Plot: What’s it about?
There’s somewhat of an unwritten rule when it comes to writing DVD reviews for this site and that for many movies, good and bad (and trust me, we’ll get to "bad" later) that usually three paragraphs will suffice for the "Story" section of any typical DVD review. Granted, some movies have lots more to say than others, so two paragraphs might do the trick. While this section is more devoted to giving the reader a general overview of what to expect, and not a "critique" per se, some movies just deserve a little more credit and effort than others. This is one of "the others". Yes, I was familiar with the history of this film, how it sat on Warner’s shelves for a few years because they didn’t know if it would work. And the parallels to a very fine movie (that I hasten to even mention in this review with this movie), Casablanca, do aboud (as they’re both about night club owners and some semblance of a romance is made to try to work in this one, whereas it worked in the aforementioned title). The Adventures of Pluto Nash is not a good movie, it’s nothing even remotely like Casablanca, so I don’t know where the comparisons even started to surface. Priced at over $100 million dollars just to make, it earned back about $4 million of that. Yes, that sound you hear is most likely Warner Brothers saying "What the hell were we thinking"?
Eddie Murphy plays the title character of Pluto Nash who is a night club owner on the moon in the year 2097. Yep, you guessed it, the moon has been colonized in just over 80 years from now; so naturally nightclubs abound. Refusing to sell his club to a bunch of thugs, he soon finds himself dodging bullets by the guys who just won’t seem to take "No" for an answer. The one bright part of the movie, Randy Quaid (as an android), has Quaid’s character trying to stop the bad guys, but being an outdated model, he can’t keep up. The cast is littered with major stars, all the more reason why we have to keep guessing as to why these people thought this movie was a good idea. Stephen Spielberg and Tom Cruise managed to give us a very exciting and decent thriller set in the future, but then again the people involved with Pluto Nash aren’t named Tom and Stephen. Comedy just doesn’t work in some venues and I’m guessing that this isn’t one of them. For all of you out there who are wondering "is this really as bad as everyone says it is"? The answer is yes, save your money and just try to forget that this one ever happened.
Video: How does it look?
Although the movie itself isn’t that great, the more technical aspects of this do excel. The 1.85:1 image is anamorphic and, as expected, does look very good. An obvious big budget film from a major studio will make for a great-looking transfer on DVD. This is the case here and though the movie itself won’t hold up, this image looks remarkably clean and just what I was expecting from Warner. No sign of artifacts could be found and the clarity is there as well. Edge enhancement isn’t present and, aside from a few minor artifacts, the rest of the image looks great. Nice job here.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is very robust as well, though if you can just concentrate on the surround effects and try not to interpolate the dialogue, you’ll be a lot better off! The surrounds are in use most of the movie and for a "futuristic" space movie, the sound effects sound great coming from all 5 (make that 6) of your speakers. The sub woofer chimes in at a few key moments as well. While this isn’t reference quality, I found it a good-sounding track and nothing really left to comment on.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Some additional scenes are included (like that would help the movie any) as well as a making of featurette and a music video. I’ve said my .02, but you make up your own mind. The technical aspects of this disc are great, but we watch movies for entertainment, right?
