5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 1.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
Madea dispenses her unique form of holiday spirit on rural town when she's coaxed into helping a friend pay her daughter a surprise visit in the country for Christmas.
Starring: Tyler Perry, Larry the Cable Guy, Kathy Najimy, Tika Sumpter, Chad Michael MurrayComedy | 100% |
Holiday | 23% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
One of my smart aleck sisters thought she was being clever one Christmas and asked Santa Claus for coal. Imagine her surprise when each and every beautifully wrapped package that year (all different shapes and sizes) contained nothing but pitch black sedimentary rock. Even her stocking, hung with such care by the fireplace, was stuffed full of little obsidian carbon nuggets. My parents thought it was hilarious—my sister, not so much. (She did end up getting her “real” presents after this little lesson was handed out for everyone’s edification.) It might be tempting to view A Madea Christmas as Tyler Perry’s own personal lump of coal delivered to rapt Perry believers far and wide, for even longtime fans of this Energizer Bunny of filmmakers may be hard pressed to find much to enjoy here. Expectedly raucous and filled with Perry’s own patented (and prefab) version of “saving grace,” A Madea Christmas is nonetheless a largely emotionless piece that fails to grasp what makes most iconic holiday movies work—a surfeit of heart, rather than raunch (Bad Santa notwithstanding).
A Madea Christmas is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Whatever one may or may not think of the actual content of any given Tyler Perry film, his productions usually have a professional gloss to them that often includes rather good visuals. Even that proclivity is inconsistently attained here. While there's nothing horrible about either the look of the film or its high definition transfer, this is decidedly on the bland side, with a lack of pop, where even Madea's red Christmas dress seems to look just a little tired. Digitally shot with the Arri Alexa, the film has a suitably sleek appearance, with good fine detail in close-ups and some decent if not overwhelming depth in outdoor shots. But there's nothing here that really screams "high definition" in any meaningful way. This is a good, competent transfer of a visually uninspiring film. There are no issues with compression artifacts or other anomalies.
As with most Tyler Perry outings, A Madea Christmas has quite a bit of music in it, and that helps open up the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1's mix to provide some decent immersion. Otherwise, this is a pretty talky affair, with virtually all dialogue anchored front and center. There are occasional moments of ambient environmental effects dotting the surrounds, and a couple of crowd scenes, including two in the mayor's office, where dialogue is splayed and directional. Fidelity is fine and there are no problems of any kind to warrant concern.
The marketplace has spoken, and quite obviously there are more Tyler Perry lovers than can be counted easily. That still doesn't equate to actual quality, and A Madea Christmas is a really lackluster affair that doesn't even have the smattering of laughs that most Madea outings manage to eke out of relentlessly predictable proceedings. Perhaps surprisingly, given Perry's emphasis on spirituality in his films, there's not even much of a meaningful message here, only Madea's foul mouthed rants about how the world is going to hell in a handbasket. For those with a hankering for more Tyler Perry in drag, technical merits on this release are very good if not especially mind blowing.
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