7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.3 |
It’s 1962—the '50s are out and change is in the air. Baltimore's Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion—to dance. She wins a spot on the local TV dance program, "The Corny Collins Show" and, overnight, is transformed from outsider to irrepressible teen celebrity. But can a trendsetter in dance and fashion vanquish the program's reigning princess, win the heart of heartthrob Link Larkin, and integrate a television show without denting her 'do? Welcome to the '60s!
Starring: John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James MarsdenComedy | 100% |
Romance | 76% |
Musical | 61% |
Teen | 31% |
Period | 13% |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
New Line's Hairspray, a film directed by Adam Shankman and staring Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta and a cast of thousands, is a remake/cinematographic musical version of John Water's Hairspray made in 1988 and the 21st century Broadway musical based on it. The story itself, inspired from a real life teenage dancing television show that aired on Baltimore TV in the 60's, is actually about something else: being different, fighting for acceptance and change, and the way society was, is, and can be. Presented in a manner that's entertaining and a lot of fun, there is always a chance that a film remake could fall flat on it's face, compare poorly to the original, end up being so similar that it it becomes a worthless waste of time of no interest, or be so different that it might put off the audience that liked the original (and the original of a sequel is always well liked, as it's what generates the interest of re-making it again), and not gain any success with a new audience. In New Line's Hairspray's case, this could have been a double whammy, because it's not only a remake, it's a musical, and although the original Hairspray obviously had music elements already a part of it with it's dancing numbers, characters bursting into song on a familiar plot might have not worked well. But alas, in this movie the combined talents of the people involved, the story, the social issues, and the songs melted into a new synergistic incarnation, and the results are, in one word: Stupendous.
Welcome to the 60's
The disc starts with a new New Line logo announcing New Line Home Entertainment on High
Def and
then we're on Baltimore going from its slightly brownish palette town streets to the colorful TV
studio
candy bright sets and pastel dancer dresses. Color is one of the more satisfying aspects of this
transfer,
specially appealing. Look at those costumes, ranging from Baltimore crab blues, to Royal Latifah
Golds,
going through Seaweed's totally solid red and Travolta's shimmering one, encompassing all kinds
of
varieties of greens pinks magentas and pastels, all this this in an almost completely grainless
transfer
made from a Super-35 negative (For a fascinating exercise, compare to the deleted scenes in the
supplements which are grainier but seem slightly more detailed). Having not seen this movie at
theaters
I don't know if it was or wasn't grainy there but the disc's polished look seems to suit the
movie's high
gloss musical story.
The lasting impression one gets from this transfer is spotless and shiny.
Now for the one negative. Please read the following completely carefully before reaching your
own
conclusions, as this might affect only those with the biggest screens. The transfer's
approximately 15
Mbts/second VC-1 image is sharp and contrasty up to a point. For anyone watching the movie's
Scope
2.35 ratio image letterboxed inside a 16:9 display from normal home or 2/3rds back of the
theater
viewing distances (2.5 PH/1 screen widths or farther away) the transfer will look perfectly sharp.
But if
you zoom the "Scope" letterboxed image filling a CinemasScope constant image height screen
viewing it
at middle of the theater viewing angles (2PH/ 0.85 screen widths or closer) it might make the
image
look a little less solid and lacking a small bit of detail, unlike some of the better high definition
transfers
around, and make for a slightly less satisfying experience. I think this is the result of the way
this
almost grainless 1080p master was transfered (see my comment about grain on the deleted
scenes and
trailer). It's not that the image looks blurry at those viewing angles, but sometimes it looks a
little more
'video look'-like giving you the impression that there's not enough info (detail), unlike when you
watch
film, which is a thing you notice more while looking at some medium and long shots of faces and
the
like, As this wasn't totally satisfying to me (I like viewing my movies big, like on a theater),
investigating
further, I switched from 1080p one to one (1:1) viewing, to upscaling the image into a
resolution higher
than 1080, and nudged the sharpness/aperture correction setting a bit, and there the resulting
image
looked more solid and satisfying, finally achieving an
acceptable compromise between film-like smoothness vs the clean and sharp-but less detailed
video
look. It's interesting to watch the trailer and the deleted scenes on the supplements and
compare. The
trailer, obviously made from a different transfer (for example some of the early Baltimore scenes
on it
have an almost b/w sepia look) but having a much higher bitrate (sometimes up to 100% more:
double) does not seem to suffer from this lack of detail as much and I don't feel the need to
upscale the
1080 image to find it pleasing. At large maginifications you could also see some grain clumpling/
splotching, probably from the grain smoothing, in some of the scenes. Mainly in wall
backgrounds. (I
think I saw it on Travolta's face on one case (Or maybe it was some CGI make-up
smoothing? ).
