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The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
There are no surprises is this action-packed feature-length Transformer Prime film. Transformers Prime Beast Hunters – Predacons Rising is a classic battle between the Decepticons and the Autobots over the destiny of their home planet Cybertron. An epilogue to the final season, the story finds a resurrected Unicron (John Noble) taking over the lifeless body of Megatron (Frank Welker) and seeking vengeance on the Autobots and, ultimately, the destruction of the newly reconstructed Cybertron. As usual with the Transformers Prime franchise, it appeals mainly to preteen boys with its heavy reliance on action sequences, robots/mecha, and hard divisions of good versus evil. This roughly 90-minute feature delivers the goods on that count and acts as an excellent epilogue. The top notch voice acting also helps things out a lot, something the kids may not appreciate so much, but certainly parents forced to watch (or listen to) the disc over and over at home or on a long road trip will. The always excellent John Noble steals every scene.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
This franchise has never looked great on Blu-ray, especially for a CGI animated show. That being said, we get decent amount of detail in the AVC/MPEG-4 1080p encodement. Contrast is middling at best, with blacks tending to look a bit washed out, but the colors do pop nicely.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The sole audio track available is an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit). The high frequencies are airy and there’s a bit of extension in the low end, but it doesn’t quite get all the way down to the lowest frequencies. Dialogue is clear and unobstructed while the balance between bacl and front is well handled.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/0.5]
The 10-minute ‘Making Of’ offers barely anything. At least a DVD is included.
The supplements:
- DVD
- A Look at Polygon Pictures (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:10:24)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
The kiddies will definitely think this one is cool and the Blu-ray looks about as good as this series will get. My recommendation? Pick this one up and make an eight-year-old somewhere really happy.
Additional Screen Captures
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