Celtic Thunder: It's Entertainment! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Celtic Thunder: It's Entertainment! Blu-ray Movie Review

Not much Celtic and even less Thunder in this fitfully engaging homage to acts that inspired the male quintet.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 19, 2010

They say that everyone’s at least a little bit Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, but I had to wonder if that might be true of the members of Celtic Thunder, supposedly Irish lads themselves who in this odd and oddly pre-packaged concert seem pretty resolutely intent on keeping as far away from Irish material as possible. Of course I exaggerate, but when one comes to a concert by a group named Celtic Thunder, isn’t there an innate expectation we’re going to be treated to the lovely sounds and images of the Emerald Isle? Instead what we’re given here is another PBS-athon of admittedly well sung and well played tunes that owe more to Lawrence Welk than The Chieftans or The Irish Rovers. When you’re confronted with repertoire like “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” or a Beach Boys-esque Surf medley, no amount of plaintive pan pipes or jangly guitars is going to evoke the mystic shores of Ireland, at least any more than an Irish Spring soap commercial does.

See, they wear kilts. That proves they're Irish, right?

I live in the Pacific Northwest, a region of the United States that in geography, climate and even perhaps sociology is quite redolent of Ireland. I’m surrounded by gorgeous hues of green, often penetrated by ethereal mist, and it’s not just because I in fact share a rather pronounced Irish-Scottish gene pool (despite my surname) that my favorite kind of music on a rainy, moody day is Celtic. I could listen to everyone from traditional groups like The Chieftans to more modern interpreters like Lunasa all day long and never grow tired of the reels, jigs and haunting ballads that seem to pour out of Irish songwriters like an unstoppable fountain. I haven’t been as fond, frankly, of some of these slick, over marketed phenomena like Celtic Thunder and Celtic Woman, groups that seem, at least at times, put together for the sole purpose of appealing to elder Americans during pledge week on their local Public Broadcasting System station. The plethora of product churned out by the groups and their individual members is particularly astounding. Celtic Thunder has been relatively restrained in that regard, but what began in 2008 as a largely Irish-based repertoire has either devolved or expanded (depending on your point of view) into the mish-mash we’re presented on It’s Entertainment. Even that patently silly, completely generic title (what, wasn’t That’s Entertainment good enough?) points to the problem with a lot of this set: it’s pabulum for the masses, always well crafted and probably completely wonderful and, yes, entertaining to a certain element, but it’s virtually completely soulless and it’s certainly not very redolent of Ireland or Celtic music in general.

The press hype for this release touts It’s Entertainment as an homage of sorts from the members of Celtic Thunder to the artists of the past several decades who have made an impact on them. As such, some of this non-Irish material is certainly more understandable, but it still leaves the group grasping at times for an ethnic, and frankly a musical, identity. I’m reminded of crossover artists of years past from different cultures, hitmakers like Sergio Mendes, who after their initial success with sounds from their native land tried to enter the pop mainstream marketplace with blander, more generically mainstream pop fare, finding that if the audience wanted that kind of material, there were plenty of homegrown options to choose from without going a more exotic route.

Things actually get off to a semi-promising start here, with a lovely ensemble reading of “Take Me Home,” which is in fact appropriately given an at least quasi-Celtic arrangement. The massed male voices made me think I was listening to O’Divo, to coin a group name. We’re then off into less notable territory, with everything from lamentable choices like “Just Like Jesse James” to the utterly silly (and intentionally so, at least ) “Doo Wacka Doo” competing with more ostensibly heartfelt, and generically appropriate, material like Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and the evergreen “Amazing Grace.” Phil Coulter’s arrangements are always tasteful, but they rarely if ever inspire the listener, instead creating a gentle, pleasant ambience that is everything you’ve ever dreaded about elevator music.

There’s also a surprising cheapness to the physical production here, with a sort of shoddy unit set divided into sections, including an actually funny “park” with fake grass and a bench upon which baby faced Damian McGinty sits forelornly, singing Michael Bublé’s “Home” to a fetching lass who attempts an interpretive dance evidently supposedly elucidating the lyric. The boys also get to pretend they’re in a Frank Loesser musical, though they evidently have confused Guys and Dolls with The Most Happy Fella. The concert does end with two standouts, “Lough Swilly Railway” and “Ireland’s Call,” which manage to both evoke the group’s heritage and its own unique take on this very special genre of music.

Celtic Thunder: It's Entertainment! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

It's Entertainment is presented on Blu-ray with a largely excellent AVC encoded image presented in full 1080p and an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. Colors are well saturated, and, when not hobbled by some rather strange choices in terms of stage lighting and backdrops, lifelike and enjoyable. You'll note in several of the screen captures presented in this review that different segments are lit either mostly in red or blue or green, and at times that gives an odd pallor to some of the fleshtones. Also as you may not in one or two of the screenshots, the footage of the audience is incredibly grainy, perhaps because of dim lighting. Otherwise things look very sharp, with the exception of some stock footage early on in the proceedings of various Irish locales, some of which looks pretty shoddy compared to the rest of the high-def image.

Celtic Thunder: It's Entertainment! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both lossless options on this Blu-ray, a DTS-HD MA 5.1 and an LPCM 2.0, deliver the musical goods, with brilliantly robust sound and absolutely faultless fidelity. I just couldn't help but wish the music itself were a little better. Surround channels are utilized effectively for both audience reactions and the excellent band which accompanies the singers. When all five men are onstage together, there's also decent directionality, though the massed voices tend to blend together into a large block of centrally located sound at times. The string quartet sounds warm and inviting, and the low end frequencies are very clear, presenting the guys in the best possible sonic light. There are no balance issues of any sort to report, and all the singers are always adequately mic'd and mixed into the overall soundfield. All in all a stellar audio presentation.

Celtic Thunder: It's Entertainment! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Celtic Thunder: The Story So Far (36:49; 1080i) is an above average look at the history and impact of the group, starting with some great audition footage, including then adolescent McGinty touting his wares.

Celtic Thunder: It's Entertainment! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I guess the typical trade off for worldwide success is straying a bit from your roots. The set up for It's Entertainment certainly provides the group the latitude to extend beyond the borders of the traditionally Celtic, but the choices here are often at odds with the ethos of Celtic Thunder, and the entire enterprise simply smacks too much of a prepackaged Pledge Week "event."