Ratchet & Clank is a perfectly safe movie for younger viewers and passable enough for parents to watch with them, however between the animation and story, this probably better off as a direct-to-video release than something a studio spent millions to release to theaters.
Ratchet & Clank
(2016)
Genre(s): Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Universal Pictures | PG – 94 min. – $29.98 | August 23, 2016
Date Published: 08/30/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 2.5/5 |
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Ratchet & Clank is based on a video game series dating back to 2002 and one of Sony’s top selling games from the Playstation 2 and most recently, the PS4, release in conjunction with this feature-length animated film, originally slated for 2015 and finally released, with little fanfare, in 2016.
Plot Synopsis: The film follows two unlikely heroes as they struggle to stop a vile alien from destroying every planet in the Solana Galaxy. Ratchet (JAMES ARNOLD TAYLOR) is the last of his kind, a foolhardy “Lombax” who has grown up alone on a backwater planet with no family of his own. Clank (DAVID KAYE) is a pint-sized robot with more brains than brawn. When the two stumble upon a dangerous weapon capable of destroying entire planets, they join forces with a team of colorful heroes called the Galactic Rangers in order to save the galaxy. Along the way, they will learn about heroism, friendship, and the importance of discovering one’s own identity. Quick Hit Review: This is the type of movie that never should have been released onto the big screen. Although the animation is fine and the story pretty standard, there’s nothing here that screamed big outside of the named stars the studio hired (or blackmailed) like Paul Giamatti voicing the villain, John Goodman as Ratchet’s boss and father-figure, Rosario Dawson as a tech whiz for the Galactic Rangers and Sylvester Stallone voicing the villain’s muscle man. \
As it is, Ratchet & Clank, while not great, is an expendable movie for kids, a way to keep them occupied for 90-minutes but they’ll probably move on to something better afterward. As far as the fans are concerned, from what I’ve read, they enjoyed it so it would appear at least the filmmakers did right by them, but I can only speculate having never played even one second of the game (and I owned a PS2 back in the day). |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.25/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy, title-embossed, slip cover. Inside is a DVD Copy and a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Not much here except for a couple throwaway featurettes: Ratchet & Clank: A Hero’s Journey (7:32; HD) and Ratchet & Clank: Leveling Up (4:21; HD) which are just EPK-like features that really don’t offer much, if any, insight into the production. |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Universal Pictures Home Entertainment releases Ratchet & Clank onto Blu-ray shown in its original theatrical 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer (AVC codec). As with most animated releases, this one takes advantage of HD with brilliantly bright colors and very good detail throughout. Another plus is I did not notice any major instances of banding which tends to show through in animated movies while the transfer is also free of artifacts and aliasing. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track isn’t quite as strong as the video but still has a lot to offer. Dialogue levels sound nice and clean coming mostly from the center channel while the fronts and rears were relegated for the various action-centric sequences, not to mention some ambient noises, as well as the music/score, coming from the rear channels. It’s nothing amazing or reference quality work but certainly satisfactory enough for a movie like this. |
OVERALL – 2.5/5 |
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Overall, Ratchet & Clank is a perfectly safe movie for younger viewers and passable enough for parents to watch with them, however between the animation and story, this probably better off as a direct-to-video release than something a studio spent millions to release to theaters. In the end, this is at best a rental unless you are a diehard fan of the video game series. The Blu-ray released through Universal offers good video/audio transfers but a forgettable selection of bonus material. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.