HTF HD DVD Review: Mr. Bean's Holiday (Combo)

Sam Posten · 12-10-2007, 11:21 PM

Mr. Bean’s Holiday (Combo)

HD DVD Title: Mr. Bean’s Holiday (Combo Format)
Rated: G
Screen format: Widescreen 1080P 1.85:1 High Definition, VC-1 Encoded
Studio: Universal
First theatrical release: 24 August 2007 (USA)
Other DVD or HD Releases: Day and Date with Widescreen DVD
Director: Steve Bendelack
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Emma De Caunnes, Willem DaFoe
Sound Formats: English Tolby True HD 5.1; English & French Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
Length: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Subtitles: English & French

Plot: 2.5/5
Rowan Atkinson reprises his most famous of role as the eponymous (and oblivious) nincompoop, Mr. Bean. Bean lucks out by taking first prize in a church lottery, and wins both an all expenses paid vacation to Cannes, France and a new camcorder to record his adventures with. Set as a reverse homage to Jacques Tati’s Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (at least according to Atkinson, I must have missed that one in the film appreciation class I took years back), this movie is about the journey and not the destination. While Bean keeps setting himself in the right direction, anything can and will go wrong in getting to Cannes. After making a mockery of French cuisine, Bean loses his passport, unwittingly kidnaps the son of a Cannes Judge, meets a rising starlet, chases chickens cross country, and brings the countryside to tears in a moving operatic solo. Like any good madcap romp these all come back to haunt Bean as he eventually makes his way to Cannes and into a starring role in a movie premiere, finishing with gusto on the sandy, sunny beaches where he set out to be.

For me the real interesting thing going on here is the integration of very high quality film against the mundane but much more raw look of the digital camcorder. As you watch this film you begin to appreciate that there are whole levels of different things working that are way beyond the scope of just another silly comedy. On one level Bean is a true everyman but it is in his reaction to the situations that find himself in that defines his character (after all the guy can have a GREAT time while dressed as a Nazi!) and not just how funny his dance moves or his elastic ears can be. On another level it’s clear that a lot of French Cinema has influenced this film, even when the characters themselves are way back in England. Even if viewers can’t point out the specific references, the careful crafting of the film carries the tones and underscores that are recognizable. And on a whole other level the truly absurd conclusion just brings the film to a completely different place, echoing a whole other class of comedies from decades past.

Holiday has a lot going for it and if you give yourself over to unraveling these different layers it might just surprise you. If you find the comedic elements hitting their mark then so much the better!

Sound Quality: 4/5
Sound quality was surprisingly good here, with at least the musical accompaniment well placed in all corners, and featuring lighthearted studio recordings appropriate for a cross-European quest. While Bean hardly talks, his grunts and protestations are well centered and the dialogue of those around him sounds completely natural. Outside of the musical content there are a number of effects that are well localized as the world crashes and yet continues on around the unwitting Bean. Bass is a bit light but that’s not altogether unexpected in this film.

Visual Quality: 4.5/5
Again, video quality is remarkably good for a situational comedy of this order. From the extras it is clear that while the film itself is slapstick and madcap, the production values are anything but. Everything is well polished with superb color rendition across a wide variety of rural, suburban and coastal France. I had zero complaints about noise, digital artifacts, edge enhancement or print damage, it was completely clean, pleasing, colorful and sharp. On the sharpness front a number of scenes use tight depth of field to draw viewers attention and it is very well done when used selectively, and all of the landscape and travel segments were crisp and detailed. It actually made it seem reasonable and exciting to want to go to France, and for me that’s a big leap. If I have one complaint it is that faces sometimes get a hazy washed out look that was probably in the original print element as a way to reduce details that would give away makeup effects, but most scenes are free of this and Bean’s face is remarkably animated and sharp.

Extra Features: 3.5/5
There are 5 deleted scenes and 3 15 minute featurettes in addition to whatever Universal has tossed up on the Web enabled areas (which I can’t bring myself to connect with or care about). The deleted scenes should likely have been left that way, but as they weren’t put back into the feature itself, no major harm done and I recommend they be skipped. The 3 ‘Bean’-named featurettes cover the behind the scenes information from a variety of angles that isn’t necessarily related to their title, and if it were not for the fact that putting them all together would have resulted in an enormous 45 minute mess and reduced the check boxes on the back by two, this probably could have been done. Regardless, all key players get their moment to shine and to chat up their love from Atkinson, and Rowen himself gets ample opportunity to show just how dissimilar he is to the character. Of note, check out the guerilla filmmaking incorporated during the real Cannes festival.

Overall: 3/5 (not an average)
Bean’s Holiday is an odd combination of high concept art film and slapstick comedy. For his part Atkinson seems to be a diehard perfectionist and half a minute watching him work behind the scenes it is clear that he is among the smartest people in any given room despite the goofiness of his most endearing character. The funny thing is that as likeable as everyman Bean is, Atkinson himself seems to light up those around him, both in his work ethic and his generosity. While Holiday didn’t really tickle me the ways some madcap farces have over my lifetime (and I count It’s a mad mad mad mad world as my favorite film of all time), there are worse ways to blow an hour and a half and even if there aren’t great belly laughs in it there’s enough giggles to make up for it. If you aren’t in on the whole dichotomy between the high and the low that they are going for thought it will be a much more painful experience.

Given that, and the outstanding video and audio quality it’s hard to come down too hard on this film in the final analysis. While it just didn’t work for me on a comedy level that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the other qualities that it has going for it, especially given that there are some really intriguing intellectual underpinnings behind what seems like a simple absurdist comedy. These generally balance out and leave me feeling a bit ambivalent about the whole thing, but this was my first real Bean exposure and I’m certain that like so much English comedy the real humor is in the repeated viewings and not just the first time through.

Cees Alons · 12-11-2007, 05:19 AM

Thanks, Sam!

It won't be to everyone's taste, I guess (and there's a marked difference with Atkinson's "Bean Shorts"). The first time I saw this movie was under the worst of all possible conditions: during a transatlantic flight, making me wonder if perhaps this was one of the weakest of the Bean, uhm, franchise.

But I ordered the HD DVD. Hope to change my opinion. (I will look for the levels you mentioned.

)

Cees

PerryD · 12-11-2007, 08:33 PM

My pristine rental copy would not load in my XA2, so I had to watch it on the SD side. The movie was unfortunately below average, and I consider myself a Bean fan.



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