Alpha and Omega - Blu-Ray

Movie: Actually, the young wolves Kate and Humphrey are thickest friends since childhood. But that must now change. For Kate is destined to become an alpha wolf who will one day lead the pack. And Humphrey is a simple omega wolf who doesn't really have much more to offer than getting into mischief with his buddies. But then the two are captured by park rangers and taken from Canada to a national park in Idaho, where they are to provide offspring. While Humphrey is extremely taken with the idea, Kate is desperate to get back to Canada, where she is already promised to a wolf from another pack, so that the two competing clans can henceforth live together in peace. And so Kate and Humphrey embark on the long and dangerous journey back to their homeland, a journey that will permanently change their relationship.

Alpha and Omega is a nice animated film in its own right. However, the story and production lack some originality. Rather, the creators seem to have blithely helped themselves to various animated films from The Lion King to Hunting Fever. This inevitably leads to comparisons, and Alpha and Omega just can't keep up visually. While the landscapes are very appealingly animated, the animal characters are a bit angular and where in films with a higher budget every hair blows individually in the wind, here the fur of the wolves blows in clumps. This is not really a bad thing, as films like The Little Red Riding Hood Conspiracy have already proven that a rather average animation can be compensated by an original and funny story.

But unfortunately that is not the case here either. Now that's not to say that Alpha and Omega doesn't have some great moments to offer. The makers have peppered the animal adventure again and again with small ideas, about which you can laugh even as a slightly older viewer. But all in all the whole thing is a rather simple fun, which is not too cruel for small viewers from 5 years and also offers a lot of cute and funny characters for the young target group.

The German dubbing is well done, even if it can not quite keep up with the original English version. Especially since there prominent speakers like Dennis Hopper, Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere or Christina Ricci have lent their voices to the animal stars. But even without celebrity traction, the German version works properly and thus rounds off the overall picture well. Therefore: a nice animated adventure for children between 5 and 11 years. Neither visually, nor in terms of content on the level of Pixar, Dreamworks Animation and Co, but still well worth seeing for small viewers!

Picture + Sound: As can be expected from a current animated film, the image of Alpha and Omega is also very clean and sharp, has strong colors and well-matched black levels. In terms of sound, it is noticeable that the German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track comes across a little more powerful than the original English sound, in which the dialogue is integrated a little more coherently into the tonal events.

Extras: The bonus offer of the Blu-Ray is quite decent for a home theater premiere. On view is a three-part making of (approx. 20 min.), which goes into the making of the film as well as the work of the prominent voice actors of the original version. There is also a short featurette about wolves in the wild (approx. 13 min.), which is even presented with German voice-over, so that even the little ones can enjoy this extra. Finally, there are just under 25 minutes of promotional interviews with cast and crew, a cut scene (approx. 1 min.), as well as the trailer and other programming tips from the provider. Good.

Conclusion: Alpha and Omega is quite an entertaining animated film, though visually it can't keep up with its great predecessors, nor does it offer much that's new in terms of content. But even if the story is not exactly original, it is still quite charming and presented in a child-friendly way, so that especially smaller animation fans could definitely have fun with it

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp