Daddy’s Little Girls (Blu-ray + DVD-Video/Tyler Perry)
Picture:
B+/B- Sound: B+/B- Extras: B- Film: B-
Tyler
Perry is on a roll and though his Medea character is a driving force behind
many of his works, there are many that do not feature her, so can a Tyler Perry
story work without her? If you see
Perry’s latest film, Daddy’s Little
Girls (2007), you will know it does and very well. A hard-working young man named Monty (Idris
Elba in a very good performance) is trying to keep his family together as he
separates from his unwise wife Jennifer (Tasha Smith in an effective, thankless
performance) who has taken up with a local drug kingpin, his crew and become
totally abusive towards her daughters.
He has a
supportive boss (Louis Gossett, Jr. in one of his best roles in a while) at the
garage and is trying to get things going, but most important is how he puts the
lives of his three beautiful daughters ahead of his. That is unlike his ex-wife, who is increasingly
becoming a problem, spurred on by her new lifestyle that exploits others to
unthinkable extents. But just when
things look like an inescapable nightmare, he and a new employer, dynamic
lawyer Julia (rising star Gabrielle Union) who saw him only as a driver
suddenly sees him as a man and when she stops misdirecting anger all over the
place, may just find the good man she was looking for no matter what the
socio-economic class.
Is it
just a formula or something more in Perry’s work, he has without a doubt his
fingers on the pulse of Black America the way it has often been said Spielberg
has his on the pulse of Suburban America.
Even with its predictability and parameters of some safety, Perry’s
films tend to be very entertaining and even offer a few surprises. He also has important points to make that
should be obvious to everyone, but need to be said again because some people
just do not learn. That he has the guts
to use a Sam Cooke classic at a major turning point in the film shows he is in
total control of the universe of his films, which is why he is only going to
become more and more successful. It is
also why Daddy’s Little Girls work,
because the point of view is uncompromisingly black without compromise and yet
is accessible to anyone who gets it.
Tracee Ellis Ross also stars.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Blu-ray is not bad, with good
compositions by Director of Photography Toyomichi Kurita and does not try to
gut out the color or do other dumb, fancy tricks most of us are pretty tired of
from even our comedies and dramas at this point. The anamorphically enhanced DVD is not bad,
but a softer tradedown, especially as compared to the Blu-ray’s
performance. Both discs have Dolby
Digital 5.1 EX soundtracks, but despite the dialogue-based nature of the film,
the PCM 16/48 7.1 mix is richer and fuller, especially paying off when the
sound and music kicks in. This ranges
from Brian McKnight’s decent score to the always interesting choice of hit
records. This may not be the best
multi-channel demo ever, but its consistence over many more aggressive mixes is
to be commended. So for performance, DVD
good, Blu-ray better.
Extras
are not the same for both formats, with the Blu-ray exclusively offering gag
reels, deleted scenes, touring the sets piece, an Oakland Cemetery piece and Conducting
Chaos: The Riot Scene. Both have the
extended church scene, full length commentary by Perry, “Working Underwater” at the Atlanta Aquarium, Introducing The McClain Sisters featurette and Tyler’s Team: Cast & Characters piece. That is a pretty good, complementary set of extras
for the film, which is sure to have legs for quite a while.
- Nicholas Sheffo
