New to Blu: April 1-7

The big hero of the Easter weekend Blu-ray slate is an animated take on one of Marvel’s lesser known superheroes.

“As you’d expect, Disney’s 1080p presentation of Big Hero 6 is absolutely flawless. If there was an animated movie meant for big-screen projector viewing, this is it.”

“The movie is awash in healthy colours that are as perfectly defined and nuanced as can be. Black levels are appropriately deep.

“The image sees a couple of extremely minor bits of banding, but it’s hardly enough to warrant a knock in score that might mar an otherwise picture-perfect transfer from Disney.”

“The 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is also totally immersive, with excellent sound design and element separation.

“There are plenty of sound pans, ample directional dialogue and consistent ambient noise.”

Heroes also abound in the Australian TV series, Gallipoli, which unlike two other top TV dramas, season two of Broadchurch and The Missing, is getting a Blu-ray release.

In fact, two: a two-disc edition with a commentary by a military historian on the first episode, and a three-disc collector’s edition.

The third disc has a 40-minute making-of documentary, photo gallery and an hour of behind-the-scenes extras.

Also fresh from the small screen is part one of the first season of Outlander, which hitherto has been seen only online.

“Determined to accurately capture the cloud-cast light of the Scottish skies, the bleakness of the inhospitable, ever-changing weather, and the earthiness of the countryside, costumes and castle interiors, the showrunners deliver a lifelike palette that, while stark and darkly shadowed, boasts tremendous beauty.

“Skin tones are natural and capably saturated, black levels are deep and forboding, and richer hues, rare as they are, are warm and satisfying.”

The rest of the week’s new releases are undistinguished animation (The Nut Job), direct-to-disc obscurities (Left Behind, Zulu, Assault on Wall Street, Spud 3: Learning to Fly), and music titles (Shania — Still the One, Foo Fighters — Sonic Highways).

The pick of these would appear to be the Forest Whitaker-Orlando Bloom thriller Zulu, both in terms of content and specs.

“Filmed with Arri Alexa digital cameras, Zulu looks great.

“Detail is sharp and the colours are bright … blues, greens and browns are deep, skin tones natural without that often digital yellow tinge, blacks and shadow detail very good.”