8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
A man must struggle to travel home for Thanksgiving, with an obnoxious slob of a shower ring salesman his only companion.
Starring: Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins, Michael McKean, Kevin BaconComedy | 100% |
Holiday | 60% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
Portuguese: Dolby Digital Mono
English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
I can’t wait to see what happens next.
In the great tradition of Comedies of errors, Planes, Trains & Automobiles offers audiences a wild ride where everything that could go wrong
does go wrong in the noble but ever-obvious futile effort to return home to Chicago from New York for Thanksgiving. Through all the madness,
however, it tells a heartwarming story
of developing friendship and the importance of kindness in the midst of nonstop chaos. It's one of John Hughes' best films -- if not the best
-- a
distinction made all the more impressive considering his short but incredible body of directorial work, which includes Comedy masterpieces like Uncle Buck and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, not to mention the somewhat more
Drama-oriented coming-of-age detention film The Breakfast Club. Like its name suggests, Planes, Trains &
Automobiles has a little bit of everything, including a pairing of Comedy masters whose instant chemistry is the stuff of genre legend and, even
through the incessant humor, are the film's rocks, its true secret to Comedy success. Additionally, the movie's simplicity, charm, and
heartwarming and honest little touches round it into a complete and unforgettable picture that's as moving as it is gut-busting funny with every
watch.
Sleep tight.
The bad news is that Planes, Trains & Automobiles is another Paramount catalogue title that suffers through some unsightly noise reduction. The good news is that the end result is nowhere near as atrocious as what was seen in another recent release of a 1980s vintage film, Footloose. Indeed, Planes, Trains & Automobiles displays obvious noise reduction that yields pasty skin textures and frozen grain fields that, like Footloose, tend to move around in globs as if pulled and warped by an unnatural attraction between human and solid surface. Fortunately, the image isn't a total loss. Fine detail is still fair, even on some facial textures. The transfer also manages to reveal in great detail the texture of Neal's sports jacket and overcoat and the tiniest little signs of wear and tear on Del's rugged old beater of a travel trunk. There's a crispness and clarity about the image, and detailing is still boosted by the increase in resolution over standard definition. Still, the noise reduction is cause for concern, though in this case it's not a total deal breaker simply because it's not quite as severe as the abomination that is Footloose. Black crush is also a running problem, but there's not a complete loss of shadow detail in some of the darker scenes. Colors look good and represent the transfer's finest asset. Bright hues and dreary and cold grays alike are natural and pleasant. Lastly, the transfer is home to a few random pops and speckles, but nothing super distracting. Yes, this transfer is a disappointment. It's a bit better than it might have been if Footloose is representative of the bottom of big studio barrels, but it's nevertheless bad enough to warrant and wish for a remastered presentation somewhere down the road. Planes, Trains & Automobiles deserves nothing less.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles sounds a whole lot better than a Chatty Cathy doll. For the most part, this is a dialogue film that has little need for major sound effects or even prominent supportive elements. Fortunately, dialogue is strong, clear, and balanced, but the track handles its various odds and ends quite well, too, even if they're generally few and far between. Music plays with a wide, enveloping feel. Each note is crisp and satisfying, clear and accurate in every instance. City ambience in the early New York taxicab sequence is nicely integrated, with honking horns, background chatter, and the general chaotic din of last-minute, pre-holiday hustle and bustle. The same may be said for various crowded airport scenes, but with a slightly less pronounced volume. Both the track's ability to yield seamless directional effects and a strong low end are tested when a halting but still rumbly train comes to a stop in chapter ten. The effect is handled without incident. All said, this is a good performer, nothing sonically special but a fine track and a solid companion for a 1980s Comedy.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles' supplements are relatively few in number, but there's an enthralling two-part John Hughes retrospective that's
nearly worth the price of admission by itself.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles is such a wonderful little movie. It's a Comedy first and foremost, but there's an underlying element that makes it even better than the sum of its laughs: its heart. This is really the story of a developing friendship and not just a display of one misadventure after the other. It's about coming together, working through problems, and gaining an appreciation for and understanding of the needs of others. It's the perfect movie to watch on a down a day, a day when the world seems to be closing in, when hope seems distant, when the future looks bleak. It's a movie that doesn't hide the fact that life has its ups and downs, but it also serves as a reminder of how people must choose to make it through the tough times, to look on the bright side, to never lose site of the end goal, to find the silver lining in the darkest cloud, to anticipate the best even in the midst of the worst. That's its real strength, and there's nothing more noble than that. Paramount's Best Buy exclusive Blu-ray release of Planes, Trains & Automobiles features substandard but nevertheless watchable 1080p video, a quality lossless soundtrack, and some strong supplements. Highly recommended based on the strength of the film and in spite of the wishy-washy video.
1987
1987
Paramount 100th Anniversary
1987
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30th Anniversary Edition
1987
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1983
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