Juno Blu-ray Review

Juno comes to Blu-ray presented with a 1080p High Definition video rendition, in the movie's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Detail is superb throughout, with no softness or comparative edge enhancement, but there is often a little acceptable grain, inevitable in a movie that is clearly more indie than Hollywood. The colour scheme is quite broad but never less than natural and realistic throughout, with skin tones given a nice, alive look and some of the sunsets making for fantastic scenic moments. The content does not allow things to go too wild, but it is still well rendered, and we get solid blacks to round out the palette and make for decent enough shadowing and night-time sequences. It is not a sparkly, use-this-to-show-off-your-Home-Entertainment-system kind of presentation, but it is certainly the best that anybody could possibly expect for this production.

To accompany the movie on its next-gen Blu-ray release we get a solid DTS-HD Master Lossless Audio track, top of the range at the moment for this kind of equipment. Dialogue - possibly the most important aspect - comes across clearly and coherently from across the fronts and centre channels, never overwhelmed by the rest of the scoring and given plenty of room to breathe. The effects are largely atmospheric, sometimes totally ignored, sometimes subtly introduced, but there is little here to offer dynamics and surround action, other than purely from an ambient perspective. The score is often also non-existent, having some nice little song tracks thrown in at the appropriate moments - most notably the opening and closing tracks, although there are a few other nice offerings along the way. These arguably mark the highlight of the track, and whilst there is little bass or noteworthy punch to this material, the superior track certainly affords it the best possibly presentation that fans could hope for.

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Juno is a refreshingly honest teenage pregnancy drama, with a rich, astute script that is brought to life by one young actress and a good supporting cast. Ok, it may not be laugh-out-loud like Knocked Up, but it is nevertheless poignant and compelling. This Blu-ray release comes with decent enough video and audio and a solid selection of extras that are worth checking out. Recommended.