Triple Dog Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.0

Triple Dog Blu-ray Movie Review

I Dare U 2 watch.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 19, 2011

Are you too scared to play?

Moving right past the dare, the double dare, the physical challenge, and even the double dog dare, Triple Dog goes right for the jugular, the mother of all dares, at least until someone comes up with the quadruple dog dare. Rumor has it they're already hard at work on the quintuple dog dare at the Pentagon, but until that one materializes for civilian use, the "triple dog" dare will have to suffice. Sigh. If only the dares could be more exciting than streaking, peeing on the principal's doorstep, hiding in a closet, and shoplifting, and the consequence for failure to complete the tasks be something a little more dangerous than a shaved head. Of course, it's all in good fun, until someone dies! (cure the duh duh duuummmm music). Triple Dog is the story of a few friends who play this most dangerous game, but along the way solve the mystery of a local girl's death. The film is 90% fluff and 10% substance, but it's a decent enough affair that watching on a dare isn't really that bad of a fate.

Triple Dog, Jeep style.

It's Eve's (Alexia Fast) 16th birthday, and what better way for a girl to spend the first night of sweet 16 than with a few of her closest friends. Eve's quickly become best friends with a new girl in school, Chapin (Brittany Robertson), a rebellious teenager who, rumor has it, may have been involved in the death of a recent drowning victim. Chapin's arrival at Eve's party sets off another round of finger-pointing between her and the outcast of the group, Liza (Scout Taylor-Compton). Chapin declares her boredom and encourages the girls to pick up the night's pace by playing a dangerous game of "Triple Dog." The rules are simple: perform the dare or else. In this case, "else" is a shaved head. The girls reluctantly agree, playing along and begrudgingly carrying out their assigned tasks. As the night wears on, the truth about Chapin's involvement in the girl's death will be revealed.

Even when Triple Dog finds a footing that endeavors to serve a greater purpose than to plop pretty girls performing various dares in front of the camera, it still manages to lack much emotional resonance. The film is moderately fun in a brain-dead sort of way for most of the runtime; it amounts to little more than effectively but succinctly developed characters complaining about, then performing, whatever dare is asked of them. It's about as routine as routine gets, and even the various "flashback" scenes -- that occur all of four days prior to the film's present -- only marginally build up any suspense pertaining to the mystery surrounding the recently-drowned girl. The problem is that, while likable, the characters aren't particularly memorable, and their story, too -- as entertaining as it may be -- never really works towards anything even moderately rewarding. The ending is satisfactory in the way it wraps up the movie and manages to hook a few broad emotions that are forgotten as soon as the movie ends, but the picture ultimately fails to find the thematic balance it admirably strives for under the barrage of girl-talk and the performing of the various dares.

Technically, Triple Dog fares about as well as it does in terms of its story: fair but forgettable. The film strives to incorporate cutting-edge teenage dialogue with hip and happening characters. Unfortunately, they're all terribly generic and stereotyped to the point that they lose any semblance of reality and real emotion as the film moves along. Triple Dog's fun veneer is never canceled out by listless characters, but it's certainly hindered. The sheer irrelevance of the characters -- even those few dealing with personal struggles, outward pain, and inner secrets -- don't enjoy any kind of solid, heartfelt emotion, nor do they convey it to the audience, due in large part to the way they're so broadly painted. Director Pascal Franchot gives the picture a lifeless texture that plainly captures the story; he leaves everything in the hands of his actresses, who all pull off their stereotyped roles well enough to the point, even, that by the end of the movie they almost feel like real friends, but the picture ultimately settles into "watchable but forgettable" purgatory which, for a movie like this, is about the best fate it could have.

Triple Dog Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Triple Dog's 1080p Blu-ray transfer delivers a problematic but watchable image. Colors lack vibrancy, but the image doesn't look unnaturally washed out. Fine detail fluctuates between average and poor; facial texture are sometimes revealing, other times flat, but never comes across as natural or visually striking. Blacks levels are fair at best, but flesh tones appear fairly neutral. Some scattered background noise, moderate banding, and a general flatness all contribute to the transfer's highly mediocre appearance. There's not much more to it. This is a painfully uninteresting image; it would be unfair to expect Triple Dog to look like some high-dollar new release from a studio like Sony, but Well Go's transfer gets the job done at a very base level.

Triple Dog Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Triple Dog's DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack could use some work. The track has a generally crunchy and unfocused texture, accentuated by sloppy, unkempt bass and dialogue that often plays as unbalanced, unruly, high pitched, and generally detached from the image. Well Go's track doesn't want for volume -- this one is plenty loud at reference level -- but the sheer presence of noise doesn't make for a great soundtrack. Music plays with power to spare across the front, but is absent the clarity and definition of better tracks. Sound effects, too, spread out all across the listening area -- including a healthy back-channel support -- but like everything else they play with a general misbalance and detachment from the whole. Triple Dog's audio track seems hastily assembled; it seems to want to be a powerful, enveloping, engaging sort of experience, but it's unfortunately more of a jumbled mess than anything else. Sure it gets the point across and dialogue is never garbled to the point of unintelligibility, but this is a track that exists in the raw rather than a state of refinement and polish.

Triple Dog Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Triple Dog features only a theatrical trailer (1080p, 1:39) and the following deleted scenes (1080p, 6:06): Escape, Fitting In, Sneaky, Bathroom, and Grounded.

Triple Dog Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Triple Dog is an enjoyable but emotionally vacant picture that, despite its best efforts to the contrary, never surpasses the "point the camera at the girls pulling off dares" aspect of the film. There's more to the story, more here with the potential for something quite good, but generic characters, flat direction, and an iffy script hinder the potential from being completely realized. As it is, Triple Dog is a generically watchable picture but is one that will probably be forgotten to time in the not-too-distant future. Well Go USA's Blu-ray release of Triple Dog is even more spotty than the film. A mediocre 1080p transfer, a flawed lossless soundtrack, and a few throwaway extras make this a disc best enjoyed as a rental.