- Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
- Video Codec: AVC MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: PG
- Run Time: 94 Mins
- Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD)
- Digital Copies: iTunes & UltraViolet
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Blu-ray Release Date: December 18th, 2012
- List Price: $39.99
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Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1.5/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days continues on the fun of the super-popular book series of Jeff Kinney. This time around Greg (Zachary Gordon) finds himself dealing with his first crush in local girl Holly (Peyton List). Determined to win her heart, Greg finds himself at the local country club she works at, all thanks to his buddy Rowley (Robert Capron). Seemingly having to lie to his over-the-top military-esque father (Steve Zahn), Greg will soon find himself in far deeper than he had ever imagined – all because he wanted to try and impress his crush. While this sounds like something we may have all gone through as pre-teens/teens, Dog Days ends up trying to be too adult, yet is way too childish at the same time.
The main problem here with this entry into the Wimpy Kid series is, akin to the other films, the transition of Kiney’s novel from page to live action just doesn’t work. The jokes/situations try to appeal to the adult crowd with Greg acting far too ‘grown up’ than he physically is. Granted, I do understand why the filmmakers would want to do this, you know to bring in a wider audience (the whole family). Yet a majority of the humor is too gross-out to even appeal to myself – a mid 20s young adult. Even though the story itself is kind of interesting, somewhat reminding me of my younger summer days, the misfired jokes end up hurting this one far too much.
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days arrives with a solid 2:35:1 framed, AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer, one that is similar to previous entries (Rodrick Rules) in the series. With that said, the film’s color palette tends to focus on colors on the brighter side of the spectrum with clean, clear and a majority of summery looking colors (sky blues, sun yellows, grass greens.) Detail is strong throughout, whether wider shots or facial close ups of our characters. Texture detail is equally strong and possible issues like obtrusive print damage or DNR are absent, which is a pleasant note. All in all, this is a good effort from FOX.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio-wise, Kid suffers from the genre limitations that typically accompany comedies. The film’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track handles dialogue well, with no instance of drop out. Atmosphere can be a bit on the reserved side during the quieter moments only really offering a few discrete effects (birds, background dialogue). During some of the more heightened action scenes, the sound stage fills up with musical selections. Outside of this, the overall mix leans quite heavily toward the front channels. All in all, this track does what it can with all the limitations placed upon it.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1.5/5]
The provided supplements are featured in High and Standard Definition:
- Class Clown Animated Comic [HD] – This runs 2:57 and details Greg and his attempt to steal the title of “Class Clown.”
- Commentary by Director David Bowers
- FX Movie Channel presents Wimpy Empire [SD] – A 9:55 promo bundled in with clips and cast interviews.
- Gag Reel [HD] – Roughly 5:01 worth of gags.
- Digital Copies – Available via either iTunes or UltraViolet.
- DVD – A separate DVD of the film is also included.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3/5]
While there may be an audience out there for these Wimpy Kid films, the target group of viewers clearly isn’t me. Even though Fox has put together a decent technical effort, I can’t really recommend this one – unless you’re a huge fan of the films.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B005LAIITE[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days on Blu-ray Combo Pack at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles on Amazon.com
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[amazon-product]B00A0RIZVY[/amazon-product]
[amazon-product]B005LAIITE[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days on Blu-ray Combo Pack at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles on Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1.5/5]
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