Coco 4K UltraHD

In "Coco," Miguel (Gonzalez) deams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz (Bratt)––despite his family's baffling generations-old ban on music. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Héctor (Bernal), and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary with Directors Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina and Producer Darla K. Anderson; seven deleted scenes with introductions (HD 33:07); 12 featurettes: "The Music Of Coco" (HD 13:12), "Paths To Pixar: Coco" (HD 11:44), "Welcome To The Fiesta" (HD ), "How To Draw A Skeleton" (HD 03:18), "A Thousand Pictures A Day" (HD 20:03), "Mi Familia" (HD 10:00), "Land Of Our Ancestors" (HD 06:19), "Fashion Through The Ages" (HD 08:39), "The Real Guitar" (HD 03:08), "Dante" (HD 06:14), "You Got The Part" (HD 02:12), and "How To Make Papel Picado" (HD 02:19); Un Poco "Coco" montage of original animated pieces used to promote the movie; trailers; upfront previews; and a Movies Anywhere digital copy.

The 2.39:1 2160p HEVC/H.265 Ultra HD HDR10/Dolby Vision picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, was animated digitally and sourced from a 4K master Digital Intermediate format. Picture quality is superb and such a wonderful colorful affair. Colors are perfectly saturated yet always appearing naturally rich and warm. A wider color gamut is exhibited throughout with seemingly endless shadings. Fleshtones of the living are flush while those of the dead are pasty cream. The rest of the color scheme is breathtaking. HDR contrast is extremely well balanced with a wide range of light intensity from inky black to deep shadow gray to bright colors and whites. Resolution is excellent, with fine detail rendered throughout, as exhibited in all manner of object texture, nuanced clothing fabric, hair, beards, bones, and the facial complexities of the living and the dead, even the tiniest white hair on Mama Coco's chin. Virtually every frame of the entire movie is a WOW! moment, but especially from 27:45 to 28:57, 41:25 to 43:08, 47:52 to 48:39, 58:01 to 59:10, and 01:07:40 to 01:09:47. This is an extremely colorful affair and exhibits wonderfully dynamic contrast and black levels with all the fine resolution expected of a world-class, reference-quality 4K Ultra HD presentation. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack is full of music, of course, with a Mexican flavor. Fidelity is excellent, with the orchestral segments spanning the soundstage wide and deep, and extending to the four surrounds, providing a good enveloping experience. Atmospherics are terrific, with effective Foley sound effects that breed life into the animation. Sound effects, such as fireworks, a multi-colored flying cat-bird, Miguel thrown into a sinkhole, add dynamic presence to the proceedings. Surround is heightened with the flying cat-bird and other sound effects, at times supported with deep .1 LFE bass. Dialogue and singing are crystal clear and nicely integrated spatially, which is impressively remarkable for an animated feature. The Immersive Sound element is largely the music, which provides a subtle spherical touch. Atmospherics and sound effects also extend to the height channels, though, generally at low levels. Also dialogue throughout is subtly extended to the height channels and at times sounding distinctive. It is as if the entire ear-level soundtrack is extended above, though, low in level. Sound effects with more punch are the crashing bell, the grabbing and smashing of a guitar, smashing of a window and glass shattering on the floor, and crowd sounds in a stadium. This is a terrific and fun muslc-focused soundtrack that is sure to entertain the entire family. (Gary Reber)