A full can of entertainment
Tracy Turnblad is a typical girl, who is a little bit big-boned. Regardless of appearance, Tracy is a happy-go-lucky girl with no worries, except one… she wants to be a part of the Corny Collins show, a dance show for the teenagers of the 1960s. When Tracy suddenly finds herself trying out for the show, and shortly rejected, she doesn’t let her bother her much. When she get noticed by famous dancer Link Larkin, her luck changes. She not only gets on the show, but her popularity as being a normal girl sends her likability out of the roof. Of course, Amber von Tussle and her mother, who is the general manager of the television station that Collins has his show on, have other plans for Tracy and her new found popularity.
How could you not like this movie? It has musical numbers, but they’re so outrageously written that you have to like them. The characters are perfectly played, no one seemed out of place. And John Travolta… my goodness, this completely makes up for The Punisher. You are forgiven.
Now, with the compliments dished out, let me just say that I liked the original version of this film much better. The main reason why I feel this way, is mainly because the actors in the original understood what John Waters was doing and put their heart and soul into it. Not that this cast didn’t, but the message of the film was definitely more powerful back in 1988 then it is in 2007. You have to ask yourself, what’s the big difference between the ’88 film and the ’07 film? Not much, other than it’s in beautiful high-def, so what was the purpose? I haven’t figured that out yet. It’s not like I Am Legend which could have been a wonderful update to two previous classic films of the same story. It’s basically the same music, the same setting, but with different actors. Hairspray isn’t better in 2007, it’s simply the same.
But, the good part of this is that for those people who have never experienced the wonderful film that is Hairspray they’ve got a newer, shiner version that will make them as equally as happy. For this critic though, I have and always will believe that if you’re going to update a film, you should probably make the film better in some way. Otherwise, it’s a waste.
Good features that hold up
The movie is vibrant and gorgeous on Blu-ray. It looks good, it sounds good, you cannot match the quality of Blu-ray. It’s hard to describe, but you just can’t go back to DVDs once you go Blu-ray. Coming to you in 1080p and 5.1 Enhanced sound, you’ll appreciate every bit of the visuals and audio. The film is colorful, it really brings out the Baltimore-1962 feel. Pastels look nice in high-def.
As for the extras, here’s what you’re looking at:
-Sing Along with the Moving Using the Lyric Track
-Step-by-Step dance instructions
-Deleted Scenes / Never-seen-before Musical Number
-The Long Journey of Hairspray documentary
-Breaking down the dance scenes Hairspray extensions
-The roots of hairspray
There are more extras, but these certainly take the cake. I think the documentary and the sing along will make this worth the price of admission. You can’t argue with the extras, they’re good. Also, the menu system is quite nice. What’s amazed me since Blu-ray hit the scene a year or so back is that the menus are starting to make much more sense than they previously did. Much like the film, the menus are vibrant and full of life.
Shaking the can a bit
I like this film, but again I’m not sure that it’s better than the original. Ricki Lake and Divine are two acts that are incredibly difficult to beat and while I really love John Travolta and Nikki Blonsky’s performances, i think they’re still not as good as the previous. You’ll still love the music, and the movie, especially if you have never seen the first. With the Blu-ray format, which is perfect for the film, and the extras, this might be worth the purchase.
I enjoyed it, but not overwhelmingly.