Turning Red 4K Ultra HD

In "Turning Red," Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang) is a confident dorky 18-year-old torn between staying as her mother's dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. Her protection, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming, is never far from her daughter –– an unfortunate reality for the teenager. And as if changes to her interests, relationships and body weren't enough, whenever she gets too excited, she "poofs" into a giant red panda! (Gary Reber)

Special features includes commentary by the filmmakers, the featurettes "Ani-Mei-tion (HD 09:38) "Life Of A Shot" (HD 14:36) and "Build Your Own Boy Band" (HD 08:38), and a Movies Anywhere digital code.

The 1.85:1 1080p AVC picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, upconverted to 2160p with greater resolution and luminance, was digital animated and sourced from a 4K master Digital Intermediate format. Picture quality is excellent with brightly illuminated ivivid imagery throughout. Colors often pop and are nicely saturated. In particular, Mei's panda red is prominent as well as her dreamy escapes. The animation is generally simplistic but there is quite a bit of excellent detail when one is looking for it. HDR contrast is superb with natural black levels with good shadow delineation. White levels are nicely illuminated with natural saturation. Resolution is revealing in closeups of facial features and especially clothing and textural detail of objects. This is a vividly bright animated feature that is very colorful. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack is actively dialogue focused with excellent intelligibility and spatially good ADR. The soundtrack has a nice orchestral score that is quite prominent. The music spreads across the soundstage wide and deep with and aggressive extension to the surrounds. Atmospherics are limited but Foley sound effects and sound effects are effectively natural sounding. While deep bass is not a prominent factor, there are some deep extensions when Mei transforms into the red panda and walks around and during the "4*Town" rock concert during which her mother transforms into an even more massive panda. Surround envelopment delivers generally good directionality with discrete sound effects.

The Immersive Sound Element is comprised of an extension of the music to the height layer. Other elements are sound effects such as din, birds chirping, street din, rock concert stage effects, kids screaming, mother panda voice, aunts coughing, Mei's and grandma's and aunts' voices, Mei's and mother's and grandmother's/aunts' voices in bamboo forest and other minor sound effects.

This is dialogue- and music-driven holosonic® spherical surround soundtrack that is nicely produced with excellent fidelity. (Gary Reber)