Ratchet & Clank is the new film that is based off of the newest installment of the video game franchise.  Directed by Jerrica Cleland and Kevin Munroe, and featuring the work of Insomniac Games, the film features an all-original story written by the directors and several members of the staff at Insomniac.  In additional to this, several original cast members from the previous video games came back to reprise their roles as their characters for this film.

Featuring a stellar cast including James Arnold Taylor, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Bella Thorne, Rosario Dawson and Sylvester Stallone; it is completely understandable why someone would be excited to bring this film home into their collection. However after its cinematic release, Ratchet & Clank was determined to be a box office bomb.  Bringing the antics of the classic video game characters to the home theater screen, we follow Ratchet and Clank and their cheesy antics as they work with the notorious Captain Qwark.

The Movie Itself (1/5):

You know, I was really excited to bring Ratchet & Clank home with me today.  Having grown up with and absolutely loved the video game series, I just couldn’t wait.  However after watching this movie tonight, I completely regret spending money on this release.  Ratchet & Clank really tried to push toward the family audience with its occasional attempts at humor, however it ultimately delivered an extremely generic story line.  After watching this movie, I can see that the production crew aimed this film to be more toward the pre-teen crowd, anyone older than that will easily cringe at what they just watched.  And with all of that said, since this film is supposed to be based off of the newest installment of the video game series, I don’t think I’m going to be picking the game up anytime soon.

Video Quality (4/5):

Ratchet & Clank overall looked really good on my home television.  Presented in 1080p, this film offered an extremely colorful experience that helped me to re-live some of those moments that I had as a child playing the games across the various Sony consoles.  My only personal complain with the visual aspect of this film was the darker scenes could have been presented better.  While they did provide some emphasis on the brighter elements of the scenes, it could have looked a lot better.

Audio Quality (4/5):

Sporting a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track, I’m really glad that Ratchet & Clank didn’t try to make use of a 7.1 audio track or go the route of using Atmos as they really wouldn’t have helped too terribly much at improving the overall experience this film offered.  However, the sound quality of this film was really nicely done, I didn’t run into any issues with distortion as they played through my home theater system, and the films musical score was on pace with the various scenes as they played out.

The Packaging (4/5):

This release of Ratchet & Clank comes packaged in your standard Blu-ray amaray case.  Included within the packaging is your Blu-ray disc, an included DVD Copy of the film and a digital redemption pamphlet allowing you to add this movie to your personal digital library for on-the-go streaming.  Ratchet & Clank does include a slipcover with its original pressing.

Special Features (1/5):

Much like my experience with this film, Ratchet & Clank really disappoints with the included additional content, ultimately making me feel like there should have been more to offer.  Included with this release is:

• Ratchet & Clank: A Hero’s Journey
• Ratchet & Clank: Leveling Up

Technical Specs:

Video

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Audio

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Spanish: DTS 5.1

French (Canada): DTS 5.1

Subtitles

English SDH, French, Spanish

Runtime

Original Film: 94 minutes

Final Thoughts:

As you can see by my very brief review of this release, I was less than pleased that I grabbed Ratchet & Clank on its release day.  I went into this expecting the same level of entertainment the video games had offered as I had played them, however I was greeted a story that was clearly made for a much younger audience.  The story line in this film felt extremely generic and horribly played out;  however for the most part the visual and audible presentation wasn’t too horrible.  At least we had the occasional quirky humor that the characters tried to take a stab at, but ultimately I should have waited to pick this film up after it had really dropped in price.  If you are interested in picking Ratchet & Clank up for your personal library, you can certainly grab it from Amazon.  However, if I were you, I would wait for this film to drop in price to $10 or cheaper.