5.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A group of new college students, spurned from the official college cheerleading team. Rather than give in to defeat, the students band together and form their own cheer squad, but can they win the cheer-off.
Starring: Kevin Cooney, Faune Chambers Watkins, Bryce Johnson, Bethany Joy Lenz, Katherine BailessComedy | 100% |
Teen | 43% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
For a movie as predictable as Bring It On Again -- predictable in character presentations and arcs, predictable in story moves and machinations, predictable even in that it would exist -- it's only fitting that a review include a few predictable notices, too. So here's the predictable mention of the original Bring It On, a film about the cutthroat world of cheerleading with humorous, sexy, and rhythmic bends. Here's a predictable mention that this sequel, the second in what would become a string of six films (the aforementioned original, this sequel, Bring It On: All or Nothing, Bring It On: In It to Win It, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish, and Bring It On: Worldwide #Cheersmack), was released to the direct-to-video marketplace, even after the original grossed about nine times its budget at the box office and would go on to become something of a fan-favorite and a defining movie in the dance/cheer sub-genre. But the DTV landscape has certainly been kind to the franchise if nothing else. The Bring it On brand has predictably become a factory for cheer movies and the name is synonymous with the genre, more so than any other. Unpredictably, the movie is fairly fun. Generic, yes, but also fun in a mindless escape sort of way if the audience can enjoy the journey rather than fret over the familiar destination and worn-out stops along the way.
"It's either us or him."
With Universal's spotty catalogue track record, expectations are always mild for a new release from the vaults. Bring It On Again actually looks fairly good on Blu-ray. The 1080p presentation retains a pleasing grain structure that's light and complimentary and fairly consistent in presence and intensity. Print wear -- white pops and speckles and so on -- interfere with some regularity but never to much of a distracting extreme. Edge enhancement is not wholly uncommon; it's plain as day in a few scenes, including a ground-up shot of characters in a circle in the 56-miniute mark. Detailing is very good. The presentation doesn't push the format to its limits, but skin textures, hair, and clothes are all nicely revealing, maybe a hint soft, but very firmly filmic. Environments look great, too, whether grasses at the fields or the scuffs on the hardwood where the cheerleaders practice. Colors are fun, lacking absolute eye-popping intensity but enjoying good, firm saturation to the yellow and blue cheer uniforms, while natural greens are another highlight. Black levels are nice and naturally deep and flesh tones appear accurate. This is a very well performing Blu-ray from Universal.
Bring It On Again's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is a little aged and favors intensity over subtlety, but listeners will surely enjoy the presentation's aggressiveness in all areas of concern, even if it's all a little over-engineered for effect. Music and cheer numbers are, of course, the highlight, with music sloshing out of every channel with impressive aggression while still maintaining a healthy clarity in the process. The low end adds a rather weighty, sometimes borderline prodigious, thump, which can really get the juices flowing with all of the action pouring out of the other speakers and, certainly, in conjunction with all of the on-screen eye candy, too. Ambient effects filter into the stage with decent life and purpose in recreating various college campus exteriors. Dialogue reproduction is just fine, featuring stable front-center location, good prioritization over competing sound elements, and consistent vocal clarity.
Bring It On Again contains a handful of bonuses which must be accessed in-film via the pop-up menu. No top menu is included. No DVD or
digital versions are included. This release does not ship with a slipcover.
Bring It On Again isn't necessarily a bad movie, it's just utterly unoriginal. "Again," indeed, the film is superfluous and reminiscent of the original, even as there's really no connection between them beyond the shared name. Dance/Cheer genre fans should find the film mostly agreeable as a cinema comfort food entertainer but anyone looking to find the cheerleader movie reinvented or even reinvigorated will leave disappointed. Universal's Blu-ray packs in a few aging features but does boast fairly strong 1080p video and an enjoyable 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Worth a look.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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Paramount Presents #32
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