Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		5.0

Blue Hawaii 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 18, 2022

Blue Hawaii struggles to walk the very fine line between "star vehicle" and "pleasant escape." The film is in a difficult position, and it is built around a difficult proposition, because it is entirely all about its externals. Fortunately for the film, the primary external is Elvis Presley. The other is the beautiful state of Hawaii. Outside of these, there is very little story to speak of, but the picture is determined to make itself a fun and a viable alternative for a lazy, rainy weekend afternoon on the strength of its cheerful locations and nearly endless musical numbers, performed by its star, alone. But the film is hopelessly flat beyond the admittedly beautiful facade. Elvis does his best to carry it, playing a hopelessly two-dimensional character and offering little more than, like the rest of the movie, the expected superficialities to cover up the flat script and vacant story.

Official synopsis: After being discharged from the U.S. Army, cool guy Chadwick Gates (Elvis Presley) returns home to Hawaii. Following several years of strict military life, Gates wants nothing more than to hang loose and surf all day. His family pressures him to work for the family pineapple business. Much to the chagrin of his snobby mother (Angela Lansbury), Gates lands a job as a tour guide at the same company where his girlfriend, Maile (Joan Blackman), also works.

That's the long and short of Blue Hawaii, a film with a plot that serves no purpose beyond offering some semblance of a framework for music, locations, and Elvis. There is simply no substance here. The story's wafer-thin depth means little because the characters are even thinner; nobody is going to walk out of Blue Hawaii grateful for or likely to even remember the story specifics beyond what the title implies: Elvis in Hawaii. The film is so packed with songs and scenery that the story commands precious few minutes in total; it would be an interesting exercise to legitimately clock it, and an even more interesting exercise to muster up a meaning for it. This is not necessarily a point that is worthy of being overly critical about, because if anything the film knows what it is and recognizes the general lack of meat and muscle beyond the superficialities, but audiences should be aware that the film literally amounts to nothing beyond the advertised star and setting, which it does, to its credit, offer in great abundance.

Audiences are coming for Elvis, and the King certainly looks good here. This is prime Elvis, and he soaks up every scene not with finely toned acting -- Elvis is certainly far from the best actor there ever was -- but rather a finely honed screen presence. The film tasks him with very few emotive acting duties, and he is able to carry the picture on stature, charisma, looks, and voice alone. The minimal plot is a blessing for him, leaving him with little chance of blowing a scene because there's nothing to challenge him as an actor. He's very comfortable singing, smiling, looking handsome, and surrounded by natural and human beauty, and that's most of all that he is asked to do. The support cast is fine, particularly the gaggle of nice-looking ladies that surround Elvis and do their best to add a little substance to the story, as the story allows.

Blue Hawaii 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Paramount touts this UHD release of Blue Hawaii as sourced from a "brand new 4k 16-bit restoration of the film from the 35mm camera negative. For the restoration, the original negative was scanned in 4K/16bit, however the opening title sequence was very grainy because it originally used duped film. That sequence was completely rebuilt using the original film elements from the Paramount library. Brand new text overlays were created for a truly spectacular opening sequence befitting this delightful film." So, there is the fine print. The question is how the film looks on the home theater screen.

It looks delightful! The Dolby Vision grading proves its worth right out of the gate, managing to do what seemed impossible while watching the excellent accompanying (and included) Blu-ray which offered a dazzling display of blue depth with the opening titles. The UHD presents them with a bolder, deeper appearance. Contrast is, overall, bolstered, bringing not just the more intense blue text but deeper skies and more delightful green-blue waters underneath. The red sports car seen in the opening moments presents with a more brilliantly intense shade, while the general Hawaii landscape -- which includes clothes, leis, natural greens, and sand -- presents with flat-out gorgeous color accuracy, stability, and naturally inclined intensity. The film may be bland, but this color grading is anything but. Add in fine black levels, incredibly crisp whites, and healthy skin tones, and this color grading is a force to be reckoned with.

The 2160p resolution is a delight as well. The picture offers a natural grain structure, bolstered above even that found on the companion Blu-ray. Here, grain is certainly a little denser and more noticeable, but it is also very organic and true to the film source. It's consistent, too, with no signs of tampering. The result is a handsomely crisp and faithful image that captures the true, organic filmic elements with striking ease and command. The natural Hawaiian locales sparkle with intricate clarity on sand and rocks, while manmade structure reveal incredible complexity well beyond the Blu-ray's capabilities. Skin definition is intimately complex, and hairs are practically countable. A few softer shots remain, but they appear to be inherent to the photographic source. There is no evidence of print damage or encode flaws. This is a stellar UHD from Paramount.

Blue Hawaii 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Paramount brings Blue Hawaii to UHD with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 "restored" soundtrack. Note that the Blu-ray also includes a Dolby Digital 2.0 mono restored track which is not included on this disc. The 5.1 track offers little in the way of immersion. Surrounds carry next to no content; it's difficult to point to even a subtle surround engagement moment and impossible to identify a significant one. But even if the track has not been engineered to distribute content all around the listener, this configuration does, at least, present the content with mild body and pleasant front-side spacing. Indeed, the 5.1 track is a bit shallow. There's not a lot of depth to airplane sounds in the opening minutes, and not much fullness to airport din, either. There is very little sense of space or engagement when waves crash around the 12-minute mark, and overall this track struggles to offer much in the way of engaging atmosphere. Music and lyrics are presented with fair dynamics and good fidelity but lack authority at reference volume. Spacing is adequate along the front. Dialogue is suitably clear and holds to a natural front-center position.

Blue Hawaii 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Blue Hawaii contains three extras as outlined below, all on the included Blu-ray disc. No extras are on the UHD disc. As it ships in the 36th film in the 'Paramount Presents' line, a digital copy code and the familiar 'Paramount Presents' fold open slipcover with alternative artwork are included.

• Audio Commentary: Historian James L. Neibaur reads prepared remarks about the film, its cast, and so forth. The content is good and Neibaur clearly knows his Elvis movies (as he should; he is the author of the book The Elvis Movies).
• Blue Hawaii Photo Scrapbook (1080p, 5:29): A series of still photos presented at approximately 4x3 aspect ratio and accompanied by score.
• Original Theatrical Trailer (480i, ~2.39:1, 3:14).

Blue Hawaii 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Blue Hawaii is a film of well-meaning sight and sound but zero substance. That is a legitimate point of criticism, but it's also fair to cut the film some slack; it's not pretentious, it doesn't pretend that it's meatier than it is, and it enjoys the casual atmosphere and gentle ebb and flow of the process of moving from one number and location to the next. Go in expecting a simple, relaxed time at the movies and find a mostly agreeable little film; expect something of even modest substance and walk away disappointed. Paramount's UHD offers dazzling 2160p/Dolby Vision video, acceptable 5.1 lossless audio (but why the English 2.0 mono track was excluded is a head-scratcher), and a few bonuses, headlined by a prepared-remarks commentary track. Recommended, primarily for the stelar picture quality.