Set during World War II, John Boyne’s 2006 novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas tells a tale of an unlikely friendship. 2008 brought a cinematic adaptation of the story.

Nazi SS Commander Ralf (David Thewlis) gets transferred to supervise a concentration camp in rural Poland. He brings his family with him and that includes eight-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield).

Though told to stay away from the camp – whose purpose remains unknown to the lad - Bruno eventually wanders over to that location. Through a barbed-wire fence, he meets Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a boy about the same age with a shaved head and a curious striped outfit. The pair gradually gets to know each other, a path with various ramifications.

As I’ve often said, I think stories of the Holocaust fare better when they maintain a fairly small and personal scale. For instance, I always felt 1982’s Sophie’s Choice came with a massive emotional impact due to that focus.

This means Pajamas should be right up my alley, as it were. With a strong concentration on specific characters and little attempt to tell a more global tale, the film seems like something that should become powerful and emotional.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t become the case. Pajamas attempts to impact the viewer but it leans so hard on melodrama that it fails.

One issue stems from the fact that Pajamas revolves around Bruno’s journey, mainly because he’s too young to evolve much. He starts as a naïve kid and ends there, without any real change in between those moments.

That’s what happens when a tale focuses on an eight-year-old: there’s only so much room to grow. I guess Pajamas could’ve painted Bruno as the victim of active Nazi propaganda who sees the lies, but his age remains a problem in that regard.

Little kids simply lack the reasoning ability necessary to create a compelling intellectual journey. Pajamas doesn’t even paint Bruno as especially invested in the Nazi material anyway, so his path feels like it goes nowhere.

Pajamas also takes forever to embark on that side of the narrative. We don’t meet Shmuel until about one-third into the film, and we don’t get good use of that initial half-hour.

Over that 30 minutes, we find an introduction to the family and their new circumstances as well as… not much. A lot of the first act depicts Bruno’s boredom.

Which novelist Boyne seems to think the tale needs, but I disagree. I guess he and the filmmakers want us to see why Bruno felt so desperate for something to do that he ignored his parents’ orders and visited the off-limits camp.

But I disagree. Pajamas repeatedly tells us that Bruno wants to become an adventurer, so that acts as all the explanation for his choice that we require.

Heck, the film doesn’t even need that. “Little kid acts impulsively” seems like enough, so we wind up with a dull and sluggish first act.

Again, matters don’t really improve from there, mainly because Bruno offers such a thin protagonist. He can’t do much with Shmuel other than talk, and eight-year-olds don’t exactly provide stimulating intellectual discussions.

Pajamas does show that Bruno’s mother (Vera Farmiga) goes through an awakening of her own. Initially she doesn’t understand that the camp Ralf commands exterminates Jews, so her gradual awareness of these matters gives her an actual arc.

Which Pajamas barely explores. We see some token exploration of that domain as well as a little related to Gretel (Amber Beattie), Bruno’s 12-year-old sister.

Neither of those characters receives nearly enough exposition to give Pajamas real substance, however. Both would offer more compelling protagonists that Bruno, but the film doesn’t take advantage of those possibilities.

I get that 94 minutes doesn’t allow for a lot of exploration – so why not make the movie longer? Granted, the source novel was only 216 pages, but it still comes with much more dimensionality than this rushed film version.

Indeed, the cinematic Pajamas completely eliminates a potentially compelling post-script from the book that would’ve added power. Instead, it finishes with… well, I can’t say because I want to avoid spoilers.

I will relate that I find the film’s conclusion to seem absurdly melodramatic and manipulative. After 80 minutes of ennui, the film suddenly throws caution to the wind and goes for emotional broke.

This might work if the rest of the movie gripped us – and if the finale didn’t seem so intensely contrived and ridiculous. Unfortunately, the conclusion simply comes across like a desperate attempt to add power to an oddly inert tale.

Instead, it makes a dull movie unconvincing. I wanted to like Pajamas but the final product just doesn’t work.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The picture worked well.

Sharpness was usually fine. Wider shots tended to be a bit soft, but those instances weren’t extreme, and most of the flick offered very good clarity.

Shimmering and jaggies were absent, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws were non-existent, as I detected no specks, marks or other blemishes.

The film’s palette went with a low-ket mix of amber and teal. Within that design range, the colors seemed well-depicted.

Blacks seemed deep and rich, while low-light shots brought appealing clarity. Overall, this became a solid presentation.

Don’t expect fireworks from the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, as we got a mix heavy on music and general environmental material. When the track used the side or rear speakers, it was usually for score or material like nature sounds.

Outside of a thunderstorm late in the tale, nothing memorable fleshed out the track. It fit the movie reasonably well but didn’t add much.

Audio quality was fine. Speech seemed natural and concise, and the score demonstrated pretty good vivacity.

Effects did little to tax my system but they were clear and accurate enough. Overall, this ended up as a decent but unspectacular track.

As we move to extras, we open with an audio commentary from writer/director Mark Herman and author John Boyne. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at the source novel and its adaptation, story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, editing and deleted scenes, music, production design and period details, and connected domains.

For the most part, the track offers an engaging discussion, albeit one that concentrates more on the novel and changes made to it than anything else. A bit more balance and discussion of the actual shoot would be good but this nonetheless turns into a fairly solid chat.

Friendship Beyond the Fence goes for 20 minutes, 31 seconds. It comes with notes from Herman, Boyne, cinematographer Benoit Delhomme, producers David Heyman and Rosie Allison, acting coach Celia Bannerman, production designer Martin Childs, costume designer Natalie Ward, hair designer Marese Langan, and actors Amber Beattie, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Rupert Friend and David Hayman.

“Fence” covers story and characters, the adaptation of the source and changes to it, sets and locations, costumes and period details, cinematography, cast and performances, and historical elements. Despite some of the usual happy talk, “Fence” gives us some good production info.

Five Deleted Scenes span a total of six minutes, 20 seconds. The first two show more of Bruno and family before they came to the concentration camp, while the other three depict more of Bruno’s new life.

That means pretty much everything here would’ve come before Bruno meets Shmuel, a segment that already goes too long. As such, these cuts made sense.

We can watch the scenes with or without commentary from Herman and Boyne. They give us rudiments about the segments but don’t tell us much of real interest.

The disc opens with ads for The Conspirators, Rabbit Hole and Biutiful. No trailer for Pajamaes appears here.

Note that this 2024 Paramount reissue literally reproduces the original Lionsgate Blu-ray from 2011. That means it still comes with the old Lionsgate ads!

Given its personal tale, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas feels like it should offer a powerful take on the Holocaust. Unfortunately, the story and characters seem thin and the film’s tendency toward melodrama makes it a disappointment. The Blu-ray comes with solid picture, adequate audio and a nice mix of bonus materials. I hoped Pajamas would deliver an evocative story but the end result fizzles.