7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Insightful look at an unattractive 7th grader as she struggles to cope with un-attentive parents, snobbish classmates, a smart older brother, an attractive younger sister, and her own insecurities.
Starring: Heather Matarazzo, Christina Brucato, Victoria Davis (I), Brendan Sexton III, Ken LeungComing of age | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A middle school setting and an "R" rated movie wouldn't necessarily seem to go hand-in-hand. After all, that kind of rating usually goes with the kind of black comedy stories one would find within the hallowed halls of high school where the students are a little older, more experienced, more attuned to the world around them, more hormonal. Middle school seems like a safer cinematic environment, the kind of place where movies like Diary of a Wimpy Kid take place, which in some ways really isn't all that different from Welcome to the Dollhouse. The difference is that the latter, Writer/Director Todd Solondz's (Happiness) film about a bullied, loner middle school girl, takes the hard-edged, reality driven angle rather than one that is perhaps a little more watered-down for wider audiences and watchers (or readers) who are the same age as the characters depicted in the film. No, Welcome to the Dollhouse offers an uncompromising look at bullying and survival both in school and in the family structure, a story in which a young girl is not only verbally abused at school but threatened with rape, mistreated at home, and must deal with a family member who may have been kidnapped to be sold into sex slavery.
Welcome to the Dollhouse arrives on Blu-ray as part of Sony's MOD (Manufactured on Demand) line, and as expected with the studio's history of putting out top-quality product, this is a very nice presentation. The 1080p picture quality is natural and cinematically organic. Grain is light but retained for the duration, a complimentary texture that solidifies the picture's top-end detailing. Skin textures lack the firm, intimate complexity of the best transfers, and the image might be said to be a hint soft in total, but pimples, freckles, and essential skin details are very revealing within the image's greater context, as are various environments, including school classrooms and objects in Dawn's bedroom. Colors are generally fine, lacking real extreme punch and vitality but various examples of brighter shades are nicely integrated, such as seen in a barrage of colorful attire during Dawn's parents' anniversary party in chapter six. There are a few examples of black levels rising a little or pushing to a purple shade (with some tightening in later scenes when the story shifts to nighttime New York exteriors) and it's not uncommon to spot some smaller examples of print wear (pops, scratches). Opening title wobble is obvious, too, but not necessarily distracting. While the presentation doesn't redefine the Blu-ray catalogue landscape, it's a very pleasing, accurate, and filmic 1080p image that should please longtime fans and newcomers alike.
Welcome to the Dollhouse features a single soundtrack option, a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack (note that the packaging incorrectly states that a 5.1 track is included). Music is adequately hard-edged when Rock Riffs drive out from the speakers, and width is satisfactory. The same can be said of some of the garage band music heard in spots throughout the film. Applause from an assembled student body offers nice clarity and stage stretch in the 18-minute mark, and some light reverb drifts out to the side at the same time when the speaker addresses the crowd. As was the case with another Sony MOD title, The Principal, it is in scenes such as this where the absence of a more expansive surround presentation hinders the scene's impact, though the two-channel configuration admirably stretches the material fairly well on its own. Other examples of environmental din or ambient support are very few; the film is a dialogue-heavy one and speech plays with good basic clarity and images nicely towards the middle.
The only supplement included with this Blu-ray release of Welcome to the Dollhouse is a theatrical trailer (1080p upscaled, 4x3, 1:54). No DVD or digital versions are included and the release does not ship with a slipcover.
Welcome to the Dollhouse is a curious, but highly effective, R-rated approach to middle school life. It's refreshingly honest, dark and depressing at times but a welcome exploration of maybe a more realistic vision of that time in a young person's life than some other play-it-safe Dramedies. The film tackles many topics but isn't necessarily driven by a single narrative. It's a movie of experiences, shaped by a young girl's existence in and through bullying at school, isolation at home, and her responses to both as well as her growth as a human being. Sony's Blu-ray delivers very good 1080p video and a perfectly adequate two-channel lossless soundtrack. The supplements are unfortunately limited to a trailer. Recommended.
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