Grease 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Grease 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 14, 2018

Note: 'Grease 2' is currently only available as part of a three-film 'Grease' collection in SteelBook packaging.

Add another movie to the long and not-at-all storied list of sequels that didn’t need to exist. Grease was a smash hit when it released in 1978, earning critical acclaim and raking in a substantial amount of box office money, reportedly making $395 million against its $6 million budget. Numbers like that don't come along everyday, and it was certainly those numbers that propelled Paramount to green-light Grease 2, a film that might look (and maybe even sound) a little bit like its predecessor but the similarities largely begin and end with a few names and a couple of faces. Barely recouping its budget, which was almost twice that of Grease, it was clear that audiences were in no mood for more of the same, and neither were critics, who panned the film as an unnecessary and unenjoyable sequel.

Lovers?

It's another new school year at Rydell high school. In the two years since Danny and Sandy's romance took the school by storm, not much has changed. The Pink Ladies and the T-Birds are still the top dogs in school. Everyone is looking forward to the upcoming talent show, but matters of the heart still rule the day. Stephanie (Michelle Pfeiffer) loved the idea of a biker boyfriend but she's fallen out of love with Johnny Nogerelli (Adrian Zmed), the leader of the T-Birds motorcycle gang. Enter a new, handsome English student named Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield). He is the recipient of a fortuitous kiss given by Stephanie in an effort to spite her ex-boyfriend, but Michael takes it very seriously. He asks Stephanie out on a date, she turns him down, and he remodels himself into the man of her dreams: The "Cool Rider," a mysterious motorcyclist who is the best of Johnny and the best of the rest Stephanie has ever dreamed of in a man. Stephanie falls for the Rider, but not necessarily for Michael. Can he reveal his true identity and live happily ever after with Stephanie, or will breaking the illusion break off the romance?

Grese 2 is an inferior product any way one looks at it. The film lacks the organic connective tissue between its music and its story. Various numbers are forced and border on the ridiculous, including a song that breaks out in the middle of biology class that's about plant reproduction (really). Add in several other random song sequences, like one that takes place in a bomb shelter during a nuclear exchange drill, and it's clear that the movie is grasping at straws to build up to some magical runtime, the quality of the production be damned. Half of the film could be cut entirely or trimmed drastically and it would be a bit better off for it. But nothing beyond a total rewrite could really save this one. The film lacks excellence in any of its songs, even those that do more or less organically stem from the story, and the quality of characters and performances that made the original a hit is missing here. Grease 2 looks the part, but its music doesn't sound the part. It's just as often interruptive to the story as it is complimentary to the story, and the production can never settle into a rhythm, which is absolutely crucial to a musical's success.

The scattershot musical numbers do, at least, draw attention away from a tired, bland story. The film's main angle romance lacks anything resembling spark, even as Michael transforms himself into Stephanie's vision of the ideal man (the "Cool Rider") while Stephanie rejects Michael but falls for his mystery persona. Their budding romance, built on a number of false pretenses, fails to ignite the screen with even a hint of agreeable intensity. The surrounding story details do little to compliment the tale and serve only to move it forward. Its plot is thinner than even that in the original film which at least had spunk to its music and charisma to its characters to balance out its narrative shortcomings. Grease 2 is the beneficiary of no such complimentary support elements. The characters are cookie-cutter but leads Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer, both in early-career roles, are the only bright spots in the film. They share a decent chemistry, whether in those early feeling-out scenes as Michael attempts to get closer to Stephanie after that first kiss, as starry-eyed Stephanie falls for her mystery man, and of course later in the film as the characters reach low and high points in their lives and love.

Grease 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Grease 2 looks fairly good on Blu-ray, and Paramount's 1080p transfer is certainly the highlight of the entire disc. Colors are bold and lively. Stephanie's red lips, green eyes, and blonde hair are standouts in close-up for vitality and accuracy, while Rydell red, pink clothes, and various assorted colors, ranging from chalkboard green to fallout shelter signage, appear very well saturated and pleasantly neutral in tone and push. Details are very strong. Facial complexities come easy, clothes are very well defined, and environments are sharp. Beat-up school lockers, motorcycle parts, and many other visually interesting elements present with a very satisfying and filmic textural quality. There are some inherently softer-focus corners here and there but nothing that ever really detracts from any given scene. Black levels are impressively deep and skin tones appear natural. Grain does not always appear perfectly fluid but the image never suffers from any serious tell-tale signs of noise reduction. The source print is very clean and no serious encoding issues are apparent. This is a very positive, enjoyable presentation from Paramount.

Grease 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Grease 2's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack has a bit of Disney-itis going on. It's not too terribly aggressive or satisfying at normal listening levels, sounding timid, unbalanced, and lacking any sort of verve to key elements like music and motorcycles. Turn it up well beyond normal levels, though, and things largely even out, eliminating much of the shallow dialogue and uneventful music and effects. Once it's powered up, motorcycles cross the stage with adequately throaty presence, making good use of both axes available to them, moving both side to side and front to back on a few occasions. Band music is large with good instrumental separation and clarity, and musical numbers, whether intimate between two people or more robust when an entire classroom -- or more -- of participants engage in song and dance, find enough cheerful spacing and general clarity to satisfy. Light atmospherics compliment various places and scenes, including around the school or in a diner. Dialogue, when the volume is high enough, is serviceably clear and well prioritized with firm front-center placement.

Grease 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Grease 2 contains no supplemental content. A UV digital copy code is included in the three-film SteelBook set.

Grease 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Grease 2 is an unsubstantial film populated with dull characters, hit-or-miss (and sometimes very strange) musical selections, and almost no plot of which to speak. The main story romance is carried well enough by the film's pair of agreeable leads, who are the only real bright spots in an otherwise stale film that desperately tries to recapture the magic of the original but fails to do so thanks to poor pacing and loose connective tissues between many of its songs and scenes. A few returning characters and themes are welcome, but the film, on the whole, feels like a cheap reproduction of a classic made with capitalizing on success in mind rather than a good story being the main focus. Paramount's featureless Blu-ray does boast good video and audio. Worth a look.