Billy Madison (HD-DVD)
Studio: Universal
Release Date/Year:2007 (Film Year 1995)
Rated:PG-13
Film Length: 89 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16X9 Enhanced Widescreen (1.85:1)
Video: 1080p/24
Audio: English - Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
Video Quality: 4.5
Audio Quality: 3
Overview and Film Information
Lets be honest, either you love Adam Sandler or you hate him, the same can be said for this rather obtuse and strange film. "Billy Madison" tells the story of Billy Madison, the slacker/bum son of the rather wealthy owner of the Madison hotel chain. When Billy's dad reveals that he is not going to pass on the inheritance to him he decides to prove to his father than he is capable. To prove this, they strike a deal for Billy to complete grades 1-12, in the process proving his worth and gaining his inheritance. Billy Madison is filled with many laughs from Sandler and the rest of the cast including some small & bit parts from Darren McGavin (Christmas Story), Norm Macdonald and the late Chris Farley. Billy Madison isn't the best film in the world, its weird in it's own sort of way and suffers from some poor directing in my opinion, but it's good for some laughs and die hard Sandler fans. "It's nudie magazine day!"
Video Quality ****.5 out of *****
The video side of things regarding Billy Madison are pretty darn good. We are given a OAR showing at 1.85:1 and it is encoded as usual with VC1 at 1080p/24. Billy Madison is very near to reference quality as it is obvious this is a master of recent vintage and it shows. Film grain is present and barely visible on a high-end display, so no worries of NR or filtering here. The color palette is astounding as one would expect, solid reds and greens are lush and super natural. Sharpness is strong throughout the film, detail is astounding on this release (that's what you get with recent master + no EE + no NR). Contrast ratio and blacks are as good as possible. This is a very strong 4.5 on video and I am very very pleased with Universal on this one.
Audio Quality *** out of *****
Typical comedy style audio here which doesn't give much for us reviewers to write about. We are given a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 track and it gets the job done very very well. The most important element for a release like this is dialog and once again we are delivered a perfect audio track from Universal in that regard. A nice typical 3 on audio.
Extra Features and Menus ***.5 out of *****
Extra features are pretty good on this release and include my personal favorite: Bloopers and Outtakes. Other features include over 25 min. of deleted scenes and a commentary from director Tamra Davis. Menu's are Universal's new style (with opening flying HD-DVD logo), easy to navigate and well laid out, I particularly like the scene selection menu.
Overall **** out of *****
I am very pleased with Universal on this release, awesome top notch video and audio. For those that like this film I would suggest it whole heartedly.
