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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Mr. Bean's Holiday

    Featured In Issue 128, February 2008

    Picture3
    SoundNR
    WSR Score3
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    Universal Studios Home Entertainment
    (Catalog Number):
    61102737
    (MPAA Rating):
    G
    (Rating Reason):
    For all ages
    (Retail Price):
    $39.98
    (Disc Type):
    Dual Side/Dual Layer (HD DVD30/DVD9)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    90
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    1
    (Theatrical Year):
    2007
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    Steve Bendelack
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor):
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers):
    (Co-Producers):
    (Producers):
    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Dolby Digital+ 5.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
    (Additional Languages):
    (French Language):
    (Spanish Language):
    (Chinese Language):
    (Subtitles):
    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
    (Japanese Language):
    (Italian Language):
    (German Language):
    (Portuguese Language):

    Bean (Atkinson) cannot believe his luck when he wins a camcorder and an all-expense-paid vacation to Cannes, France in a Church raffle. But, problems arise in Paris when he is misdirected when changing train stations and he has to find his own way to Cannes. Mr. Bean's Holiday turns into a series of mishaps, and unfortunate coincidences whilst trying to travel to his destination, all caught on tape. Will Mr. Bean make it to the French Riviera in time for the famous film festival? (Stacey Pendry)

    Special features include up-front previews, 17 deleted scenes, and the following featurettes: French Beans (12 minutes), Beans In Cannes (six minutes) and The Human Bean (six minutes). The HD DVD also includes some Web-enabled downloads.

    The anamorphically enhanced 1.84:1 DVD exhibits a bright, almost washed-out picture. Fleshtones have a pallid appearance, making people look somewhat sickly. Resolution is fairly good, but the image can have a harsh, digitized appearance. Colors are somewhat undersaturated and the color palette favors warm hues of brown and red. Edge enhancement can be recognized at times but compression artifacts are not overly distracting. The HD DVD's VC-1 encoding shows adequate resolution, but it is not as detailed as the best high-definition releases. The images still looks bright and somewhat washed out, with pallid fleshtones. Color saturation is also less than satisfactory, and edge enhancement is not noticeable in this release. (Danny Richelieu)

    The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack can be very entertaining, with good fidelity and a lively mix that incorporates all of the available channels frequently. The surround channels are used fairly well even in the quiescent scenes, delivering a subtle, yet expansive sense of atmosphere. Dialogue can have a thin character, but deep bass is delivered well using the LFE channel as well as the full-range channels when present in the soundtrack. The HD DVD's Dolby Digital Plus sounds almost identical to the DVD's encoding, but the lossless Dolby TrueHD encoding that is also on the disc does have a slight improvement in overall fidelity. Dialogue still sounds somewhat thin, but bass when delivered does sound tighter and more articulate. (Danny Richelieu)

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    Kevin A. Gerfen
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