7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.8 |
Kermit and his friends go to New York City to get their musical on Broadway, only to find that it's a more difficult task than they anticipated.
Starring: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Richard HuntFamily | 100% |
Comedy | 77% |
Musical | 42% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Russian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital Mono
French: Dolby Digital Mono
Portuguese: Dolby Digital Mono
English, English SDH, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
BD-Live
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Together again!
There was a time when a movie like The Muppets Take Manhattan was a magical experience to six-year-old eyes. The plot and setting didn't
really matter, the comical nuances didn't get in the way but didn't make the film any better, and the human puppeteering skill required to bring the
characters to life didn't even factor into the overall appreciation level the film engendered. No, it was all about dazzling entertainment, something so
magical and real, characters to love, colors that sparkled, and music worthy of dance. It was the picture's sweetness, sense of genuine desire to
entertain, to build something unique and exciting and honest. The Muppets Take Manhattan was a child's dream come true, a picture
populated with adorable and long-established characters, catchy show tunes, and all manner of interesting big city people. It was a perfect little movie,
so genuine in intent and execution, and it remains so today. It might not be a timeless picture, but it holds up incredibly well and not only thanks to
an admittedly strong sense of nostalgia. No, the characters are still fun, the music still toe-tapping good, and all of the behind-the-scenes subtleties
and the film's
purity remain and are more easily appreciated through veteran movie watching eyes.
Rave reviews!
The Muppets Take Manhattan features a robust 1080p transfer. The image retains the film's natural grain structure and supports the transfer's superb clarity and attention to detail. Rarely is there a soft shot to be seen, and even distant objects -- whether cityscape elements or faces in a crowd -- remain sharp and strongly detailed in the back of the frame. Up-close objects yield exceptional texturing, too; viewers will be pleased to see every little nuance in the puppets, every line in human faces, and all of the worn-down textures seen in the city, inside the diner, and even within the confines of the small personal lockers in which the Muppets live while in New York. Colors sparkle, too; the palette is perfectly balanced and handles hot pinks, brilliant blues, and Kermit's green skin without missing a beat. Concrete grays, less potent hues, and black levels are excellent, too. Clarity is wonderful, and the 1080p transfer even reveals the strings controlling the puppets in a handful of shots. Print damage is virtually nonexistent, and while there's some intermixing noise present, there's no evidence of debilitating banding, blockiness, edge enhancement, or other maladies. This is one heck of a strong catalogue transfer from Sony.
The Muppets Take Manhattan arrives on Blu-ray with a quality DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This one's pretty much all about the music. Whether numbers that are almost whisper-quiet or the most rowdy, loud, and energized show tunes, Sony's track delivers precision levels of sonic goodness. Spacing is natural, highs are crisp, the midrange sound, and the low end is hefty but not obnoxiously so. There's a certain realism inherent to the tunes, the sign of good production values and a quality lossless presentation. Additionally, the surrounds carry just the right amount of musical support while also engaging the listener with some subtle but critical city ambience. Rarely does the listener feel wholly immersed into the streets of New York or even the little diner that features prominently in the film, but the effects are never completely lost or absent entirely. Dialogue is center-balanced and always dominant. It's never jumbled with other effects or unnecessarily placed away from the middle of the soundstage. The track excels where it counts, and never before have the songs and sounds of The Muppets Take Manhattan sounded so good.
The Muppets Take Manhattan's primary extra is a sit-down piece where Jim Henson speaks on a variety of topics.
They don't make 'em like this anymore, but maybe they don't need to. The Muppets Take Manhattan remains a dazzling, heartwarming, and genuinely pure and good-intentioned children's movie that's still as colorful, catchy, and fun as it was back in the eighties. The film has aged well, and in today's world of cold and detached special effects, watching this movie makes it all the more clear how real, tangible, and simple movie magic can be just as exhilarating as -- if not more so than -- all of the whiz-bang CGI elements that just can't replicate the human touch. The Muppets Take Manhattan is a fairly simple movie, but it feels big and plays straight into the heart. It might not be a classic, but it's definitely a movie not to be forgotten to time. Sony's Blu-ray release of The Muppets Take Manhattan is unfortunately absent the thorough supplemental content the film deserves, but the technical presentation is pretty much beyond reproach. Sony usually does right by catalogue titles, and they definitely need to release more of them if The Muppets Take Manhattan is evidence of how the studio treats even its "midlevel" decades-old offerings. Highly recommended.
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