Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Taika Waititi's "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" was one of the summer's biggest hits, an aggressive crowd-pleaser that blends adventure, family and more into a delightful time at the movies.

Admittedly, I was a tad minimal in my original praise of the film. Regardless of how much I ultimately enjoyed it, something left me feeling a tad lukewarm after the experience. However, this changed after a second viewing. This film is an absolute hoot, and now viewers can experience (or re-experience) the movie on DVD.

The film follows a young chubby lad named Ricky Baker (great newcomer Julian Dennison) who gets lost in the woods with his Uncle Hec (Sam Neill). That's all I will say. Surprise yourself. Go in blind.

Why no Blu-ray release right now? I'm not sure, my guess would be studio priorities, but this is a film with truly gorgeous imagery of the New Zealand woods and mountain areas and it's a shame to have them crunched down to a DVD quality presentation. This is a film that would benefit from a Blu-ray release, as an HDTV's or Blu-ray player's upscaling of DVDs can only go so far. (Note: There will be a Blu-ray release coming by the end of the month.)

Ultimately, if immediacy of content is your bag, my recommendation would be to go the Digital HD route unless owning a physical copy of this particular movie is a must-have for any individual reader.

The DVD comes with some fun bonus features-a commentary between Waititi, Dennison and Neill being the major highlight-but the movie's still worth waiting for a higher quality copy if you're only interested in the film itself. But if behind the scenes content sparks the interest of the reader, and quality does not, the DVD is available now.

"Hunt for the Wilderpeople"
DVD and Digital HD
$14.99
http://wilderpeople.film/