Charmed: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Charmed: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie Review

The second season arrives with a stunning high-definition presentation.

Charmed is a supernatural drama with exciting action-packed fun. The series was originally broadcast on The WB network. Created by Constance M. Burge, Charmed is an entertaining television drama with an abundance of creativity and wit. The opening theme song is “How Soon Is Now?” (as performed by Love Spit Love). Executive produced by Constance M. Burge, Brad Kern, Aaron Spelling, and E. Duke Vincent, Charmed is an irresistible television series with a fun concept and a wonderful cast.

The second season of Charmed brings back the “Power of Three” with Piper (Holly Marie Combs), Prue (Shannen Doherty), and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) banding together once more to fight evil. Using the all-powerful Book of Shadows to help them, the three witches continue harnessing their powers for the good of humankind. With one obstacle after another befalling these magical sisters in the second season, witchy trials test their strength, endurance, and skill. Returning foes and new dangers await.

The series largely excels due to an excellent ensemble cast. The original trio of Holly Marie Combs, Shannen Doherty, and Alyssa Milano were excellent and each actress brought something special. Charmed wouldn’t have been as entertaining (or charming) without a first-rate cast. Alyssa Milano is especially impressive in the role of Phoebe. Her performance provides the series with an abundance of charm. Shannen Doherty and Holly Marie Combs are also impressive and make the trio a well-rounded bunch. There is a clear sense of “sisterhood” between the actresses.

The production values are surprisingly impressive and manage to help Charmed to be an even more entertaining and engaging television series. The series has wonderful sets and the layout designs thoroughly impress. For a television production, the efforts are impressive and fit the genre.

The special effects are a bit over-the-top at times but there is something charming about the effects work and the way these special effects highlight the demonic characters and supernatural elements within the story. The series even has some nice moments of action-packed fun at times, and these elements contribute to the fun.

Magic times two. (Three?)

Charmed wouldn’t be the same without the costumes, hair, and make-up. These production values are excellent and are an essential aid to the production. Each central character has an impressive costume and the designer elements contribute to the hip style of the series. A splendid effort.

The cinematography is cinematic and makes the series more entertaining than an average television production. The series has a nice visual style and the use of lighting on the production helps reflect supernatural elements inherent in the genre storytelling. The cinematography strikes a good tone between light and dark visual elements.

The score composed by Jay Gruska and J. Peter Robinson manages to imbue the production with an impressively entertaining backdrop. The score is a wonderful highlight to the series (enhancing the storytelling and craft). The score imbues the production with a nice genre element which is quite charming and engaging.

At the core of the success of Charmed is the screenwriting. Charmed is a fun series with good characters, a fun concept, and strong dialogue. The screenwriters involved on the production help aid the series to new heights: the storytelling enhancing the genre roots of the program. The characters feel essential within the framework of the production.

Charmed is well-directed, too. The series finds a nice tonal balance between drama, comedy, and supernatural-suspense. The directing helps to bring forth solid performances from the ensemble. Charmed remains enormously entertaining and there is a lot to commend about the series nice directorial vision.

Charmed: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Paramount Pictures, Charmed: Season 2 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The presentation is impressive and highly detailed. The picture-quality is superb on the release. There is an abundance of fine detail throughout the presentation. The open-matte presentation showcases the series nicely and the production looks better than ever in high-definition. The series is impressive in widescreen: the cinematography nicely framing the visuals.

Charmed: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. Unfortunately, the second season of Charmed is provided with a lossy audio presentation (and doesn't have the same finesse of a lossless audio presentation). The audio quality is on par with a DVD presentation of the series but this set unfortunately lacks the extra resolution uptick of high-resolution/lossless audio. The set nonetheless does a solid job of retaining the original sound design. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand on the presentation.

Charmed: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, Charmed: Season 2 includes no supplemental features of any kind. There are no making-of featurettes, audio commentaries, or behind-the-scenes reels.

Charmed: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Charmed: Season 2 is an entertaining and exciting supernatural adventure. The series has a wonderful sense of energy and charm (pun intended). The saga explores the journey of the "Power of Three" wonderfully. The cast is terrific and each leading actress has fun in each respective role. The Blu-ray release features a solid video-presentation. Unfortunately, Season 2 lacks lossless high-resolution audio and doesn't provide any supplemental features. Nonetheless, fans will be pleased with the quality of the video presentation. Recommended.