Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Leave It to Beaver Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 5, 2019

Leave It to Beaver is the well-meaning but somewhat foolhardy attempt to bring the classic television program of the same name to the big screen, updated for modern audiences. The original show ran from 1957-1963, almost three-and-a-half decades removed from its big screen adaptation. The film version, directed by Andy Cadiff, tries to but doesn't quite capture the show's spirit of simplicity in structure and good-hearted purpose. It's certainly not a lavish, wayward adaptation, but it feels forced in its efforts to revitalize the classic appeal and narrative tones while updating the material for then-contemporary audiences.

Beaver (Cameron Finley) is a young and somewhat naive boy who wants nothing more than a shiny new red bike in the local bicycle shop’s window. An older boy named Eddie (Adam Zolotin) encourages him to “suck up” to his parents (Christopher McDonald and Janine Turner), and his father in particular, by joining the football team and allowing his father to vicariously live through his on-field accomplishments. Then, when he gets the bike, quit the team. Simple! When Beaver’s birthday rolls around, his parents wheel in the bike with a big bow on it. Unfortunately, soon thereafter, an older kid steals the bike. When his father learns of this, he becomes angry. Beaver, he believes, has no sense of ownership pride or respect for his property. His older bother Wally (Erik von Detten) is not without blame in his father’s eyes, either, which leads to the boys exchanging blows. But as Beaver tries to escape football and his brother deals with a relationship with a young girl named Karen (Erika Christensen), the two must discover who they are if they are to find what they truly desire most in life.

Leave It to Beaver tells the story of a boy who means well but can’t quite live up to others’ expectations, or to his own. He can’t keep his property, he’s a failure on the football field, and with every mistake it seems his father grows more disappointed with him. But is young Beaver striving to be his best, or someone else’s best? The movie is amiable if not a bit aimless in that pursuit. It’s overly long and takes too long to make its simple point. That’s one of the main reasons why the TV show worked so much better. It told compact stories in compact time slots that taught a lesson or proved a point by getting to the point. Here, the experience is overdrawn and, worse, underdeveloped, resulting in an uneven movie that works better in spirit than it does in execution.

Performances are solid enough. Christopher McDonald inhabits the archetypal Ward Cleaver extraordinarily well, playing the straight cut man of the house with dignity and an ability to carry himself tall when he is right but also man up to the responsibility to admit when he is wrong. He shows both toughness and tenderness with his boys, sometimes too much of the former and not enough of the latter, but his work is a strong updating of the character that holds true to the core values with a slight, but not character-destroying, updating. Cameron Finley turns in an enjoyable performance as the title character. He acts well above his weight and, like McDonald, finds the core character sensibilities while bringing him into an updated world.

Leave It to Beaver Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Unfortunately, Universal has chosen to present Leave It to Beaver on Blu-ray sourced from a very dated master that obviously dates back to the DVD era. It's little more than an upscaled presentation that benefits from the resolution boost 1080p provides, but it shows signs of ineptitude and drift from the film source. Grain is sloppy and processed. The image has a noisy look about it but the good news is that the larger picture doesn't appear too heavily watered down. It doesn't have that gross noise reduced, waxy, plastic look to it. Details are adequate in appearance and clarity. There's good basic definition to clothes and faces and environments, such as Beaver's bedroom where various bedsheets and posters appear with pleasing clarity. Colors are not exactly the pinnacle of what he format has to offer. There's a modest feel of over saturation, a hint of warmth. While the colors aren't flat, there's lacking firm, clear intensity and stability. The image shows some signs of light edge enhancement and the odd speckle and pop. It's certainly not a disaster, but there's much room for improvement (which is not likely to be realized in the foreseeable future).

Leave It to Beaver Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Leave It to Beaver's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack, the only one available on the disc, is proficient if not a bit dated. Music is pleasantly wide and nicely detailed. It is largely the front end's duty to play it back; surrounds barely engage with any audible clarity or discreteness. The track does offer some nicely defined, though not refined, atmospherics, including crowd cheers and PA announcements in chapters four and eight during one of Beaver's football games or light background music and skater chatter at an ice rink in chapter six. A few crashes and other action-type effects are sufficiently detailed and again dominant in the front half of the stage. Dialogue is the sonic driving force. Placement, prioritization, and detail are fine. English SDH subtitles are included and are the only option on the disc.

Leave It to Beaver Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Leave It to Beaver contains no supplemental content. There is no top menu. Pressing the top menu button only resets the disc back to the piracy warning screen (and the review Oppo UDP-203 actually returned to the home screen after the studio logo and ratings screens to follow, a glitch that did not repeat on a second attempt). The pop up menu offers only the option to toggle subtitles on and off. No DVD or digital copies are included. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

Leave It to Beaver Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Leave It to Beaver was a bit of a miss in 1997, one cannot help but to shudder when thinking about what a 2019 take might look like. It would almost assuredly be the original in name only. The good news is that the 1997 film at least invites the spirit of the original into the fold. It's charming in places and well meaning in its messaging that acknowledges the movement of time but doesn't upset the proverbial apple cart, at least not too jarringly. It's a perfectly watchable if not ultimately forgettable take on a timeless classic. Universal's featureless Blu-ray delivers video sourced from an older master. Audio is fine but no great shakes. The disc is also overpriced by at least double what it is worth. Skip it until, or if, it plunges in price.