Judging from the visibility of this and from the normal size/viewing angles where the image
becomes excellent, I'd calculate maybe it's shy just a 1dB or 2 difference of extra detail/
smoothness away from optimum, basically between about 30% to 60% more detail encoded
would've done the trick. I want to stress, again, that for most people's viewing angles
and
display sizes the image looks truly excellent, and unless you view your movies at big Cinema
viewing
angles or huge screens; you won't notice, say "Damn it looks good", and you'll be scratching
your heads
wondering what I'm talking about . The disc's image certainly looks better than the image quality
I've
seen in non-IMAX theaters that I've gone lately.
I discovered another quirk of the transfer when
looking at Cinema viewing angles that made me
go double check if my player was indeed sending a 1080p signal. I found that if I looked
closely, I could see some combed frames sporadically, as if from interlaced content on some of
these frames, which I confirmed by still stepping them one by one.
Seemed to me that of the resulting frames are
weaved from adjacent frames. If you want to check for yourself, one place is when Tracy goes to
detention in chapter 5. Look closely at the shiny metal vertical tubes in the
desk/chair behind
cool dude
in the middle of the image at 21:20-21:22. As the camera pans slightly to the side following
Seaweed,
you see the chair's tube comb. But if you're not looking closely on a big screen you'll probably not
see it.
Now, do I think these minor anomalies are reason not to buy this movie? Hell no! They'd have to
pry
my spray can from my dead cold fingers . 8 or 9 out of 10 image parameters close to perfection,
this
movie looks great.
Well, for a musical, the audio is very important. And I'm very happy to say that from the first
strains of music, down to the little castanets, by the time that bicycle sound crosses the screen
from left
to right you can tell this is a soundtrack that sounds good. Having a very enveloping soundstage,
where
you can hear clearly every percussion instrument, guitar strum, footstep, clap, bell or ring,
appreciating
all the layers of sound, orchestra, dialogue, singing, and sound effects is effortless and fully
satisfying.
One thing in particular that struck me was how natural the singing voices of the actors, some of
whom
we have been listening talk in soundtracks for years, sounded. With great fidelity, sometimes I
would
have the feeling as if almost they might as well be recording right there. (which I enjoyed all the
more
by further experimenting later by playing the center channel isolated a couple of times). The
film's mix
blends the transitions from straight dialog to singing part perfectly. The general design has the
main
vocals in the center channel with musical instruments and background vocals spread all across
the front
stage naturally, sometimes with interesting effects being emphasized like when they say the
word
CinemaScope. I also found a couple of instances where the center singing moved slightly to the
left or
right following the actors on screen but that was very subtle. The surrounds were more
enveloping than
anything but it really worked on this film because it made the music and sounds feel natural and
occurring in the space in front of you. Sometimes there would be very directional placement like
the TV
animators voice offstage to the right for effect on the dance contest, etc. Bass was appropriate
and solid
(hear the drums announcing Edna's entrance to the TV stage for example) or markings Tracy's
hips.
Even with the individual sounds sounding so detailed and the voices loud and clear at no point I
thought
anything sounded strident or harsh.
All this coming from the basic 5.1 DTS 1.5 Mb/s core track, as my PS3 has not yet the ability to
transmit
the higher-quality lossless DTS HD Master Audio sound. I can only imagine it'll sound more
detailed and
with more ambiance and wetness on that track, but that will remain to be heard till the PS3
acquires
that ability. I'll update this opinion when that happens.
Don't miss the songs on the end credits, as the fun continues there, and one of the songs has
the 3
actresses that have played Tracy singing on it. Note: this song seems to be in 4.0 and not have a
center channel so don't start worrying about your center speaker.
