5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
After stumbling across a treasure map inside Curly's hat, Mitch decides to go for the gold. He, his friend Phil, and his oddball brother Glen set out once again on a quest in the West. Just as their new adventure begins, to their disbelief Curly's ghost seemingly appears and rescues them from near death. Then — they lose most of all of their supplies and the treasure map. All looks lost until Glen steps forward and claims he can lead them to the gold. Doubtful they press forward. However their gamble pays off and they strike pay dirt! …Or do they?
Starring: Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Jon Lovitz, Jack Palance, Patricia WettigComedy | 100% |
Western | 33% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Expectations were low for 1991’s “City Slickers,” which was a modestly budgeted summer release starring Billy Crystal, who was trying to build a leading man career after the success of “When Harry Met Sally.” The picture offered adult audiences relatable themes on aging and friendship, delivering nuggets of midlife crisis awareness while exploring the open world, complete with western-style misadventures and animal encounters. “City Slickers” managed to surprise many by becoming the sleeper hit of the year, becoming the fifth highest grossing feature of 1991 (right below “The Silence of the Lambs”), while Jack Palance collected an Academy Award for his work as the crusty cowboy, Curly. A sequel wasn’t necessary, there was nowhere left to go with the premise, but Crystal thought he had a sure thing with 1992’s “Mr. Saturday Night” (his directorial debut), a hyped dramedy that was envisioned as an awards magnet and box office behemoth, and while the vanity project managed to collect a few nominations, audiences avoided it, knocking the star off-course in his quest to become a bankable name. For Crystal, there was only one way to win back his audience: a sequel. For 1994’s “City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold,” Crystal is aiming to please, recycling old jokes, rehashing familiar subplots, and even bringing back Palance to make sure the follow-up generates the same excitement as the previous chapter in the Mitch Robbins saga. It turns out, the “one thing” only really works once.
The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "The Legend of Curly's Gold" provides a comfortable but aged viewing experience for a catalog title. Detail is slightly softer throughout, offering passable dimension with rugged locations, and desert rocks are textured. Facial surfaces are appreciable as the characters are worn down by the adventure, and cowboy costuming remains fibrous (softer cotton, rougher leather). Colors come through with clearly, offering appealing desertscapes and clothing, and skintones are natural. Blue skies and golden sun are appealing, capturing the outdoorsy feel of the picture. Delineation is satisfactory. Source is in excellent condition.
The 5.1 DTS-HD MA offers a lively listening experience, presenting clear, deep dialogue exchanges that manage all sorts of slapstick screaming without distortion, and more heartfelt encounters retain intended softness. Scoring cues are hearty and wide, with defined instrumentation, including the brassy main theme. Surrounds are engaged, handing music and atmospherics with authority, offering a good sense of outdoor position and office bustle. The cartoon main title sequence is more playful with panning and separation effects. Low-end emerges with deeper strings and thundering cowboy adventures, including a horse stampede.
Instead of finding a softer landing with a human touch, "The Legend of Curly's Gold" offers a more action-oriented finale set inside an abandoned mine, adding additional bug-eyed antics to an already fatigued feature (the lengthy 116-minute run time doesn't help the cause). The sequel tries to get something going with a tender conclusion about the characters and their bonding experience, but Weiland can't keep the material honest, and the crudely reshot ending basically negates all emotion anyway, keeping the endeavor plasticized. What worked before doesn't exactly work again here, with "The Legend of Curly's Gold" trying too hard to replicate the "City Slickers" experience without fully appreciating what made the original film so special.
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