Secret of the Wings Blu-ray 3D Review

October 12, 2012

2840

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4 (2D); MVC (3D)
Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), French & Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Subtitles Color: White
Region: ABC (Region-Free)
Rating: G
Run Time: 75 Mins.
Discs: 4 (1 x Blu-ray 3D + 1 x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD + 1 x Digital Copy)
Digital Copies: 1 Disc
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Blu-ray Release Date: October 23, 2012
List Price: $49.99

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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
HD: [Rating:4.5/5]
3D Effect: [Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]

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:4/5]

This new Disney Fairies adventure featuring star attraction Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman) is Class A family fare from the House of Mouse. With a star-studded voice cast featuring Anjelica Huston as Queen Clarion, Timothy Dalton as Lord Milori, Lucy Liu as Silvermist, Raven-Symoné as Irdessa and others, this new tale finds the ever-busy tinker fairy Bell exploring the Winter Woods despite a ban on summer fairies crossing into the winter woods and vice versa. There, she discovers she has a sister born of the same laugh, Periwinkel (Lucy Hale), and when together, the sisters’ wings light up like nothing before. But crossing into each other’s territory poses a great risk to their health, and breaking the rules draws the attention of Lord Milori of the Winter Woods and Queen Clarion of the Summer Woods. But will this keep these newfound sister’s apart? And how can they overcome the challenges to their health? A fun adventure, probably the best in the Disney Fairies series yet, kids will definitely love this one and so will grownups who will appreciate the film’s moral center and lack of cynicism and off the cuff humor.

Video Quality

HD: [Rating:4.5/5]

3D Effect: [Rating:4/5]

The digital animation is clean with little to balk at, offering up a rich palette of colors. The animation itself doesn’t quite hold the same amount of realism and detail as the best theatrical CG work from Disney and/or Pixar, but for a straight-to-video release, it is well done. The 3D work is better than some theatrical releases I have seen that have been converted to 3D, which isn’t really saying much. Don’t get me wrong though, Secret of the Wings by no means looks bad in 3D. It offers a good sense of natural depth, although strong pop-out is a bit limited.

Audio Quality

[Rating:4.5/5]

We get quite a fine lossless 5.1 soundtrack in DTS-HD Master Audio (48kHz/24-bit) that may not be quite up to the level of Disney’s theatrical animated releases, but is enjoyable nonetheless, offering great breadth in its dynamic range, naturally airy sounding high frequencies, a solid bottom range and fine balance of ambience, atmospherics and direct sounds across the front and surrounds.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:2/5]

Kids will enjoy the additional 20-minute short the best, everything else is filler.

The supplements:

“Great Divide” Music Video Performed by McClain Sisters (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
Pixie Hollow Games (1.78:1; 1080p/24; Dolby Digital 5.1; 00:22:34) – In this extra animated short, the Pixie Hollow fairies have their own Olympic style competition.
“Dig Down Deeper” Music Video Performed by Zendaya (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
Pixie Preview: “Fright Light” (1.78:1; 1080p/24)

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:4/5]

A fine entry in Disney’s series of Tink adventures, families can sit back and enjoy this harmless entertainment without worry. Good wholesome fun for kids of all ages without being too watered down or silly. Recommended.

Additional Screen Captures

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Purchase Secret of the Wings on Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack at CD Universe

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