Plot: What’s it about?
Chloe and Riley Lawrence (Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen) are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, as part of the Model United Nations. This event allows teens from all over the world to come together and engage in an international competition, which is also a heck of a lot of fun, truth to be told. In addition to doing the activities involved with the competition, the girls make sure to take in all sights, meet some new friends, and browse the local boy selection. After all, what good is a trip to London to live the good life, if you don’t have a little romance, right? And since Chloe and Riley are not only beautiful, but loads of fun and fashion plates to boot, that means London is theirs for the taking and rest assured, they take all they can handle. The chicks manage to visit all the landmarks, find some incredible new fashion items, get down & funky in the hottest clubs, dazzle the locals with their personalities, win over tons of new friends, and even meet some guys to round out the adventure. We all know that these young ladies can handle London, but can London handle Chloe and Riley?
If you’re a pre-teen female or you just like the Olsen twins, Winning London should be on your list next time you shop for DVDs. Yes, it is pretty vapid in most senses, but it knows its audience and plays to them, so it all works out. So while Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen will never win any kind of legitimate awards for their films, they do know what their fans want and they deliver, so you can’t fault them there. In Winning London, we see all the usual lunacy that those lovable twins engage in within all their pictures, but since this one is set in London, that means it all seems just a little bit different. In truth, this installment never veers from the typical formula the girls follow, so if you liked the other movies in their collection, then it is a lock that Winning London will entertain you to no end. But that also means that if you can’t stand these bright-eyed fashionable twins, you will hate Winning London. It isn’t often a line presents itself in such a clear, obvious manner, but this is one of those times, without a doubt. As such, fans of Mary Kate and Ashley will want to run to nab this disc, while others will want to avoid it like the plague.
Video: How does it look?
Winning London is presented in a full frame transfer, as intended. I found no real problems with this visual effort, but it is no by no means reference level, just a good, solid presentation in all respects. I did see some slight compression hiccups, but aside from that, you won’t find much trouble here. The colors are bright and rich, which is good, since these chicks are as bright & perky as you can imagine, so it all melds together well. The contrast is solid also, but not quite as sharp as I would like, at least not in some scenes. But in the end, this is a nice visual transfer and fans should be satisfied.
Audio: How does it sound?
The included mix won’t replace your current demo material, but as far as the material is concerned, it sounds good enough. The music is well presented and some nice movement in the front speakers is present, but don’t expect much here. This material is basic in terms of audio, so the mix is along the same lines and is effective, but has no real bells & whistles. The vocals are clean and easy to understand, while sound effects are passable, no real complaints. So this mix gets the job done, which is about all we can want from this release. This disc also includes a French language option, as well as subtitles in English and Spanish.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes some talent files, a five minute look at the film’s fashions, and a ten minute behind the scenes featurette.
