Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition) [Blu-Ray]
Director: Larry Roemer
Cast: Billie Mae Richards, Burl Ives, Paul Soles (VOICES)
Release Date: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray & DVD Now Available
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Disc Rating: 8.5/10
Plot Summary:
Sam the snowman tells us the story of a young red-nosed reindeer who, after being ousted from the reindeer games because of his beaming honker, teams up with Hermey, an elf who wants to be a dentist, and Yukon Cornelius, the prospector. They run into the Abominable Snowman and find a whole island of misfit toys. Rudoph vows to see if he can get Santa to help the toys, and he goes back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. But Santa’s sleigh is fogged in. But when Santa looks over Rudolph, he gets a very bright idea…
Surely most of you already know the story of the most famous reindeer there ever was; the one and only Rudolph. If not, get ready for one of the most notable Holiday family tales there is. Rudolph, born different because of his bright red shiny nose is discarded from the reindeer games because of this fact. In the hope of finding someplace that will accept him for what he is, he joins forces with an Elf who wants to be a dentist and some other newly acquired friends and together they embark on the journey of a lifetime. Throughout their quest they encounter the abominable snowman, discover the island of misfit toys and much more. Bringing family fun, memorable original songs and some positive messages that can never be considered a bad thing, ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ still holds up today as one of the best Holiday TV specials around.
Fans of the classic TV special in addition to those households with children will certainly want to make sure to pick up a copy of the ‘Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition’ on Blu-Ray to enjoy time and time again this Holiday season. The Blu-Ray release provides what is surely the best video and audio presentation you’re liable to find for the TV special, in addition to sing-along songs and a number of other fun extra goodies that the entire family is bound to enjoy (more detailed information regarding the bonus content can be found in the special features section of the technical specification coverage below) making this a must own for most households; even more so when you take into account the incredibly reasonable price that you can pick up your copy for.
VIDEO:
The 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray release of ‘Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the 4×3 1.33:1 Standard Aspect Ratio in which it was originally broadcast. The video presentation looks pretty outstanding for a TV special of this age and all of the colors and detail look spot on, easily the best this classic family TV event has ever been presented. Fans of the special should be thrilled with this high definition video presentation and the newcomers to it couldn’t possibly find a better way to experience it for the first time.
AUDIO:
While the physical disc and rear of the box may have the DTS-HD Master Audio logo on them, don’t get too excited because there actually isn’t a DTS-HD MA track of any sort to be found on the Blu-Ray release. We are treated though to a lossy 5.1 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack which isn’t too shabby and it’s certainly a pleasant surprise to find a multichannel soundtrack of any sort present for such an old special. While as one would expect, the surround element may not provide much in the way of background effects, the special sounds pretty great here nonetheless and I think overall most will be pretty satisfied with this Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray release of ‘Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer’ includes a number of fun special features that the whole family should be able to enjoy. The Blu-Ray release includes ‘Rudolph Unwrapped’ which provides numbered bits of info that you may have missed, sort of fact/trivia listing that should be pretty fun for the young ones. Also included are two Sing-Along Songs so that everyone can now sing along with a couple of their favorite songs from Rudolph. A Rudolph Pop-Up Book telling the story (but much more briefly of course) is included as well, along with detailed instructions from the artists teaching you how to draw your favorite characters.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.