6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A lonely doctor (Sandra Bullock) who once occupied an unusual lakeside home begins exchanging love letters with its newest resident, a frustrated architect (Keanu Reeves). When they discover that they're actually living two years apart, they must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Christopher Plummer, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Willeke van AmmelrooyRomance | 100% |
Supernatural | 2% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English, English SDH, French, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The one man I can never meet, him, I would like to give my whole heart to.
I'd love to have a pen pal from the future. I've always been fascinated by the "what ifs," "how
comes," "whens," and "whys" of the yet-to-happen. I'm a Trekkie for goodness sakes. I want to
know the future. I want to live it. While I'd rather avoid those pesky details, like the one that
says
I'll be run over by a bus two years from this past Valentine's day, for example, I would most
certainly
regret not seeing the progress mankind makes dozens or even hundreds of years from now. I
want
to know if we've pulled off the warp drive, the transporter, the replicator and, most importantly,
the
hand-held phaser. While The Lake House delves into this question from the angle of the
chick flick, it still manages to raise some interesting questions, pose some unique situations to
viewers, and hold your attention just long enough to be glad when the credits roll. Instead of
dealing with those oh-so-pesky things nobody from the past would want to know, such as stock
tips, sports scores, news headlines, or when and where the cat will vomit on the carpet, The
Lake House focuses on two people who find themselves falling in love over a period of two
years. Well, sort of.
The magical mailbox.
Warner Brothers presents The Lake House on Blu-ray as a fairly lackluster video experience. Make no mistake, this 1080p, 2.40:1 framed transfer looks alright, clearly sporting a high-definition image, but it is far from being reference material. Quite a bit of the film, especially distance shots and nature images, appears soft and undefined. For example, early in the film, we see a shot of a wooded area with some clumps of grass that transitions into snow on the ground. The trees are soft, and the brush on the ground looks like a clump of nearly unidentifiable material with no clarity or definition, much like the snow once the transition takes effect. Flesh tones appear on the red side of the scale. Black levels are mediocre at best, overly bright in many scenes and lacking even moderately good shadow detail. There is a bit of flickering in much of the image as well. Unfortunately, there just aren't a lot of positives to report about this transfer. Colors are fairly bright, defined, and vibrant, and there is a fair amount of detail in close-up shots throughout the movie. Other than that, this is a standard fare transfer at best, and about what you would expect from an early Warner Brothers Blu-ray release.
A paltry, nearly hapless Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is the only available mix on this disc. Even though The Lake House features a subdued, barely exciting audio mix to begin with, there is no reason not to include a high definition soundtrack on a high definition format with ample storage capacity, especially considering the nearly bare cupboard that is the extra content, as described in the following paragraph. While not a horrible soundtrack by any stretch, this DVD quality mix is sure to do nothing more than get dialogue and music across at an audible volume. Music is pleasing yet underwhelming, emanating strictly from the front speakers with hardly any bleed over into the rear. Dialogue is also a bit muted and muffled at times, but for the most part it is wholly discernible and clear. Surround and LFE channels are used sparingly, if at all, for the duration of the picture. There is really nothing to report on this one, other than that it's present and accounted for, and in the era of high definition audio, that's not saying a whole lot.
Warner brings The Lake House to Blu-ray with a paltry helping of extra content. Several deleted and extended scenes (480p, 3:51) and the film's theatrical trailer (480p, 1:43) are all that is included here, mimicking what is to be found on the standard definition DVD version of the film. There is no doubt that the movie calls for more extras than what warner Brothers has provided here. A commentary track or a feature explaining the genesis of the idea and its transition to the screen, as a film starring two of the bigger names in Hollywood, would have been most welcome.
The Lake House is a mostly smart if not a bit yawn-inducing romance, and the angle it offers and the situation in which the story takes place is fascinating enough to keep most viewers happy and interested. The basics of the story have almost limitless potential for fascinating entertainment, character study, and drama, and this film is an excellent take on the concept generally reserved for the science fiction crowd. The movie handles the material as expected, never straying from what its audience demands, saving other, equally intriguing plot possibilities for another movie and another "time." The Lake House on Blu-ray is mostly underwhelming, offering mediocre at best video quality, uninspired audio, and precious few extras. Obviously, fans of the movie will want to snatch this up as soon as possible. Recommended as a purchase for established fans of the movie, its genre, or its stars.
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