3D Blu-ray Review Minions 3D Blu-ray Review - Recommended (2 Viewers)

Minions 3D Blu-ray Review - Recommended

Minions 3D swarms Blu-ray with a surprisingly fun movie that lasts just long enough to be entertaining without overstaying its welcome. The little yellow sidekicks from the Despicable Me series get their own movie this time, with the story following their search through history for a proper evil genius to assist. There’s some real laughs in the movie, which combines a genuine affection for the Minions with every opportunity it can get to throw in a sight gag or indulge in a great oldies song. The 3D Blu-ray offers plenty of dimensionality and the 2D Blu-ray offers a lovely detailed picture. Both Blu-rays come with a Dolby Atmos sound mix that downcoverts to Dolby True HD 7.1 for the rest of us – and is still a solid mix. There are some bonus features included as well, but the real attraction is the movie itself. This will make for a great family movie night. It’s easy to Recommend this one for purchase.

Studio: Universal

Distributed By: N/A

Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC, 1080P/MVC

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Audio: English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, English Dolby Atmos, English DVS 2.0, Spanish 5.1 DTS, French 5.1 DTS

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Rating: PG

Run Time: 1 Hr. 31 Min.

Package Includes: Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy

Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)

Region: ABC

Release Date: 12/8/2015

MSRP: $49.98

The Production Rating: 3.5/5

Minions is a fairly simple story, when you boil it down. The little guys need an evil genius to be their master – it’s what gives them a purpose. So this movie follows their quest to find that genius through the centuries, finally landing in 1968 New York City and London, where they encounter the dastardly Scarlett Overkill (Sandra Bullock) who is nowhere near as gentle as their Despicable Me boss Gru (Steve Carell). The structure of the movie usually has the little guys hatching a plot to steal this item or find that person, at which point their own inventive/destructive tendencies take over and mayhem ensues. It’s no surprise that this movie was a huge hit last summer, taking in just over a billion dollars at the box office. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Minions get another spin-off after the next Despicable Me hits theaters in 2017. Again, this is an easy movie to Recommend for purchase.

 

Minions was released on Blu-ray and standard definition on December 8^th. There are multiple options for purchase. The version at hand is the 3D Blu-ray, which comes in a combo pack with the 2D Blu-ray and the DVD edition. The 2D Blu-ray and DVD editions are available separately as well. The 2D and Blu-ray editions include several exclusives, including two interactive Blu-ray functions, and 3 Mini-Movies. The DVD edition purchased on its own will only include a single deleted scene and a short song. The DVD included in this package includes the Mini-Movies as well.

Video Rating: 5/5  3D Rating: 5/5

Minions is presented in 3D in a 1080p MVC 1.85:1 transfer (@ an average 30/16 mbps) that provides a lot of satisfying dimensionality, from bubbles at the front of the screen to various items and objects that mildly pop out, to multiple shots where foreground and background objects are given a satisfying level of separation. The 2D Blu-ray has a 1080p AVC 1.85:1 transfer (@ an average 35 mbps) that presents the animation with lovely detail. I should note that I watched this title using both a PS3 and an Oppo BDP-93. The PS3 has the edge when it comes to the 3D rendering – it popped just a bit more on the Sony. With the Oppo, the 3D was there but not as pronounced.

Audio Rating: 5/5

Minions is presented in an English Dolby Atmos mix (which downconverts to a Dolby True HD 7.1 mix for the rest of us) (@ an average 5.4 mbps, going up to 6.6 mbps in the bigger scenes). Also on the Blu-ray are DTS 5.1 mixes in Spanish and French, and an English DVS track. I should note that on the PS3, the 3D Blu-ray will not be able to process the 7.1 Dolby True HD (or Atmos for that matter), as it’s simply too much for the system. So on the PS3, the 3D version has a sound mix in English that is downconverted all the way to Dolby Digital 5.1 at 640 kbps. On the Oppo BDP-93, you can have the 3D and the higher level audio mix at the same time. But then you have the lesser of the 3D visual options. I presume that this problem doesn’t happen with the PS4, but I don’t have that equipment.

 

Dolby Atmos - I watched in Dolby Atmos using a 7.2.4 system (4 ceiling speakers). The height channels did an excellent job of expanding the content in the side and back channels for a more immersive experience. During most of the film when music was playing it was playing overhead in addition to the surround channels. There were also some great localized effects. The best example was during the Villain Con chapter, but there were lots of other effects scattered throughout the movie that made good use of Dolby Atmos. -- Adam Gregorich

Special Features Rating: 3/5

The Blu-Ray 3D and 2D presentations of Minions come with a few bonus features, primarily the three Mini-Movies. People who purchase the DVD-only edition will not get those features, but the DVD in this package does contain the Mini-Movies.

