In a world where monster wrestling is a global sport, teenage Winnie (Geraldine Viswanathan) teams up with a loveable underdog monster (Will Arnett) in hopes of training him to be a champion. The duo learns the value of moving to your own groove and paving your own unique path to success.
For in-depth thoughts on Rumble, please see my colleague Martin Sexton’s review from its original streaming release here.
Video Quality
Rumble comes to Blu-Ray with a dazzling 1080p transfer. There is a great amount of care and detail put into every distinct environment which really shines through here. The textures of these spaces and the character designs are extremely impressive and give the film a real sense of depth. The seamless nature of the character designs is one of the aspects of this film that stands out the most in high definition. Take a look at Rayburn and admire all of the individual strands of hair that are unique and flowing in a way that is natural without losing the heightened facets of his animated design. Viewers are treated to a striking array of colors that are practically jumping off the screen with the wide range of hues permeating every inch of the frame. Black levels are very strong with no hint of compression artifacts or digital anomalies of the sort. Paramount has delivered the goods with this release.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray shows off with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that gives this rowdy film a glorious presentation. Dialogue comes through crisp and clear without ever getting trampled on by the competing music or sound effects. You will find a lot of focus on the front channels for a good portion of the sounds, but activity kicks in to the surrounds and rears during the more kinetic and action-oriented bits. The low end effects from the subwoofer give smack downs that extra kick to ramp up the fun. Atmospheric sound effects are rendered appropriately within the mix so that directionality is never an issue. Music is used effectively here, and this track renders every note with impeccable fidelity. This track is a really great experience all around. There are English, English SDH and French subtitles provided.
Special Features
- The Super-Secret Playbook: A four-minute glance at the playbook which will make you a champion such as recipes, diagrams for certain moves and other odd tips.
- The Mon-Stars Of Wrestling: A five-minute “pre-season analysis” which gives you an overview of some of the stars in the ring.
- Salsa with Rayburn, Jr.: A two-and-a-half minute piece which extols the virtues of salsa dancing.
- Massive Monsters, Wrestling Moves, and Dazzling Dances: A five-minute featurette which takes a look at the design of various monsters and the personalities they show inside and outside of the ring.
- Four Rounds In The Animation Ring: A two-minute look which follows the animation through the various stages including storyboards, layout, animation and lighting.
- Deleted Scenes: Five unused scenes totaling five minutes are provided here which includes some instances of unfinished animation.
Final Thoughts
Rumble seemingly disappeared into the void once it was unleashed on Paramount+ at the end of last year, which is a bit of a shame considering that it is a pretty enjoyable time. Bringing wrestling into an animated movie is not a path we have seen hundreds of times before, even if the more personal bits take a familiar road. The film is not reinventing the wheel, but it succeeds in providing funny and exciting family entertainment for about 90 minutes. Paramount Home Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray featuring a magnificent A/V presentation and a few brief supplemental materials. Adults may not flip for this if they are watching it without children, but there are far worse things to throw on for family movie night. Recommended
Rumble will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD on October 18, 2022. This film is currently available on Digital.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Paramount Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