And besides, you got cooties.
Apart from listening to the soundtrack in 5.1 discrete,
I also listened to it downmixed to plain
stereo,
where it's basic natural qualities remained but then the enveloping soundstage wasn't really
panoramic
and detailed. And just for kicks I listened to several of the musical
numbers with only the left and right
discrete channels playing (so they became basically instrumentals versions) which made me
appreciate
all the more the multiple layering of instruments, orchestra and background voices. One of the
advantages of multichannel recording and delivery on a home video format.
The movie and many of the supplements have English SDH and español subtitles. (Plus the sing-
along
only option for the songs) and the disc is region coded A (plays in America, Japan, Corea, and
South East
Asian countries).
Hairspray comes with a double sided transparent slipcover similar to an animation cel which then
overlays over the disc case's cover background. You can chose to have the kids on the cover or
the
grown ups. The 2 discs inside have labels imitating a vinyl record, a nice touch. A leaflet
promoting the
Golden Compass is included.
The discs Menus have a nice floating "movie scenes bubbles" over multicolored backgrounds
theme with brief instrumental multichannel loops of the songs in the movie.
The supplements on disc 1 include:
Deleted/Alternate scenes with optional commentary by the director and Nikki Blonsky, the
highlight being a 4 minute Tracy song cut from the movie: "I Can Wait".
The other deleted/alternate scenes are:
Edna gets arrested, 1 minute
Welcome to the 60's, 1 minute with an extra hoopla-hoop action scene
You can't stop the beat, 2.5 minutes with extra police action and a different fate for the
Von
Tussles
Big, blonde and beautiful, 1 minute, with the full Velma performance
These are all in full 1080p and multichannel sound and as I mentioned above, they don't have
the grain
smoothed and look a little sharper and have a more film-like look as opposed to a digital clean
smooth
look. Just compare.
Then there's 37 minutes of "Hairspray Extensions" in 2 channel 255 kb/s 48 kHz DTS 1080i
VC-1 with simultaneous multi screen/multi ratio behind the scenes/alternate views of the
musical numbers. I really liked this supplement, and it shows one of the advantages of HD over
SD, as
before when this was done on a DVD, the multi screen images were too small to really be of use,
and in
HD you get at minimum the quality of having three or four full screen 16:9 SD monitors/ six 4:3
SD
monitors in a video wall, up to the full 1080 16:9 view.
The bigger your screen the better it is
The numbers included are:
Nicest kids in town
(The legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs
Ladies' choice
Welcome to the 60's
Run and tell that
You can't stop the beat
Then there's the 12 minute "Step By Step: The Dances Of Hairspray" presented in fullscreen
1080i 2 channel DTS in which two of the movie's associate choreographers go into detail about
the
dance steps used in 2 of the musical numbers with the help of 2 of the cast's dancers.
The movie has two Feature Commentaries, one with the film's director and choreographer, Adam
Shankman, and star Nikki Blonsky in which they go into detail about the interactions with the
actors
and the choreography/singing and various bits of the daily shooting process and takes and a few
other
technical aspects. The other commentary is by the film's producers, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron
and it's
more focused into the story of bringing the movie to fruition, and the process of adapting the
show to
the screen, how songs were chosen or discarded, the choices of actors, and how fortunate they
all were
into assembling such a talented group to make the movie. In all, both commentaries sum to
make a
rounded overview of how Hairspray The Film Musical came to be, and it's very obvious that all
involved
are very proud of their creation and accomplishment (As they well should be I might add ) and
their
enthusiasm is contagious.
"Jump To A Song" is a menu where you can select to go directly to a song of the movie
(including the ones in the end credits and the one cut from the movie) or play them all (skipping
the
non-song segments of the movie), with or without sing-along subtitles. If you press on
"Soundtrack" it
shows you the list of the songs included on the Soundtrack CD, listing who performs it.
