Meet the Fockers (HD-DVD)
Studio: Universal
Release Date/Year:2007 (Film Year 2004)
Rated:PG-13
Film Length: 115 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16X9 Enhanced Widescreen (1.85:1)
Video: 1080p/24
Audio: English - Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
Video Quality: 2.5
Audio Quality: 3.5
Overview and Film Information
"Meet the Fockers" is a sequel to the enormously popular "Meet the Parents" film and in my opinion succeeds very well. With a title like "Meet the Fockers" one can easily see the plot in those three words. In the first Parents film we were introduced to these characters and the story of Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Stiller), a male nurse who was going to ask his girlfriends father, Jack Byrnes (De Niro), for her hand in marriage. There is one problem however and that is the Byrnes family wants to meet Greg's parents (Hoffman and Streisand), who just happen to be a free spirited complete polar opposite to them; the fun ensues fairly quick. Being a huge fan of Ben Stiller and his somewhat strange comedic style (think "Envy"). I enjoyed this film very much and with it's broad appeal the same could be said for most people including fans of De Niro.
Video Quality **.5 out of *****
Meet the Fockers is presented in it's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is encoded with VC1 at 1080p/24. We are given all around a decent image on this release, but it suffers from some issues that weren't unavoidable. The major complaint is that the transfer is hammered with edge enhancement to a frightening degree, otherwise ruining a great image. MtF has pretty good image detail and appears to be very grainy, so no filtering or NR attempts appear to have been made. Colors are very good although a little "pumped" looking, showing itself in vegetation. Black levels and contrast are very good to excellent. In defense of Universal and this release I have seen this film on HBO via a HD service and it was identical to this presentation in regards to EE and color palette, so obviously this film has master issues that should be looked into. I can't give this anymore than a 2.5 on video, yet another very good image destroyed by my sworn enemy: edge enhancement.
Audio Quality ***.5 out of *****
Not really much to say here about the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack we are given, standard quality and mix we have come to expect from comedy type films. Most importantly dialog could not be any better, it is wonderfully clean, clear and precise. A very solid 3.5 stars.
Extra Features and Menus ***.5 out of *****
Pretty good slate of extra features to be had on this release, including: over 65 bloopers and outtakes, 20 deleted scenes, 3 or 4 short featurettes on various movie subjects (including the Manary gland) and a commentary with Jay Roach. Menus are Universals standard on all releases of the recent past.
Overall *** out of *****
All in all a decent package, if this is a must have for you then I would be ok owning it, but the video is mediocre at best.
