Kindergarten Cop – 4K UHD Blu-ray Review
Commissions Earned
Film Title: Kindergarten Cop (1989)
Release Date: 2024
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 111 minutes
Region Coding: Region Free
Distributor: KL Studio Classics
Audio Format(s): DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 & 2.0
High Dynamic Range: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Version Reviewed: 4K UHD Blu-ray
Release Date: 1/23/24
Director: Ivan Reitman
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Penelope Ann Miller, Pamela Reed, Linda Hunt, Richard Tyson, Carroll Baker, Cathy Moriarty, Richard Portnow
Jump to Sections:
Movie | Video | Audio | Bonus | Closing | Screenshots
Full 4K Tech Specs found at the bottom
click to view a 4K Screenshot
The Movie
“Kindergarten Cop” was a 1990 action comedy directed by Ivan Reitman, best known for directing the films “Meatballs” (1979), “Stripes” (1981), “Ghostbusters” (1984), “Twins” (1988), “Ghostbusters II” (1989), “Dave” (1993), and “Evolution” (2001). The original story was penned by Murray Salem, who also collaborated on the screenplay with Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris. Weingrod and Harris, known for their joint efforts on ’80s classics like “Trading Places” (1983) and “Brewster’s Millions” (1985), previously teamed up with Reitman on the screenplay for the film “Twins” in 1988.
The story revolves around “Detective John Kimble” (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a police officer tasked, as it would be by circumstance, with going undercover as a kindergarten teacher – hence the title. After his partner, “Detective O’Hara,” (Pamela Reed) falls dreadfully ill, his mission is to pass as an elementary school substitute teacher while trying to locate a mother and child under the imminent threat of murder. Upon arriving in the town of Astoria, Oregon at the elementary school, Kimble is greeted by skeptical colleagues, including the principal, “Miss Schlowski” (Linda Hunt), and fellow teachers. Even the students quickly realize he’s unlike any teacher they’ve encountered yet they are willing to push him to his limits.
Describing his classroom management as chaotic would be an understatement, yet he must persevere in fulfilling his duty no matter how unruly these students are. Along the way, Kimble will learn how to get by thanks to another teacher named “Joyce” (Penelope Ann Miller). Our protagonist will also make some new friends in his kindergarten classroom who pose some interesting questions and reminders. Will John Kimble manage to find the child and mother who are under the threat of a criminal father and keep them safe? Better yet, will he survive the job of substitute teaching a kindergarten classroom? You’ll just have to watch and see.
Movie Rating: 4.25 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Video Quality
“Kindergarten Cop” on 4K UHD Blu-ray is presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with Dolby Vision and HDR10 forms of high dynamic range. The movie was shot on 35mm film using the Arriflex 35 BL3 camera and spherical lenses. This has received a new 4K scan from the 35mm original camera negative.
Next, let me get technical, for a bit, in regards to the 4K UHD Blu-ray Disc itself here. This release uses a BD-100 (100 gigabytes) disc, 80.95 gigabytes total, and 78.7 gigabytes for the film itself. Based on my observations via my 4K UHD Blu-ray player, this seems to be running an average (roughly) of anywhere between 84.1 to 92.8 Mbps in the HEVC (high-efficiency video coding) codec, hitting peaks as high as 103.6 and 140.2 Mbps at times. According to info on the PC side, this seems to have an overall video bitrate of 90.6 Mb/s average. That’s beyond impressive itself, from a statistician’s perspective such as mine. It’s not common for you to find an average bitrate over 90 Mb/s on a 4K UHD Blu-ray. Finally, this seems to be mastered at 4553 nits according to metadata info on my Panasonic 4K UHD Blu-ray Player. Yes, you read that amount of nits correctly.
One of the first things I noticed visually is that this has a nice amount of film grain left fully intact throughout and as a result it feels very cinematic. That’s important to me personally, as I remember seeing this particular movie in a theater. The 4K presentation here managed to pull me back in time and it felt like I was experiencing this film for the first time all over again, without the use of a time machine. Joking aside, this 4K UHD Blu-ray truly delivers an exceptional presentation that does the original 35mm film print and Michael Chapman’s excellent cinematography justice.
The colors can extraordinarily pop now in Dolby Vision (or HDR10) and flesh tones come across more accurately than ever before. The black level here is finally solid. There’s an incredible amount of newfound detail now here in 4K, and that comes many thanks to the beautiful location of Astoria, Oregon — where most of the exterior shots were filmed. Facial close-ups will be where you’re going to notice the newfound detail and it can be quite impressive. I cannot help but feel this nearly accomplishes a theatrical exhibition via this 4K presentation. All of the little bits of debris and such have been left in, not feeling too overly cleaned up, giving this a beautiful look. I wish more films received this sort of treatment. That said, this earns itself an excellent 5 rating for video quality.
Video Quality Rating: 5 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Audio Quality
“Kindergarten Cop” arrives on 4K UHD Blu-ray with either DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround or DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo lossless sound. NOTE: a DTS 5.1 and 2.0 core is available for those not able to decode the lossless sound formats.