 

One other note: The bonus features and the Mini-Movies can be found on the 3D disc, but they are presented in 2D. The only things in 3D on that disc are the feature film itself and the menu.

 

Deleted Scene: Me, Myself and Stuart (0:29, 1080p) (AVAILABLE BOTH ON DVD & BLU-RAY) – This is a quick deleted bit with Stuart the Minion finding himself in a Hall of Mirrors while in a department store.

 

Jingle Bells Minion Style (1:52, 1080p) (AVALABLE BOTH ON DVD & BLU-RAY) – Here’s another quickie. It’s exactly what it sounds like: The Minions sing Jingle Bells. Okay.

 

Around the World Interactive Map (1080p) (EXCLUSIVE TO BLU-RAY COMBO PACK) – This is a Blu-ray function that shows a map of the Earth, with several key points available for clicking. Each of these points corresponds to a place in the world where the Minions have been active in this movie. When you click the area, you’ll get options of various bits of video you can see, or at least a gallery of images.

 

Arizona – Four options are presented here. There’s a T-Rex box, which contains several very short clips about the dinosaur. Then there’s a TV screen to click with a few Fun Facts about Arizona. There’s also a gallery of sketches and of early animatics for this sequence.

 

South Pole – Options here include Fun Facts about the South Pole, and a very short interview featurette about the Minions’ Motivation, along with an image gallery.

 

New York – Options here include Fun Facts about New York, an image gallery, and very short interviews about What Minions Learn, and about Minions in New York.

 

Road to Orlando – Options here include a discussion of the Nelsons, the crime family that helps get the Minions down to Villain Con.

 

Villain Con/Orlando – Options here include image galleries and Fun Facts about Orlando.

 

London – Options here include the galleries, plus Fun Facts about London and short interviews about Scarlett Overkill and her boyfriend, as well as about the concept of Home for Minions (hint – it rhymes with Broo), and finally a comment about how the moviemakers decided to create various different Minions of different shapes, so they wouldn’t all look identical.

 

France – Options here include image galleries and Fun Facts about France.

 

Transylvania – Options here include image galleries and Fun Facts about Transylvania.

 

Egypt – Options here include image galleries and Fun Facts about Egypt.

 

Africa – Options here include image galleries and Fun Facts about Africa.

 

Australia – Options here include image galleries and Fun Facts about Australia.

 

Russia – The only option here is an image gallery.

 

China – The only option here is an image gallery.

 

Japan – The only option here is an image gallery.

 

India – The only option here is an image gallery.

 

Behind the Goggles – The Illumination Story of the Minions (1080p) (EXCLUSIVE TO BLU-RAY COMBO PACK) – Here’s another bit of Blu-ray functionality. Hitting this option brings up the outline of a house, with several rooms in which the viewer can click to bring up short featurettes.

 

Writers Room (3:38) – This is an interview/featurette that covers the writing process of putting together the Minions movie.

 

Boss’ Office (4:58) – This covers the overall production of the movie, from the idea’s beginning at the creation of the first Despicable Me movie.

 

Art Department (3:32) – This covers the creation of the look of the movie and of the various animated locations/sets.

 

Composer (2:46) – This covers the music for the Minions movie and the general approach for the Despicable Me series in this area.

 

Break Room – This is really just an image gallery, as the viewer clicks through the various items on the Break Room bulletin board.

 

Mini Movies (3 Total, 1080p) (EXCLUSIVE TO BLU-RAY COMBO PACK, BUT ON DVD IN THAT COMBO PACK) – Here’s the usual 3 Mini-Movies, which are available here on all the discs in the pack, but will not be found on a DVD purchased separately from the pack.

 

Cro Minion (4:25) – This mini-movie takes place in pre-historic times as the minions deal with very early man. And bananas.

 

Competition (3:47) – This mini-movie shows the Minions in competition with each other.

 

Binky Nelson Unpacified (4:34) – This mini-movie centers on the Nelson crime family. When the baby of the family leaves his pacifier behind during a heist, mayhem results as the baby goes back to the scene of the crime. There’s more than a few nods to the Mission: Impossible franchise in this short, albeit with the stuntwork being performed by an animated infant…

 

The Secret Life of Pets Trailer (2:33, 1080p) (AVAILABLE BOTH ON BLU-RAY AND DVD) – This is a trailer for 2016’s entry from Illumination – an animated movie about what pets do while the humans are away. There are some funny sight gags here, but we’ll have to see what else is in the movie.

 

Blu-ray Copy – A second disc is in the package, holding the 2D Blu-ray copy of the movie. It is identical to the 3D Blu-ray in terms of the special features and all specs other than the 3D video. For this one, the picture is an 1080p AVC transfer, so you’ll be able to hear the full mix on a PS3.

 

DVD Copy – A third disc is included in the package, holding the standard DVD of the movie. It contains the movie presented in standard definition in an anamorphic1.85:1 picture with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound in English, Spanish and French (448 kbps) as well as the English DVS track. For bonus features, the DVD in this package has the Mini Movies, the Jingle Bells song and the short deleted clip with Stuart in the Hall of Mirrors.

 

Digital Copy – Instructions are included in the packaging for downloading a digital copy of the movie to your laptop or portable device.

 

Subtitles are available for the film and the special features, in English, Spanish and French. A full chapter menu is available for the film.

Minions - Villain Con

Minions - Early Concepts

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Minions is a genuinely warm and funny movie, and a great option for a family movie night. The 3D Blu-ray provides some nice depth and dimensionality, while the 2D Blu-ray has both great picture and on a PS3, as much of a Dolby Atmos mix as your system can handle. The Minions themselves may not know a heck of a lot about what they’re doing, but the people preparing these movies certainly know. This is one of the easiest discs I’ve seen in a while to Recommend for purchase.

Reviewed By: Kevin EK

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Bought this blindly.


Turned it off after 30 minutes.


Didn't think it was entertaining.


Maybe I will give this a second chance now that I have read that you enjoyed this film, Kevin.

Depends on how much you enjoy the Minions. I think they're funny at times, and hilarious at others.

What got me was the bit with the Cro Magnon Man, where they goad him into an unfortunate confrontation and then realize too late this won't work. It's both the one Minion doing the "innocent" whistle and then the cave painting drawing right afterward that got me to laugh out loud.

Love the Minions. After watching Despicable Me, I bought two stuffed minions (Dave and Kevin).


I don't know what happened. It was the first title I watched during my 2 week hiatus. Maybe I was in the wrong frame of mind. That has been known to happen from time to time.


I'll put it back on tomorrow and report back.

Do you mean popping out of the screen or the 3D just looked better when you say " it popped just a bit more on the Sony" ?

I mean the 3D looked better. More of a sense of depth into the picture. The foreground elements stood out boldly on the PS3, where on the Oppo, the image looked a little flatter. It's a subtle difference but one that was noticeable to me.


Shots where this really played out -

1. The opening bit underwater during "Happy Together". On the PS3, the foreground bubbles are more sharply in the forward space (even popping out of the screen a little), but on the Oppo, they're not as far forward.

2. In the New York exteriors, where people and cars are moving through the foreground while the Minions are on the sidewalk, the foreground elements are again more sharply in the forward space but feel less so on the Oppo.

3. In the New York exteriors, there's a shot that pulls back from I think the Brooklyn Bridge with the Bridge going from a foreground element to a background element. On the PS3, the bridge feels more forward than the cityscape behind it and then seems to recede into the frame. On the Oppo, the bridge stands out but not as much.



I think it just comes down to the rendering abilities of the player. The Oppo is still a great player and can handle 3D just fine. I just think the PS3 renders it a little better. But the trade-off again is that the PS3 couldn't process the Atmos track at the same time, which is an issue we were warned about several years ago. The Oppo on the other hand isn't scared of doing both at the same time at all.

Have you adjusted the advanced Oppo settings for 3D, like screen size and depth level? It could just be that the PS3 out of the box is set up better than the Oppo. With the caveat that everyone's experience and system is different, I don't notice a difference between 3D on my PS3 and my Oppo.

Haven't gotten my hands on the 3D Blu-ray yet (I'm waiting for a decent price drop), but I did see this one theatrically in 3D, and like the other Despicable Me movies, I found the 3D goes hogwild during the end credits (particularly in the after-credits sequence). Hope the Blu-ray does the same.

Josh, I'll check the Oppo's settings again, but I optimized those settings a few years ago in the initial setup.


Todd, you're correct that the post-credit scenes for all these movies are a cornucopia of 3D gags. The Despicable Me ones are particularly silly - I liked the one where the Minions were competing to see who could come out the farthest into your living room.

Kevin EK said:

Josh, I'll check the Oppo's settings again, but I optimized those settings a few years ago in the initial setup.

Click to expand...

Hi Kevin, I just wanted to say - re-reading my post from last night, I didn't mean for it to sound confrontational and I apologize if it came off that way. I thought we had the same Oppo but I had been reading too quickly!

It's a good note Josh, and I do need to check the settings anyway.

I've also frankly noted with my customized Audyssey settings on the Denon receiver that I have to update those about once a year. Or at least it feels better if I refresh the settings about that often.

This film had its moments, but overall didn't live up to the the original films. I did enjoy the Atmos mix as they made good use of the height channels throughout the film. I added my $.02 regarding the Dolby Atmos mix to the sound portion of Kevin's review.