6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The film is based on the novel The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires) by Alexandre Dumas, père. It recounts the adventures of d'Artagnan on his quest to join the three title characters in becoming a musketeer.
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, Oliver Platt, Tim CurryFamily | 100% |
Comedy | 52% |
Romance | 31% |
Adventure | 6% |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The Three Musketeers does not exactly concern itself with historical accuracy and page-by-page faithfulness to Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel. Instead, Director Stephen Herek's (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, The Mighty Ducks) take is a popcorn film through-and-through, casting good looking actors and whittling the story down to its essentials while amplifying contemporary production values and pacing. It works if one isn't concerned with much beyond a fun time at the movies or using the film as a cheat in literature class.
All for one, blue for three.
The Three Musketeers rides onto Blu-ray with a routinely wonderful 1080p transfer. Though the picture is a little murky at the very beginning, showing Tim Curry's Cardinal Richelieu in a dank prison, the picture opens beautifully in the scene to follow, revealing a tight, filmic presentation with extremely fine grain, high yield detail, and bold green tones around the frame. It's a stark contrast but the understandably weaker segment is more the exception than the rule. Mostly, the picture excels, offering its best qualities in abundance. Viewers will delight in the costume intricacies, facial complexities, and environmental densities. Clarity abounds and only a handful of softer shots appear. The picture holds to a pleasing, natural filmic texturing which is accentuated by expressive and well-balanced colors, including those aforementioned greens but also including the blue Musketeer tunics and the red the Cardinal's men wear. Black levels can push a little murky in extreme low light, such as in the above referenced opening scene. Skin tones, however, appear spot-on in good lighting. There are a few errant speckles here and there – look at a shot of D'Artagnan around the 11:45 mark – but the source and encode are otherwise in fine shape. The picture does have a somewhat flat feeling about it, notable particularly in the lower light scenes, but Disney's image frequently pushes towards the high end.
The Three Musketeers rides onto Blu-ray with an enthusiastic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Musical engagement is terrific. It's clear, aggressive, well-spaced along the front, and folds in both healthy surround content and balanced subwoofer output as it's needed in support of the score's low-end elements. Surrounds engage with regularity during battle and chase scenes, too. For instance, there is a fun swirling effects when Porthos knocks out one of the Cardinal's men during battle in chapter five, the effect swinging through the stage with an impressive swooshing effect that seamlessly flows form one speaker to the next. A horse and carriage chase in chapter seven lacks the clarity and depth expected of it, struggling to give real, intricate definition to the scene's most dominant effects, but there's no mistaking the aggressiveness in play, including, again, plenty of balanced surround content. Light atmospherics offer pleasing location authenticity while dialogue presents clearly and effectively from the front-center speaker.
This Blu-ray release of The Three Musketeers contains no supplemental content. The main menu screen only offers options to play the film and select scenes. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.
The Three Musketeers: it's fun, it's frivolous, it's a none-too-serious take on classic material, updated for contemporary (of its time) audiences and delivering a prototypical popcorn experience. It's less concerned with tight storytelling and more so the pretty faces and light adventure themes, and it works as a movie one can just check out with for a while. Disney's Blu-ray, currently exclusive to its online movie club, offers excellent video and strong lossless audio. Recommended for a breezy afternoon escape.
1977
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Lenticular Faceplate
2012
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Available in Double Feature
2001
Available on Double Feature
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1961
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30th Anniversary Edition
1990