Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Police Academy 3: Back in Training Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 18, 2018

Jerry Paris' " Police Academy 3: Back in Training" (1986) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment UK. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film as well as an archival featurette with cast and crew interviews. In English, with optional English SDH, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, German SDH, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The American dream

Jerry Paris knew that he did not have to change anything when he stepped behind the camera to shoot the third Police Academy film. As long as he delivered more of the same, the top brass at Warner Bros. would have been pleased. Despite mixed reviews the Police Academy films were selling tickets, and at the end of the day that’s all that mattered. So Paris did exactly that -- he delivered more of the same.

The story is quite underwhelming. The easily irritable Governor Neilson (Ed Nelson) announces that he plans to shut down one of the only two remaining police academies, and that he has created a committee that will study their performance and recommend to him the one that deserves to continue operating. Then the two men representing the academies, Commandant Lassard (George Gaynes) and Commandant Mauser (Art Metrano), go to work to win the battle.

Lassard calls the best man to help him emerge victorious, Sgt. Mahoney (Steve Guttenberg), and he instantly agrees to come back for the training of the new recruits that will have to prove to the committee members that they are the bright future of law enforcement in the state. Soon after, Hightower (Bubba Smith), Tackleberry (David Graf), Hooks (Marion Ramsey), Callahan (Leslie Easterbrook), Jones (Michael Winslow), and Fackler (Bruce Mahler) also reappear and vow to save the institution that changed their lives.

The rest of the film is essentially a long string of repetitive situations in which Mauser and his boys come up with all sorts of dirty tricks to sabotage the progress made by Lassard’s recruits, though they are such a hopeless bunch of clueless amateurs that they really do not have to do a whole lot to make them look bad in the eyes of the committee members. Mahoney and his old pals do their best to minimize the damage and whenever possible score some bonus points to give Lassard a chance to win the battle.

The film is difficult to like because it struggles mightily to produce any decent laughs. It is really this simple and obvious. There is one Japanese recruit, cadet Nogata (Brian Tochi), who becomes obsessed with Callahan’s breasts that has a few awkward but funny scenes, but the rest feels awfully artificial and ultimately dull.

Someone also decided to give Bobcat Goldthwait another chance to shine and here he reappears as cadet Zed. Needless to say, the same strange facial expression, mumbling and empty looks make his ‘new’ character as annoying as his thug from the second film.

Police Academy 3: Back in Training Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jerry Paris' Police Academy 3: Back in Training arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

The release is sourced from an old master, but unlike the older masters that were used for the first and second Police Academy films, here there are plenty of very odd anomalies that give the film a very unpleasant digital appearance. I don't want to speculate why that is, but there is a lot of footage that looks very flat and smeary. In fact, in some areas the smearing is so prominent that it basically looks as if a filter was applied to repolish the image as best as possible (see screencaptures #19 and 20). Rather predictably, on a large screen it instantly becomes obvious that a lot of existing detail was eliminated and nothing looks as it should. The film's color scheme is quite nice. Image stability is also very good. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release: Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Police Academy 3: Back in Training Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are seven standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 (48kHz, 24-bit), German: Dolby Digital 1.0, French: Dolby Digital 1.0, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 1.0, Italian: Dolby Digital 1.0, Spanish: Dolby Digital 1.0 (Spain), and Spanish: Dolby Digital 1.0 (Latin America). Optional English SDH, French, German SDH, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless English track is clean and stable. It also has a good range of proper dynamics. The dialog is very easy to follow and is free of digital imperfections. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report.

Police Academy 3: Back in Training Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

NOTE: All of the supplemental features on this Blu-ray release are perfectly playable on North American Blu-ray players, including the PS3.

• Trailer - original U.S. trailer for Police Academy 3: Back in Training. In English, not subtitled. (2 min.).

• All Washed Up: Floating Memories - this archival featurette contains clips from interviews with producer Paul Maslansky, and actors Bubba Smith, Leslie Easterbrook, Marion Ramsey, and Lance Kinsey, amongst others. In English, with optional English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish subtitles. (9 min.).

Police Academy 3: Back in Training Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Back in the '80s the overwhelming majority of the mainstream critics got it right -- while it does have a few funny sequences, Police Academy 3: Back in Training is simply not in the same league with the first two films (and I would say even a couple of the other Police Academy films that came after it). I just don't think that Jerry Paris had a decent script to work with, and to be honest I don't think that the top brass at Warner Bros. actually cared that he didn't. But it did not matter really because the film still sold quite well, especially overseas, and then performed equally well on the home video market. The technical presentation of Police Academy 3: Back in Training is not good. The film has a very unappealing digital appearance that I think a lot of people will find problematic. Currently, it is available only in this Region-Free seven-disc box set with the rest of the Police Academy films.