Freakier Friday Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Freakier Friday Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 10, 2025

Some wise guru, if evidently not a Yogi (that's probably a Dad joke, sorry), once said "nostalgia ain't what it used to be", but Freakier Friday is giving that kind of "sentimental journey" an energetic go anyway. Nostalgia is front and center not just in the film itself, but in some of the supplements included on the Blu-ray disc, where the term is repeatedly overtly offered as at least a subtext of if not the prime motivator for this sequel. What's kind of interesting about this "look backward", at least with regard to the bonus content on the disc is that it's kind of selective, focusing almost exclusively on the 2003 Freaky Friday. That leaves a wealth of rather interesting contextual content on the veritable cutting room floor, including the fact that the franchise owes its genesis to Mary Rodgers, a name which may frankly not be all that recognized to the public at large, even if musical theater fans will at least recognize her iconic surname.

If Mary's dad Richard is one of the unabashed titans of 20th century songcraft, Mary herself had her own brush with musical comedy fame with her delightful Once Upon a Mattress, which helped propel Carol Burnett to superstardom. Theater trivia lovers may know she also contributed the music to off Broadway's revue The Mad Show, collaborating with one Stephen Sondheim on a sendup of Antonio Carlos Jobim's Girl from Ipanema, among other daffy tunes. The Mad Show provided major stepping stones for a variety of performers including Joanne Worley and Linda Lavin.

But Mary Rodgers didn't just confine her artistic pursuits to music or even theater, with her 1972 novel Freaky Friday leading to 1976's Freaky Friday, which had a screenplay by Rodgers and which starred Barbara Harris and a young Jodie Foster, becoming a significant success for Disney at a time when they really needed a success. I've joked in some other reviews about how some relatively recent umbrage over Disney going "woke" seems to ignore they've been indulging in one of the most supposedly "woke" behaviors of all time, namely recycling, for untold years, and that has certainly been the case with the Freaky Friday franchise, though rather interestingly the Mouse House did not adapt Rodgers' sequels Billions for Boris and Summer Switch, the first of which had a brief theatrical run in 1984, and the second of which aired the same year as an ABC Afterschool Special.

Disney did return to the property in 1995 for a made for television Freaky Friday with Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann (rather interestingly directed by Melanie Mayron), before once again offering the body swap saga on the big screen with the above linked 2003 feature film with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. Now all of the foregoing may be frankly extraneous information, but it may subliminally indicate that this film is in a very real way nothing new, which is not to say it's not enjoyable. The whole body swap issue is "magnified" this time around, with four characters swapping bodies instead of only two. This time out, Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna (Lindsay Lohan) do not switch with each other. Instead, Anna switches with her own daughter Harper (Julia Butters), while Tess switches with Lily (Sophia Hammons), the British daughter of Anna's would be fiancé, Eric (Manny Jacinto).

Things play out about as chaotically as might be expected, but the film seems to want to substitute breakneck pacing and quick cut editing strategies in the place of smart writing and actual character development. There's an unabashedly genial mood suffusing the piece, but it frankly plays more like a made for television outing at times itself than a "major motion picture". Curtis and Lohan are both a lot of fun, and the supporting cast is largely very energetic and enjoyable, including returning co-stars like Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Rosalind Chao, Lucille Soong, and Stephen Toblowsky (hilarious in a supplement). Given the foregoing cast list and the film's self confessed reliance on nostalgia, in more ways than one this is a "been there, seen that" enterprise.

Freakier Friday Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Freakier Friday is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Arri gets a credit in the closing roll, and the IMDb specifies the Arri Alexa 35 was utilized with a 4K DI (maybe a bit surprisingly, given no 4K UHD release as of the writing of this review). The result is very colorful and well detailed, with the surplus of sunny outdoor California scenes popping extremely well, but with some rather interesting lighting and grading choices utilized at times, notably in some of the club material. Bold primaries in particular really are outstandingly vivid throughout the presentation. Fine detail on admittedly everyday items like clothes and sets is typically excellent. There were a couple of almost unnoticeable curious quasi-combing artifacts that would seem to be at odds with a progressive presentation that very briefly caught my eye, but otherwise this is a great looking presentation of a film that offers a few flourishes in style, but isn't overly "showy".

Freakier Friday Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Freakier Friday has an often rambunctious DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track that offers some really spacious accountings of the ubiquitous source cues that dot the proceedings. The rather brief "transformation" scene, which offers some "swirling" visuals, also has some fun immersion. Some of the chaos that ensues when all four major characters are together also provide clear engagement of the side and rear channels. The club scenes are also good examples of layering and smart prioritization. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

Freakier Friday Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Things Freakier (HD; 7:29) is an appealing EPK with some fun interviews and behind the scenes footage.


• Where Were You When. . . (HD; 2:51) revisits the first film with memories from the cast also included in this film, as well as some of the newbies.


• Flashback Friday (HD; 3:48) is another trip down memory lane, comparing and contrasting the 2003 and 2025 outings, with some examples of ostensible "easter eggs".


• Baby Lyric Video (HD; 3:16)


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 11:44)

DVD and digital copies are included.

Freakier Friday Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Whoever said "nostalgia ain't what it used to be" may have been on point, but for a certain seemingly pretty substantial demographic, this film will probably be just what the fortune teller ordered. The lack of a 4K release strikes me as a bit strange, but this 1080 release offers secure technical merits and some fun supplements. Recommended.