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Columbia TriStar Home Video presents

Charlie's Angels (Superbit) (2000)

"Dylan, Alex, Natalie, I hope you're rested and ready for your next assignment."- Charlie (John Forsythe)

Stars: Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Lui, Bill Murray
Other Stars: Sam Rockwell, Kelly Lynch, Tim Curry, Crispin Glover
Director: McG

MPAA Rating: PG for (violence, some sexuality)
Run Time: 01h:38m:17s
Release Date: 2003-10-07
Genre: action

Style
Grade
Substance
Grade
Image Transfer
Grade
Audio Transfer
Grade
Extras
Grade
B+ B-AA+ B+

 

DVD Review

You know what? Charlie's Angels is a fun movie that has quite survived the over-hype of itself and its predecessor to stand as something that might find a watchable place on the DVD shelf. The actresses are appealing. The music is listenable. The humor is repeatable. The movie quite literally has it all from a wham-bam, ripped from the headlines computer-spy-crime plot to Mission Impossible setups and Marx Brothers hijinks. The humor of the various "angel" songs that play throughout the film and the cameos in such roles as the Angels' boyfriends add a light touch.

There is a stiffness to the "comedic" acting of the three ladies. Drew Barrymore plays a saucy Dylan, Lucy Liu is earnest Alex, and Cameron Diaz is Natalie, who quite literally defies an easy description. Bill Murray is a bit over the top as sidekick Bosley, who was always played in an understated way in the television show by David Doyle. I suppose that some were happy the aging John Forsythe reprises his role as the voice of Charlie, but I was hoping for some unusual bit of casting.

Sam Rockwell is Bill Gatesian computer maë&stro, Eric Knox, who has been kidnapped. His partner, Vivian Wood, hires the Angels to rescue him and complications of world-wide electronic imports emerge quickly. The erstwhile villain, Roger Corwin, is essayed by the always engaging Tim Curry, and his Jaws-like henchman is a very creepy Crispin Glover. Like James Bond films, there is enough plot to string together the songs, the bits, the fights, the disguises, and the explosions.

McG directs in fast-cutting slamming video style and brings a verve to the film that serves well in repeat viewing. The production design is state-of-the-art and the special effects are marvelous. Drew Barrymore is credited as a producer on the film and Aaron Spelling, of the original TV show, is an executive producer.

If you don't already own Charlie's Angels, then move right on over to this potent Superbit edition. It's a good disc for the home theater collection, both entertaining and also to loosen up the subwoofer. The yodelling Angels and the oompah song is worth the price of admission alone.

Rating for Style: B+
Rating for Substance: B-

 

Image Transfer

 One
Aspect Ratio2.35:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratioyes
Anamorphicyes


Image Transfer Review: This new Superbit release features lovely image quality. This is not surprising in that the non-Superbit edition of Charlie's Angels was excellent and rated highly. The Superbit benefits from a higher bit rate (the previous release featured both widescreen and full-screen transfers on opposite sides of a DVD-10). Aside from some occasional slight edge enhancement, it was hard to find any fault. Aliasing and artifacting aren't readily apparent and colors are saturated and stable along with solid blacks. Perhaps not enough to say sell the previous and buy the Superbit unless you have the system that can really benefit.

Image Transfer Grade: A
 

Audio Transfer

 LanguageRemote Access
Dolby Digital
5.1
English and Japaneseyes
DTSEnglishyes


Audio Transfer Review: This disc features DD 5.1, as well as DTS and the surround seems much improved over the previous release with copious ambient sound created a feast for the ears. Crank it up and enjoy the marvelous work of the sound technicians in mixing the multiple inputs of effect, music and dialogue.

Audio Transfer Grade: A+ 

Disc Extras

Full Motion menu with music
Scene Access with 28 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English, Spanish, French, Chineses, Korean, Thai with remote access
5 Deleted Scenes
6 Featurette(s)
Weblink/DVD-ROM Material
Packaging: generic plastic two-disc keepc
2 Discs
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:
  1. Sneak Peek at "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle"
  2. Shop the Scene DVD-ROM Link and Link to "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" official website
  3. Set Design, Fashion, Martial Arts and Stunts, Special Effects and Director McG featurettes
  4. Wired Angels Scene Deconstruction
  5. Music Videos
Extras Review: The extras on this disc are mostly geared toward marketing:

Sneak Peek at Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle:Coincidentally, being released at the same time as the new edition of the first film!

Shop the Scene DVD-ROM Link:Will you? I doubt it. The ROM stuff pretty well sucks like most ROM material. Don't buy it for this.

Link to Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle official website: Oh boy. Thanks. Does anyone put these in a desktop computer?

Set Design, Fashion, Martial Arts, and Stunts, Special Effects and Director McG featurettes:Deleted and Extended Scenes: Some amusing stuff here. As usual, left out for a good reason but this is DVD and this is the milk we DVD watchers like to lap up.

Wired Angels Scene Deconstruction: Excellent bit of Hollywood tech as we see the fight scene in the alley between the Angles and Crispin Glover in a rough form. It provides an excellent appreciation of the quality of stunt and effects work.

Outtakes and Bloopers: A replay of the end credit bloopers. Semi-lame.

Music Videos of Destiny's Child and Apollo Four Forty: Play these for your mom. Just kidding. They aren't too bad.

Extras Grade: B+
 

Final Comments

Girls, music, explosions... in Superbit. Who could ask for more?

Jesse Shanks 2004-02-19