6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The greatest fairy tale never told comes to life in a whole new way in this Broadway musical adaptation of the hit movie Shrek.
Starring: Brian d'Arcy James, Sutton Foster, Christopher Sieber, John Tartaglia, Daniel BreakerFamily | 100% |
Comedy | 87% |
Fantasy | 77% |
Musical | 32% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
There has been a lot of talk over the past several years about the so-called “Disneyfication” of Times Square and Broadway. Broadway, once the purview of creative types who would bring completely original entries to the stage, has increasingly become a warehouse for adaptations of films. Disney has been one of the prime beneficiaries of this multimedia approach to sucking every available consumer dollar out of any given property. While some adaptations like the Broadway version of The Lion King have been unexpectedly graceful and some might argue even stunning in their revampings, many others have been middling efforts. This tendency certainly isn’t confined to Disney. More and more Broadway has seen a glut of musicals simply repeating the title of a hit movie with “The Musical” following a colon, an apt symbol of the lack of creative imagination that often accompanies these efforts. Think back to vaunted adaptations—whether of films or not— from days of yore: I Am a Camera became Cabaret, Smiles of a Summer Night became A Little Night Music, even a major flop like Hot September didn’t debut as Picnic: The Musical. It’s an admittedly minor issue, but one that I personally think has larger ramifications. The current Broadway environment is all about marketing, and a recognized property like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin or even Newsies is felt to have more built in appeal than something many people have no previous association with. DreamWorks obviously saw the balance sheet handwriting on the wall and took a page from Disney’s ever more impressive ledger, crafting a huge stage musical out of Shrek. The stage version actually premiered in my neck of the woods at Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theater, where a bunch of Broadway bound shows have premiered for their tryout phase. The earliest iteration of Shrek saw a basically charming show that nonetheless had both technical issues as well as a somewhat underwhelming score. Quite a bit of tinkering, including jettisoned songs, added songs, and some major cast changes, followed before the musical actually opened to tepid but generally favorable reviews in late 2008. The show eked out a run of just a little longer than a year, closing with a significant loss that may have shocked the DreamWorks executives who were counting on this to be a “lion (king)-sized” success.
Shrek the Musical is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with
an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While this presentation does have a glut of different angles and good coverage
of both stars and ensemble and certainly rises to well above average quality, overall this is not an excessively sharp looking
or well detailed high definition experience. Fine detail is certainly commendable in close-ups, where the seams of Shrek's
make-up or the joints in Pinocchio's nose can clearly be seen. Fine detail on the fanciful costumes is also excellent, showing
the kind of funny lace patterns on Shrek's undershirt or the wiry hair of Donkey's outfit. However, when midrange of full
stage shots take over, things are much less clear and well defined, and are often hampered by dim stage lighting that
shrouds the wing sides of the stage in murky shadow detail. Colors are very bright and nicely saturated, from the bright
green of Shrek's skin to the deep purples and reds of the Dragon.
Note: This Blu-ray had significant loading problems on both my PS3 as well as my PC Blu-ray drive. On the PS3, the
disc kept returning to the loading logo before finally booting to the main menu. On my PC, it went to a black screen twice
before ultimately loading correctly.
Shrek the Musical's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is a hit or miss affair. While much, even most, of this outing sports great fidelity and clarity, there are recurrent issues with both overbearing audience noise which completely drowns out even ensemble singing as well as some equally overwhelming hall ambience that makes several numbers (notably the "I'm a Believer" finale) awash in thudding reverb and a really muddy sounding overall resonance. When the audience quiets down, dialogue is quite clearly presented, and several of the solo sung moments sound great. The pit orchestra also comes through with clarity and precision.
I am a huge musical theater fan and have even been known to enjoy the occasional Generic Film Title: The Musical outing, but Shrek the Musical is just kind of a tired enterprise a lot of the time. Kids will probably lap this up, as there's a significant amount of stagecraft involved and the larger than life characters will no doubt appeal to their sensibilities. That said, I doubt any of them, let alone the adults in the room, will be able to come out of this experience with any of Shrek's original songs running through their minds.
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