disney Junior during its run. The show is currently in a run for its second season. I’m not the expert on it or anything, but I have taken note of the good section of merchandise it usually has in the toy section at stores over the past year or two, so I imagine its either really popular or getting a big push from Disney currently. This DVD set, dubbed Realm of the Jaquins, collects four episodes of the show. One is a combination of two first season episodes and two are from the second season. It also provides ten shorts as bonus material for the disc. Disney will have this one store shelves and virtual ones on August 7th. You can pre-order yourself a copy for your kids (or yourself if you’d like) using the Amazon link below.
Film 
Join Crown Princess Elena as she soars through a hidden gateway into Vallestrella, the mysterious, dazzling domain of the jaquins. On the way there, she accidentally releases a mythical forest sprite that could endanger Avalor! Now Elena must find the jaquins’ magical, legendary Sunbird Oracle to save the kingdom!
Elena of Avalor is a pretty colorful and fantastical little program. There are magical animals and spell kinds of powers all used in unique and original-feeling ways. This program is definitely something that can be easily appealing to kids. Adding to that is the show busting out into some catchy song and dance numbers every now and then.
On this release, the tiger-looking winged mystical creatures of the jaquin are highlighted in three episodes. Each episode explores their mythology and teaches the young jaquins important lessons. Elena screws some stuff up and we get a villain and a new creature to look forward to in resolving it. There are also two other later episodes from the second season that explore this mythology of the jaquins a bit further.
Overall, this is a fun little collection for the kiddos and maybe a test release from Disney to see if there is a physical media demand for the show. Perhaps on entire season on the Blu-ray format could be in Elena of Avalor’s future, or maybe the whole series to a point. For now, this’ll have to be it. So if you want more, you’d probably want to pick up this little collection, but at a nice sale price.
Video
Encoding: MPEG-2 NTSC
Resolution: 480i
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Layers: DVD-9
Clarity/Detail: While I always wonder why we are still putting out DVDs in 2018, something like this isn’t an offender. If this Elena of Avalor release was a full season set, I’d be more questionable, but this is a collection of 3 episodes to put out a quick DVD that’ll catch the eye of a child at the end of a Toy aisle at Target. For what it is, it looks pretty solid, with some impressive colors. Whenever magic is used or we get water in motion is where this disc’s image really fails and looks to blocky and digitized. Details are pretty solid though, from animal fur to human clothing.
Depth: Its a bit above flat where flying things feel like they actually get some decent space to move around in. Motion distortions typical come in the most rapid of movements.
Black Levels: Blacks are dark and have a light array of crushing and also consume some detail at times.
Color Reproduction: Colors actually impress here with some bright yellows, reds, pink and blues, especially the fur of the zephyrs. For a DVD this has some solid saturation and a nice vivid pop.
Flesh Tones: N/A
Noise/Artifacts: Typical noise and such that come with being a DVD.
Audio
Audio Format(s): English 2.0 Dolby Digital, French 2.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Dynamics: Elena comes on a nice, louder 2.0 stereo track. Its really gets the job done pretty well, with some solid and impressive moments of motion and volume placement. Music, effects and vocals all get their spotlight without ever stepping on one another’s toes.
Height: N/A
Low Frequency Extension: N/A
Surround Sound Presentation: N/A
Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are audible at all times with some solid moments catching breaths and other speaking sounds.
Extras
Elena of Avalor: Realm of the Jaquins comes with 100 Disney Movie Rewards points when redeemed.
Bonus Shorts
Adventures in Vallestrella
- Flight of the Butterfrog (SD, 1:48)
- Sleeping Sunbird (SD, 1:48)
- Fast Food (SD, 1:48)
- Peabunny Boogie (SD, 1:48)
- Human Nature (SD, 1:48)
Scepter Training with Zuzo
- The Heist (SD, 1:48)
- Royal Treasury Escape (SD, 1:48)
- Nothing But Blaze (SD, 1:48)
- Stoway (SD, 1:48)
- Don’t Be Our Guest (SD, 1:48)
Summary
Elena of Avalor is a neat little show for kids that has both strong female protagonist and celebrates another culture in a fun and mystical way. This DVD is about as high of quality as you’re going to get form the two generations behind format. There are a good number of additional bonus shorts that accompany the release to make it a fun, worthwhile purchase to entertain the little ones.
