Strays - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Strays



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Sooooooooo, not to out myself here, but does anyone engage in what my wife and I have called “doggy dubbing?”. You know, where you create voices for your dogs and have them talk to each other in said voices. Anyone? Anyone? Just me? Well, as an avid doggy dubber in my family, I have a soft spot for talking animal movies. I’ve always wondered what my dogs were thinking and have had more than a few spirited conversations in “their” voices, and talking animal movies sort of hit that spot for me. Not to mention I’ve been a rabid fan of raunchy comedies having grown up in the wild wild west of comedies during the 1980s. But even I had a hard time watching the trailer for Strays and say to myself “wow, I totally have to watch that!”. Sure, it had Jamie Foxx and Will Ferrell, but the trailer just felt like it was trying TOO hard. And when that happens, it’s a very rare thing for the actual film to turn out to be any better than the trailer. Or else the trailer has all of the funny parts in it. Lo and behold, that second scenario is what happened in this particular venture. The trailer highlights the most humorous parts of the film (albeit that whole mushrooms scene is much funnier in the extended form that it had in the film), with most of the rest of the film making one hold their head in their hands saying “why god why?!” to themselves.

Strays begins with a tongue in cheek cheerful mood as scruffy little mutt Reggie (Will Ferrell) happily narrates to us how much he loves his own Doug (Will Forte), a scruffy loser who actually HATES the little dog. But to Reggie Doug is his world. Doug may kick him, chase him away, and then abandon him in the wilderness, but to Reggie Doug can do no wrong. Even when he’s driven 3 hours away and dropped off in a dark alley with his ball, Reggie just wants to get home to Doug and play ball again. However, 3 hours of a drive is a bit hard to come home to, and Reggie is soon forced to live on the streets with his newfound friend Bug (Jamie Foxx). Bug introduces poor Reggie to his disenfranchised friends Maggie (Isla Fisher) and a neurotic police dog turned therapy dog named Hunter (Randall Park), who soon show the poor little fella that he IS abandoned by the person who was supposed to love him.

Suddenly realizing that his life was a lie, Reggie decides that he is going to take revenge on his previous owner. He’s going to make the trek out to his old home, confront Doug, and then bit his manhood off! (yes, that’s actually what he sets out to do). Much like Barbie where Greta Gerwig has a doll step out into the real world and undergo trials and tribulations in order to self actualize, Strays covers the same basic plot points. Just without the wit, the humor, or the actual message of self actualization. Instead Reggie is out on a mission of revenge and self discovery, coming to the realization that he doesn’t need to be called a “good boy” by his scum bag owner. He just needs to gain the self confidence to live life on his own terms. Oh, and bite Doug’s manhood off in revenge.

Strays is pretty much a one joke movie. Reggie biting off his owner’s wang is simply the main focus of the film, and while they try to shove in a redemption arc and some introspective moments, those moments are shrouded by gross out poop humor, and jokes about dog wangs. Will Ferrell is his typical clueless “oh I’m a man child, look at me!” persona that he’s done his hole career, but it’s really Isla Fischer and Jamie Foxx who actually feel like real characters. Strays manages to be more humorous than laugh out loud funny, but there are a few scenes that got a chuckle out of me. The introduction of Bugs in the alley is actually pretty funny, and the mushrooms scene is much darker and much funnier than the trailer made it out to be. That being said, most of the rest of the humor is based upon “oh look, there’s a dog who’s cussing and using vulgar language! That’s funny, right guys!?” more than actually hard hitting JOKES.




Rating:

Rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use.




Video:

Once again, I’m not sure if Strays didn’t warrant a 4K release from Universal, or they’re just going to release a 4K UHD of the film down the road like they have with a dozen other films in the last couple of years. BUUUUT, either way, the Blu-ray that we have here today looks rather fantastic. Shot completely digitally, Strays has that digital glossiness to it that showcases bright richly saturated colors, tons of brightly lit outdoor scenes, fantastic detail levels, and pretty much no signs of any major artifacting anywhere to be seen (outside of some very mild back crush during the carnival scene, and when Reggie and Doug are in the scummy little house they called home). All in all, a very nice 1080p image that looks great.









Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA lossless audio mix has spring in its step, but otherwise is a fairly straight forward comedy track. That means it’s heavily front forward for a vast majority of the run time, with only minor surround usage and the LFE track is reserved for a few big moments outside of the score. That being said, it’s still a very nice sounding track, with a great front centered dialog track and some nice panning effects, such as when Bugs come crashing out of the side alley near the beginning, or some nice surround/bass usage at the carnival with the fire works setting off. The mix isn’t going to blow you away, but fits nicely into the comedy genre of tracks that you would expect from a highly dialog driven movie.












Extras:

• Talk Like a Dog - Meet the humans behind the dogs as Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, and Randall Park discuss how they got into the canine mindset to voice their roles.
• The Ultimate Treat: Making STRAYS - Go on a journey with filmmakers and cast and share in their joy at bringing this unique film to the big screen.
• Poop, Booms, and Shrooms - You'd be surprised how challenging it is filming big scenes with non-human actors. In this piece we take a look at how the filmmaking team executed some of the film's most memorable sequences.
• Will Forte: STRAY Actor - Sit down with Will Forte and learn what it's like playing someone we all hate. Filmmakers and his castmates join in to reveal why Will was the best man for the job.
• Training to be STRAY - Sit, stay, pee, hump? Take a look at the creative methods used by trainers to get the canines to perform.
• A New Best Friend - The bond between human and dog is undeniable. So much so that director Josh Greenbaum couldn't resist bringing a stray from set home with him.
• Feature commentary with Director/Producer Josh Greenbaum and Screenwriter/Producer Dan Perrault

Final Score:
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I got a few chuckles out of Strays, but at the end of the day it’s just a derivative shock humor film, filled with and poop jokes to distract you from the the very minimalist story under the surface. As such, I put it in the category of low rentals, where it might make for a funny Saturday afternoon watch where you’re away from the family and wanting to just veg out. The Universal produced Blu-ray looks fantastic, sounds good, and actually has some decent extras. So fans of the film shouldn’t be disappointed in the physical release. Still, low rental.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Rob Riggle, Will Forte, Josh Gad
Directed by: Josh Greenbaum
Written by: Dan Perrault
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish, French DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: R
Runtime: 93 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: October 10th, 2023

Recommendation: Rental