Just seven weeks after the 20th Anniversary DVD was released, Universal has rereleased Jonah on Blu-ray, 11 years and nine months after the now out-of-print Lionsgate Blu-ray. Unlike the Lionsgate release, this is a Blu-ray disc only and does not include a DVD copy. Also, unlike last month's DVD, this Blu-ray was not manufactured by Studio Distribution Services, but released through Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, possibly manufactured on demand (MOD).
At publishing time, I do not have technology to do screenshots of Blu-rays. If I ever get it, I'll include screenshots.
Video:
The movie is in the 1.78 aspect ratio in 1080p HD.
The picture used for the menu is better quality than last month's DVD but is still not good quality.
Audio:
The Blu-ray only includes the English Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix. Previous DVDs also included the English Stereo 2.0 mix as well as the Spanish dubbed audio. Past DVDs also included audio commentaries, but those are not included here. (Last month's DVD advertised the audio commentaries, but did not include them, though this Blu-ray does not mention them.)
Video:
The movie is in the 1.78 aspect ratio in 1080p HD.
The picture used for the menu is better quality than last month's DVD but is still not good quality.
Audio:
The Blu-ray only includes the English Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix. Previous DVDs also included the English Stereo 2.0 mix as well as the Spanish dubbed audio. Past DVDs also included audio commentaries, but those are not included here. (Last month's DVD advertised the audio commentaries, but did not include them, though this Blu-ray does not mention them.)
There's only one subtitle option, English SDH.
Bonus Features:
The bonus features included on the Blu-ray are identical to the bonus feature on last month's DVD (including the aspect ratio issues) (but fortunately not the bonus feature problems of the previous Blu-ray).
Bonus Features:
The bonus features included on the Blu-ray are identical to the bonus feature on last month's DVD (including the aspect ratio issues) (but fortunately not the bonus feature problems of the previous Blu-ray).
The Jonah: Sing Along Songs and More video differs slightly from the DVD. This one includes trailers for Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, Larry-Boy: The Cartoon Adventures, 3-2-1 Penguins, and a message to "Stay tuned for more after the show", but there is not more after the show.
Conclusion:
Jonah has only been released on Blu-ray twice, in 2011 by Lionsgate and 2022 by Universal. Each Blu-ray disc features issues with the quality of the bonus features. The newest Jonah Blu-ray is a must-buy only for this reason: Universal hasn't been releasing Christian movies onto Blu-ray lately, only on DVD. As much as I tweet at them to also release Christian movies on Blu-ray, they're not reading the tweets. The only way they will get the message is to buy a copy of this Blu-ray disc. If they sell well, then Universal might be willing to release other Christian movies on Blu-ray. The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything turns 15 years old next month, and Universal has not once released it on Blu-ray. They might finally release Pirates on Blu-ray if Jonah has good sales numbers.
