Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Devil Wears Prada Blu-ray Movie Review

She's still wearing MPEG-2 as well.

There have been quite a few cultural and/or technological changes in the ten years or so since The Devil Wears Prada first debuted theatrically and then some months later (first) came out on Blu-ray. While videophiles and home theater aficionados might be concentrating on upgrades to compression regimens and the like if this release weren't a simple repackaging of that first release, I’d like to instead briefly concentrate on something else that plays into the plot of this often rather entertaining and compelling film: magazines. As fans of either the film or Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 source novel will know, The Devil Wears Prada takes place in the fast moving world of high fashion, specifically at an industry “bible” called Runway, a rag obviously modeled on Vogue. In 2003, magazines were still probably (probably) a cultural force to be reckoned with, albeit in a much less forceful way than had been experienced by previous (pre- internet) generations. By 2006, the film’s depiction of various machinations in the publishing industry seemed a little quaint. Now in 2016, these same plot points may strike some viewers as positively antediluvian. In fact as I watched The Devil Wears Prada this time, I was reminded of a very funny interchange between a standup comedian and an audience member I saw at a club last year. This particular standup based almost his whole routine on “crowd work”, where he’d engage various audience members and then wring considerable humor out of his conversations with them. One young woman who was sitting in the front row was questioned by the guy, and when he asked her what she did, she mentioned that she was in college, majoring in Publishing. That very response brought a huge laugh from the audience, especially when the standup looked out at the assembled masses and rolled his eyes a little. After the initial laughter had died down, he leaned in conspiratorially to the woman and stage whispered, “Hey, I have a little news update for you,” which in turn brought the house down again. While the setting of The Devil Wears Prada may therefore not strike some (especially younger) folks as overly “realistic”, it ultimately doesn’t matter, since the film is in essence kind of a fairy tale of sorts, one where a Cinderella named Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway) gets to dress up in finery and go to the “ball”, in this case a job at Runway, where ironically she runs headlong into a character who might be thought of this saga’s Evil Stepmother, Runway’s imperious editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep, Academy Award nominated for her performance), a woman reportedly based rather firmly on Vogue’s apparently equally imperious Anna Wintour.

The Devil Wears Prada Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This release is apparently identical to the first. For an assessment of video quality, please see our original The Devil Wears Prada Blu-ray review.

The Devil Wears Prada Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For an assessment of the audio quality, please see our The Devil Wears Prada Blu-ray review.

The Devil Wears Prada Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release duplicates the supplements described in our original The Devil Wears Prada Blu-ray review, down to the by now seriously outdated trailers.

The Devil Wears Prada Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are only two reasons to double dip on this release for those who like the following and who are so inclined, since it more or less duplicates the first Blu-ray offering of several years ago: this one includes a Digital code, and it comes with a slipcover. For those wanting to indulge in the film on Blu-ray for the first time, this release is the way to go. Recommended.