Asian 3D Blu-ray Imports - Hong Kong Japan China Taiwan Thailand Korea etc

[BleedOrange11]

I watched a couple of Korean animations yesterday, Pororo's Racing Adventure (2013) and Speckles: The Tarbosaurus (2012) AKA Dino King, opting for the original Korean audio tracks on both because, while not spectacular, they are less whiny than the English dubs.



Pororo has nice-looking native 3D depth. Volume of the subjects looks good and is extremely consistent. The film is about Pororo the Penguin and his forest friends teaming up to win a super sleigh race to save a wintry town from being taken over by a bullying bear. It's a bit like Mario Kart: The Movie but more juvenile. The plot is baby-safe and rather dull, but the racing sequences are fun, sometimes exciting, and the runtime is brief. Tunnel sequences look great, and there are a few instances of hyperstereo. The filmmakers take every opportunity to send the cast of characters flying out of the screen in slow motion. There are several far-extending pop-outs that make you want to reach out and touch the image. Recommended for anyone interested.

The German Blu-ray 3D comes with the 2013 International English dub. If you care to remux, acquire the American Lionsgate DVD. It has the original Korean audio, which syncs with lip movements, with corresponding English subtitles, as well as the 2014 Simka Entertainment English dub, which adds a few Hollywood voices in supporting roles, and corresponding dubtitles. I used an audio offset of -3500ms although that is not an exact calculation. There are interviews with the American dub cast on the DVD and four bonus shorts from the Minuscule (2006) French TV series.

Movie - 2.5/5
3D - 4.5/5




Speckles has nicely-rendered native 3D CGI dinos composited on converted live-action landscapes. The CGI often has strong 3D volume, but the converted imagery is poorly separated although sometimes still layered with generous depth. There are plenty of flat scenes and equally as many strong pop-outs of dino heads and particle effects.

The story is about a T-Rex's odyssey across the Korean peninsula from birth to fatherhood and his struggle to thrive. There is a surprising amount of hard animalistic violence. It occasionally swings into docudrama mode, briefly spouting tour-guide facts about dinos' habits and the Cretaceous Period. The voice track is the film's biggest failure. I have a suspicion that the film was originally designed as silent and that a non-existent music-only track would solve most of its problems.

Only the main dino receives dialogue. We hear his inner thoughts, and they are completely useless, flatly describing what we already see happening (or ruining what is about to happen) on screen. Speckles is voiced by three actors, one for his child, teenage, and adult years. The child voice is abrasively whiny (although slightly less in Korean), the teenage voice is okay, and the adult is fine. If you'd prefer the original Korean audio with English subs, seek the Korean Blu-ray 3D, probably from Yukipalo. The original score performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra is utterly phenomenal and sweepingly emotional, too good for the film even. There is a 38min non-subtitled behind-the-scenes featurette on the Korean disc.

Movie - 2.5/5
3D - 3/5