The next supplement is "Behind the Beat", a viewing of the movie with a Picture in Picture
experience. This was the first time I've watched one (though not the first disc I have that
included one) which, as I was reviewing the disc I had to. The added PiP content consisted of
having a
small 16:9 shaped window on a bottom corner while the full size Scope movie plays on. The
screen
shows a mixture of snippets of video taken while the director/actress/producers made their audio
commentary tracks (so in this segments you can not only hear them but see them), various
behind the
scene shots/alternate angles, and some in-the-studio-booth video of the cast recording their
songs,
most if not all which is included in full screen size in the other supplements. You could consider
this Pip
as a condensed cliff notes version of the supplements, and sometimes the juxtaposition of it with
the
full screen movie playing along is interesting, but for most of the time I found myself being
distracted
back to viewing the movie and forgetting I was supposed to be watching the Pip, or trying to do
both, so
in my personal opinion I didn't find much use for it. I actually preferred to see the same stuff on
it's own
on the full screen supplements or just listening the full audio commentary on its own while
watching
the movie.
(Note: For those with constant image height Scope set ups you'll have to scale back to 16:9
viewing if you want to see the whole Pip, as the window falls partly outside the letterboxed Scope
movie
image.)
So are we done with supplements? We're done for Disc 1. Now for Disc 2!
The first supplement on the second disc is the 40 minute "The Roots of Hairspray" documentary,
presented in fullscreen 1080i 2 channel DTS, which consists of 3 parts:
The Buddy Deane Show about the Baltimore teenage dance TV show which is the basis
of the
movie. You have modern interviews with John Waters and the TV show dancers and fans talking
about
the show and about the segregation issues back then, and photographs and documentary clips of
the
era and even of the hairdos. The images vary in quality but as vintage records of the era they
serve
their purpose
John Water's Hairspray is of course about the story of the original 1988 movie, has
more interviews with people associated with the movie, some video shot at the tim, lots of
photos and
several upscaled clips from it, plus a couple of brief clips of Water's other movies which look
interesting
to see on HD.
And finally Hairspray on Broadway focusing on the story of the Broadway musical
version and how it was transformed from film to musical show, with interviews with the
producers,
songwriters, and star. As an interesting thing to video quality buffs I noted that some shots of
the
interview with the songwriters looked smooth and grainless but then a couple other looked much
much
sharper and contrasty.
Then there's the 78 minute "You Can't Stop The Beat: The Long Journey of Hairspray", also
presented in fullscreen 1080i (except for the movie clips which of course are in Scope) which
consists of the following sections:
The Cast
The Music
The Choreography
The Costumes
The Hairdos
The Production Design
and finally, Reflections of Hairspray
all with lots of behind the scenes shots, loads of interviews and clips with the director, producers,
songwriters, actors-singers, them recording their songs in the studio, the cast and dancers
rehearsing
and performing the dances,the way the cast was chosen and what each brings to their
characters, the
issues the film brings forward, and creative technical personal talking about the different aspects
of
making the film a reality and bringing it to the screen, among other things.
Both documentaries are great and make what a good film documentary does: increase your
knowledge about the film, make you appreciate the effort involved, and ultimately, make you
want to
watch immediately the subject of the documentary, in this case by loading the first disc again
and
hitting play, or even wish for a Blu-ray release of the original Hairspray or an HDTV recording of
the
Broadway musical!
Finally there's the theatrical trailer, done in 1080p VC-1 at up to 30 Mb/s, which as I
mentioned earlier, has a slightly different color scheme and sharper look even though it looks
almost as
grainless as the movie itself.
Well as you can plainly tell from my review I recommend the movie greatly. Full of various supplements, great characters, excellent songs and sound, the only thing I found as a minus was the lack of ultimate detail in the image when viewed at great magnifications, but other image parameters (color, contrast, photography, lack of grain and blemishes) are simply superb. If you love musicals you can't do without it, and if you don't, the movie might make you a fan of musicals too. As I said the film is not without substance and actually brings a very positive message in these days of dark troubles and action, horror, and war films. A ray of music and light to lighten your load and make you do a little song and dance, 'cause, you can't stop the Beat.
10th Anniversary Edition
2008
2012-2013
Rockin' Rydell Edition
1978
Extended Edition
2007
2006
Sing-Along Edition
2018
2008
2009
2005
2008
2011
2015
Extended Rock Star Edition
2008
2016
1999
20th Anniversary Limited Edition Packaging
2004
Special Edition | MVD Marquee Collection
2004
2010
Fox Studio Classics
1969
70th Anniversary
1954