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A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas: Extra Dope Edition Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

Ken_McAlinden

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Kenneth McAlinden
Capsule/Summary **½


A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas offers more of the same for fans of the previous entries in the stoner odyssey film series with the new wrinkles of a holiday theme and copious amounts of 3D gags. While the film improves somewhat on its immediate predecessor Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, it is every bit the unnecessary re-hash (pun absolutely intended) of the first and best film in the series, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Even die-hard fans of the series might want to hold off on purchasing/renting the film until they can see it in 3D, since the filmmaker's whole-hearted embrace of the format is almost the whole point of the enterprise. The digital cinematography is rendered on 2D Blu-ray with perfection, although the constant use of deep focus makes it a fairly bland visual experience in 2D. The immersive DTS-HD-MA 5.1 audio mix on the theatrical version of the film is a lot of fun, but for reasons unknown, the extended cut of the film only receives a low bitrate Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Extras include the aforementioned extended cut which does not improve much on the theatrical version, some amusing but slight improvised musings by co-start Thomas Lennon, a brief featurette on the production of the film's claymation sequence, and a trio of deleted scenes.



A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas: Extra Dope Edition

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Directed By: Todd Strauss-Schulson



Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris, Thomas Lennon, Amir Blumenfield, Danny Trejo, Patton Oswalt, Elias Koteas, Eddie Kaye Thomas, David Krumholtz, and Paula Garcés







Studio: Warner/New Line

Year: 2011

Rated: R

Film Length: 90 minutes (theatrical) / 96 minutes (extended cut)

Aspect Ratio: 2.4:1



Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese





Release Date: February 7, 2012





The Film **½

A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas picks up the story of the titular protagonists 5-6 years after the events of Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. Harold has moved onward and upward with his life, married Maria (Garcés), moved to a nice house in the suburbs, accumulated some square friends including Todd (Lennon), and is looking to start a family. Kumar's life is on more of a downward trajectory. He has broken up with his girlfriend Vanessa (an uncredited Daneel Harris-Ackles) lives on his own in a rarely cleaned apartment, plans most of his days and nights around smoking pot, and hangs around with similarly unambitious friends including Adrian (Blumenfield). On Christmas Eve, a package arrives for Harold on Kumar's doorstep. This proves to be the catalyst for a Christmas-themed odyssey of episodic insanity in the vein of their previous adventures.




While A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas is every bit as unnecessary as the first Harold and Kumar sequel, it improves on its immediate predecessor primarily due to its "back to basics" formula. Lack of ambition is generally not a virtue, but stoner comedy sequels are apparently an exception. It meets the audiences expectations, re-introduces most of the favorite characters from the previous films in the series, includes a couple of meta-gags making reference to Kal Penn's White House job and NPH's coming out, and adds only a few new wrinkles. These new elements include the Holiday setting, a couple of alternate/rival buddies for Harold and Kumar, the breakfast-themed awesomeness of "Waffle-bot", and a running gag involving a baby that if you don't hate yourself for laughing at now, you likely will as soon as the first news story about a copycat moron appears.



The film's real raison d'etre is the 3D presentation which is not represented on this particular release. Nearly every scene in the movie is staged with at least one obvious 3D gag. When watching in 2D, this results in a couple of artifacts including a generally bland look to the film due to most of it being shot deep focus and a number of slow-motion shots that seem gratuitous as things pass through the foreground. In the end, unless you are a Harold and Kumar completist (a rare and dying breed) or have the ability to watch the 3D version of this film, I would recommend sticking with the original Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.


The Video ****


This 1080p AVC-encoding approximates the film's original theatrical aspect ratio by filling the entire 16:9 frame. It is a just about perfect rendering of the film's digital cinematography, but the overall look is bland and flat without the 3D presentation that was the basis for the staging of nearly every scene.


The Audio ****½


The theatrical version of the film's sound mix is provided courtesy of a DTS-HD MA lossless 5.1 multi-channel encoding which fully exploits the surround channels and offers the audio equivalent of the 3D gags throughout the film. Alternate language options are provided in the form of 640 kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in French, Spanish, and Portuguese. For some inexplicable reason, the extended cut of the film is presented with its only audio option being a 448 kbps English Dolby Digital track, and the audio fidelity is a noticeable step down.

The Extras **½


When the disc is first played, the viewer is greeted with the following promos presented in AVC encoded 1080p video with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound:


  • Warner 3D Blu-ray Promo (1:50)

  • Project X Theatrical Trailer (1:37)



Proper Special Features include an Extended Cut of the film that consists of mostly minor added gags and brief scene extensions that total about six minutes. My favorite added bit involves an extended flashback scene of Harold's grandmother-in-law's fateful Christmas mugging that goes more perversely over the top with its portrayal of violence.




Through The Haze with Tom Lennon is a series of talking head interview segments with Thomas Lennon that are slight, but consistently funny. It starts out on the right note by sending up the whole idea of the electronic press kit interview in the first segment when he interrupts his interview to give some crew members moving props and equipment a Christian Bale-style profanity-laced tirade while screaming that he is trying to do a "puff-piece" interview. The segments are viewable individually, although a "play all" option is not provided. The individual segments and their running times are as follows:



  • I'm Doing a Puff Piece over Here (1:57)

  • I Hate Drugs (:59)

  • F#*@ You Charles Dickens (1:50)

  • I'm Just Brainstorming Here (1:28)

  • The Marshmallow Man (1:07)

  • 19th Greatest Christmas Story Ever Told (1:14)



Bringing Harold and Kumar Claymation to Life (3:32) is a too-brief behind the scenes glimpse of how the film's brief claymation sequence was accomplished. On camera comments are provided by Director Todd Strauss-Schulson and co-writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg.



Deleted Scenes (3:48) Is a roll of three scenes cut from the film that are not selectable individually from the disc menu, but are at least individually chapter encoded. Brief descriptions follow:



  • Harold and Kumar find themselves in a Chinese Restaurant that is overflowing with Jewish families including Rosenberg (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and his family, but not Goldstein

  • An alternate unused scene of Todd and Adrian busting out of the Ukranian gangster's closet with the help of Todd's stoned infant daughter.

  • Santa Claus encounters the horny daughter of a Ukranian gangster and does not have a happy ending in any sense of the expression.




An SD DVD of the theatrical cut of the film is provided on the flip side of the blu-ray disc. It is presented barebones without even a chapter menu, although audio and subtitle tracks are available in English, French, and Spanish.


Packaging


The Blu-ray/DVD "flipper" disc is enclosed in a standard sized blu-ray case which is in turn enclosed in a cardboard slipcover that reproduces the same artwork with the addition of promotional text touting the SD DVD, Ultraviolet Digital Copy, and the disc's status as an "Extra Dope Edition". An [COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]insert on the case contains information and the access code for an [/COLOR]Ultraviolet Digital Copy of the theatrical version of the film[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]. This allows users with a Flixster account to access a streaming version of the film on computers and certain tablets and mobile devices. It also allows viewers with [/COLOR]Flixster Collections[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)] software to download a copy to their computer's hard drive. [/COLOR]
 

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