Forbidden, Undeniable Love
The Notebook is a movie about love between Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton, played by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, respectively. The two meet one night at a carnival in the old South but Allie’s parents forbid a relationship between the two as Noah doesn’t come from a wealthy family. Allie soon moves away, but their feelings for each other remain strong. Noah spends the next several years putting hard labor into restoring an old house that he and Allie knew about, a story that would eventually land in the newspaper, along with his picture. Meanwhile, Allie has become engaged to a wealthy man, but after seeing Noah’s photo and reading the story of his restoration project, she can’t help but visit him.
Ultimately, Allie must decide if she wants to be with Noah or with her fiancée. The Notebook is already a classic in this genre and having not seen it before this review, I can really begin to see why, even though this type of film is normally not something I make it a point to watch.
Quite The Blu-ray Set
The Notebook Limited Edition Gift Set Blu-ray release is quite impressive. First of all, the 2004 film looks and sounds great, utilizing a 1080p picture with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound. The picture quality isn’t perfect, but it is great and the few technical blemishes I saw didn’t detract significantly from the viewing experience.
Having a great film and presentation are vital, but how about the extras? With this release, it’s hard to be disappointed. Actually, many of the extras included with this release aren’t on the disc at all; they’re actual products included in the box set. These include:
-46 page Photo And Scrapbook Album – This really nicely put together notebook includes full color photos from the film and also provides a summary of the film’s plot. There are also extra pages that you can use as you see fit.
-Decorative Stickers And Photo Corners To Add Your Own Photos
-2 Themed Bookmarks
-Set of 16 Notecards And Envelopes
Obviously, your mileage on those extras may vary; for me, flipping through the book was enough, but this gift set isn’t intended for my demographic. That said, there are still quite a few extras on the disc to check out; they include:
-All In the Family: Nick Cassavetes – A twelve minute SD feature about the director including interviews with cast and crew about him as well as production footage of the director in action on set.
-Nicholas Sparks: Simple Story Well Told – A six and a half minute SD feature about the author of the book. He is interviewed as well as some of the folks at the publishing firm that picked his book up. Footage of Sparks at book signings is included as well as a biography of Sparks.
-Southern Exposure: Locating The Notebook – An eleven and a half minute SD feature with behind the scenes footage and cast and crew interviews centered around the southern locations used for the film.
-Casting Ryan and Rachel – A four minute SD extra about the two stars’ careers to the point of being cast for their roles and their chemistry on screen.
-Rachel McAdams Screen Test – This is a three and a half minute feature in SD that is just footage of Rachel doing a screen test for the film.
-Audio Commentaries – Director Cassavetes and Author Chris Sparks each have an commentary track.
-Deleted Scenes – There are twelve deleted scenes totaling twenty-eight minutes; optional commentary from Editor Alan Heim is included. All scenes are in HD.
And with that, let’s get to the summary…