Jojo Rabbit appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a largely satisfactory presentation.
Overall sharpness seemed solid. On occasion, interiors looked a smidgen soft, but those were the exception to the rule, as the majority of the flick was accurate and detailed.
No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge haloes. Source flaws were absent, as the movie looked consistently clean.
In terms of palette, Rabbit focused on amber, with a fair amount of green and teal as well. Within those parameters, the hues were positive.
Blacks seemed deep and dark, while shadows felt appropriately dense. This was generally an appealing image.
As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Rabbit, it lacked a ton of ambition. The soundfield focused on music and ambience, though it opened up on occasion, mainly in terms of a few war-related scenes. Nothing especially memorable occurred, though.
Audio quality was fine. Speech seemed natural and concise, without edginess or other issues. Music offered good clarity and range, and effects worked well enough.
They didn’t often have much to do, but they appeared reasonably accurate. All of this ended up as a perfectly satisfactory soundtrack for this sort of movie.
When we shift to extras, we begin with an audio commentary from writer/director Taika Waititi. Although this occasionally delivers a solo running, screen-specific chat from Waititi, he also uses much of the space with phone calls to guests.
In that vein, we hear his short conversations with actors Roman Griffin Davis, Stephen Merchant, Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, and Alfie Allen. Wilson also makes a brief in-studio appearance.
I disliked Waititi’s commentary for Ragnarok. While he offered occasional nuggets of information, he joked around too much and didn’t deliver much substance.
I hoped that Waititi would rebound for Rabbit, but that doesn’t prove true. When left on his own, he proves nearly worthless.
During Waititi’s solo parts of the commentary, he gives us a few basics. These remain minor, though, and Waititi lets much of the space pass without any content, as he often says “let’s watch the movie”.
Matters improve when Waititi involves his guests, though even then, the comments tend to feel lackluster. Most of these chats opt for fairly banal notes and don’t give us much concrete material.
The only exception comes from Waititi’s conversation with Merchant, and that occurs entirely because Merchant asks the filmmaker lots of questions. For a too-brief segment, Merchant evokes real details from Waititi and gives us useful information.
Alas, that’s about all we get. The occasional valuable nugget emerges the rest of the way, but most of the commentary becomes a dull disappointment.
Three Deleted Scenes appear: “Imaginary Göring” (2:06), “Little Piggies” (3:44) and “Adolf Dies Again” (3:14). All three feature Jojo with Hitler.
The first two focus on comedy, whereas the third comes at the film’s end. I like all three – especially the hilarious “Göring” – but they don’t add to the overall narrative, so I understand why they got the boot.
A collection of Outtakes spans three minutes, 26 seconds. It shows the usual goofs/giggles, but we get a few fun improv moments as well.
In addition to two trailers, we finish with Inside Jojo Rabbit, a 26-minute, 46-second program. It brings comments from Waititi, Rockwell, Allen, Davis, Wilson, Merchant, producer Carthew Neal, costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo, acting coach Rachel House, makeup/hair designer Dannelle Satherley, visual effects supervisor Jason Chen, production designer Ra Vincent, and actors Thomasin McKenzie and Scarlett Johansson.
“Inside” looks at the source and its adaptation, story/characters, cast and performances, Waititi’s impact as director, production and costume design, and locations. Though a bit on the fluffy side, “Inside” comes with a generally positive array of notes about the production.
Though trailers promised a wacky black comedy, Jojo Rabbit instead focused on a coming of age drama. This shift works and helps make this an effective tale. The Blu-ray brings generally good picture and audio along with a few supplements brought down by a frustrating commentary. Ambitious and engaging, Rabbit becomes an effective tale.