Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Freaky Friday Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 11, 2018

The original Freaky Friday made a big splash with audiences back when it released in 1976 and has remained a favorite within the larger canon of Disney live action family films. A remake seemed at some point inevitable, and that point came in 2003 when Disney returned to the property with an updated, fresher, and more lively take on the story of a mother and daughter swapping bodies and dealing with the personal, private, and emotional fallout of the switch-aroo.

Fortunate Daughters.

Anna (Lindsay Lohan) is a high school student who is smart, sassy, plays the guitar, and has her eye on the school’s hunk, Jake (Chad Michael Murray). Her mother Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a psychiatrist who is too busy to get anything out of life for herself, even as she’s engaged to be married, in the very near future, to Ryan (Mark Harmon). Anna’s band, Pink Slip, has received a late invitation to a competition that will be vital to their future success, but Anna must attend her mother’s wedding rehearsal dinner at the scheduled time. The two clash, as they are prone to do, and in the middle of a Chinese restaurant at that. When an overly cheerful member of the staff brings each of them a fortune cookie, an earthquake, that only they can feel, strikes. They awake the following morning in each other’s bodies, Anna in Tess and Tess in Anna. As they attempt to deal with their new realities, make discoveries about one another, and try to reconcile their differences in one another’s shoes, they must work feverishly to make their fortune come true if they have any chance of returning to their rightful bodies and lives.

Like in the original film, there is some inner voice plot advancement and character development, but it’s kept to a bare minimum rather than serve as the narrative crutch on which the previous film almost exclusively leaned. This version is zippy and very entertaining, getting all the mileage it can from the essential story, with each character really selling the swap and organically dealing with the fallout on themselves and on the little slice of the world around them. There are some fun moments, particularly when the girls are growing accustomed to their new realities in one another’s bodies, dealing with communication not even with one another, but with others, including Anna’s younger brother and Tess’ fiancé. When Anna, as Tess, really connects with Jake, the film finds a new gear for Curtis to explore Anna’s soft, lovestruck underbelly while Lohan can fully step into her mother’ shoes. As the wedding grows closer, the tensions mount, the flubs increase, and Ryan’s suspicion, and irritation, reach a near breaking point. The actors are very good in the roles, embracing the mayhem and stepping into shoes well beyond their life stage and enjoying every moment of the opportunity to stretch and have fun on the screen.

Freaky Friday Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Freaky Friday's 1080p image is very nice. Shot on film and retaining a very attractive, modestly grainy filmic veneer, the Blu-ray replicates the theater experience very well. Details are very organic. The image is sharp, complex in all the right places, and free of all but a smidgen of print wear. Textural highlights include pretty much everything in the film: clothes, skin, hair, and various environments, whether densely packed classrooms or Tess' finely appointed office spaces. Colors are bold and accurate, pushing slightly warm -- which also includes flesh tones -- but the palette never wants for much more intensity and depth. There are a few softer shots (look at the 20:45 mark, for example) but it's hard to find fault with the transfer and even harder to not enjoy it's visual excellence.

Freaky Friday Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Disney's low volume thing isn't exclusive to wide release big blockbusters. Freaky Friday's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack requires turning it up a fair bit beyond one's usual, comfortable volume to hear at proper levels, in this reviewer's case a calibrated 0.0db volume where -12.5db is generally a more agreeable position on the dial and 0.0 is far too loud. Properly adjusted, the track is largely fine. The film's aggressive Pop-Rock beats are very satisfying, naturally sharp-edged, and spill into the stage with prominent definition and power, whether overlaid tunes or "in-film" garage band rock-out jam sessions. Orchestral score is nicely balanced as well. The earthquake that brings the characters together is prodigiously intense, shaking the stage as intensely as the characters in the film, with plenty of bass and no shortage of chaotic rattling and tumbling in every speaker. Environmental din -- at school, in a restaurant -- is full and reflective of place. Dialogue is unproblematic, clear, and detailed from a natural center-firing position.

Freaky Friday Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Freaky Friday, exclusive to the Disney online movie club, contains no supplemental content. The main menu screen offers only "Play" and "Scene Selection" tabs.

Freaky Friday Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Freaky Friday's 2003 remake is a bit more enjoyable than the original, which was comparatively stuffy. This one's more modern, more breezy, more spunky, more fun. The Blu-ray is very good, beyond the complete absence of supplements. Just be sure to turn the volume up a bit more beyond usual levels. Recommended.