I’ll be covering the 5.1 surround mix here in my review. From the very opening, I noticed that this had one very impressive amount of LFE, which I felt via the subwoofer from the original music composed by Randy Edelman. Sound effects also make great use of LFE and especially the rear channels here very early on, during some police work. There’s some action, including fighting and gunfire early on, but for the most part, the film takes place in a kindergarten classroom so it’s still pretty hectic. A classroom of 20 children screaming can be more hectic than a shootout with bad guys at times, you’ll later find out. Dialogue is delivered distinct here from the center channel speaker in the surround mix. Zero need for making any volume adjustments here, as this mix is fine at the reference level.
I find there’s a perfect balance here in this 5.1 lossless surround mix, as it starts with the typical action film and sound you’ve come to expect from that genre. Then, it takes you and puts you in completely different situations and places and that’s primarily in an elementary school classroom. Later in the film, certain events unfold, leading to a climactic ending. The film’s original score and sound effects gradually build up again, almost (keyword: almost) resembling the final movement of a classical piece of music. It works on all levels in surround and it seems more intense than the theatrical Dolby Surround experience I had as a kid. This time it packs more punch in a lossless sound format and possibly has been remastered.
I also took maybe about 20 minutes sampling some of the lossless 2.0 Stereo sound mix and I found it to be quite impressive during even the action scenes early on. No matter which mix you pick, it is solid and at times impressive as you’d expect in terms of sound quality, especially for the surround mix. All and all, this is enough to earn the release a respectable 4.25 rating for audio quality.
Audio Quality Rating: 4.25 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Bonus Materials
You also get a Blu-ray Disc included in this 2-disc “combo pack” set.
- The Blu-ray Disc contains the film using the same scan in 1080p HD video with both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo sound options. It should be noted that this disc is Region A-locked. The 4K UHD Blu-ray however is region free.
Bonus materials included on the 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray Disc are listed below.
- Audio Commentary by Film Historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson
- Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
- Theatrical Trailer (2 minutes, 3 seconds – HD) features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo sound. This is only included on the Blu-ray Disc.
Overall, the bonus materials here prove to be somewhat interesting for fans of the film, from a historical perspective, with the two historian audio commentary tracks while the average fan is probably not going to opt for these. Some will likely watch the original theatrical trailer again before they watch the movie, but it’s on oddly enough only the Blu-ray Disc. That being said, the extras are worthwhile for those who like audio commentary tracks but they’re a possible letdown to the fans expecting anything involving the cast and crew.
Bonus Materials Rating: 1.5 (out of 5)
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Closing Thoughts
The 1990 film “Kindergarten Cop” stands out as an action comedy, pioneering the successful fusion of these two genres. It achieved this feat by bringing together Hollywood’s top box-office action star, Schwarzenegger, and the highly respected director and producer, Reitman. Their collaboration turned the conventional expectations of a motion picture upside down.
It starts as your typical action film with “John Kimble” being a police officer, pursuing the bad guy and even having the typical chase. Then, you’re thrown for a curve ball with him being put like a fish out of water into a classroom as a substitute teacher for a kindergarten class. It’s absurd, but it’s also brilliant and the very same time, and it still holds up today.
In terms of video quality, you got one simply stunning new 4K scan that is full of newfound detail with vibrant colors, along with perfectly solid black levels, thanks to the addition of HDR. There’s such a stunning amount of film grain left here to give you that 1990 theatrical feel, and I love it. The video encode is running at one of the highest average bitrates that I have ever seen from a 4K UHD Blu-ray while doing this gig, so that says something in itself. Just know, that if you can’t tell from the 4K screenshots, this looks marvelous.
In terms of audio quality, this release features both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround and 2.0 Stereo lossless sound options. I strongly prefer the 5.1 surround mix, but it’s nice to have the Stereo there as an option. The mix does the film definite justice and comes with a lot of LFE, as well as the use of the rear channel speakers proves to be worthwhile. The 5.1 mix is a bit more beyond just sold, it can be somewhat impressive at times.
Finally, in terms of extras, all you get on this release are two audio commentary tracks by film historians and the original trailer. That’s a shame we don’t get any new interviews or such but that’s how things are. All and all, I really must say that any fan of “Kindergarten Cop” is going to want this 4K UHD Blu-ray release and that makes it A Highly Recommended Upgrade. The folks at Kino Lorber have done an excellent job here on a very underrated film.
In terms of 4K UHD Blu-ray release, this gets:
5 (out of 5) for video quality
4.25 (out of 5) for audio quality
1.5 (out of 5) for bonus materials
Overall Verdict:
A Highly Recommended Upgrade
Available As:
2024 4K UHD Blu-ray Release
Available at: Amazon | Kino Lorber | Walmart
Commissions Earned
4K UHD Blu-ray Screenshots:
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Standard Packaging:
4K UHD Blu-ray Technical Specifications:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Exact Runtime(s): 1:51:24
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with a DTS 5.1 core), English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (with a DTS 2.0 Stereo core)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
HDR: HDR10, Dolby Vision
Disc Size: BD-100
Disc Use: 80.95GB total / 78.7GB for the film
Video Bitrate: 90.6 Mb/s