Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (HD-DVD)
Studio: Universal
Release Date/Year:2007 (Film Year 2000)
Rated:PG-13
Film Length: 106 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16X9 Enhanced Widescreen (1.85:1)
Video: 1080p/24
Audio: English - Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
Video Quality: 1.0
Audio Quality: 3.5
Overview and Film Information
The sequel to the appreciated remake hit comedy of "The Nutty Professor" was not as well received or regarded, having a very low rating of 4.3 at the IMDB. Most would consider the film pretty low in quality, but if you are a fan of Eddie Murphy then I am fairly positive you will have a ball with it. Murphy plays no less than 8 characters in this film and his talents are on full display with them all. Sure! this is not the best movie ever made, but I find it to be some very good raunchy fun, I am a sucker for Eddie Murphy so my opinion may be somewhat tainted. The version of the film we have on this HD-DVD release is the standard 106 mins. theatrical version, not the uncensored release that we saw on DVD a few years back, in my opinion there isn't much to miss.
Video Quality * out of *****
Their isn't really much to say about this release other than the fact that this image pure stinks. We are presented with the theatrical OAR of 1.85:1 and it seems that is all that was done right. I am 99% confident this is a up-converted master, almost sure of it. The easiest way to notice a up-converted master is the crispness of opening and closing film credits, this is a brutally honest test, one that Klumps fails miserably. On top of that the image is absolutely destroyed with edge enhancements and false sharpening techniques, making for a nasty image. Color palette is pretty good and that is about the only good thing to say about this. This is without a doubt one of the biggest jokes released so far on the HD-DVD format (it shares that title with "Traffic"). A abysmal 1 out of 5 stars for video.
Audio Quality ***.5 out of *****
We are presented with a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack and it is pretty much the standard comedy style quality we have come to expect, although this one is slightly better than normal due to some decent surround effects and what have you. Dialog is very clean and intelligible and various sound effects are very convincing and discrete all the while maintaining a nice sound field. A solid 3 stars for audio
Extra Features and Menus *** out of *****
Extra features include Universal's "Spotlight On Location", extended and deleted scenes, outtakes, a few small featurettes, commentary by director Peter Segal and Janet Jackson's music video. Menus are Universal's new style with flying HD-DVD logo.
Overall ** out of *****
I gave this release such a low rating due to the horrible faux-HD video, there is simply no excuse for a joke of a release like this. The best audio and supplements in the world couldn't rescue this release, I mean who really care if we have such a poor video presentation?
