Hairspray – Shake & Shimmy Edition (Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
A- Sound: A- Extras: B Film: B+
The
Musical has almost reached the point that, like The Western, you have to
reinvent the entire genre to do one.
Most Musicals since the 1980s have been a disaster, to the point that
many films (like Flashdance) have
had to be counted, even if they really were not Musicals. Chicago
worked simply because it knew how to deliver the goods with the needed energy
and the casting was a plus, while Dreamgirls
had to juggle history, fantasy and doing a full Musical out of a stage version
that was somewhat deconstructionist. Adam
Shankman’s Hairspray (2007) takes
the next step, based on the John Waters indie hit, is as much about the early
1960s as it is about today.
Tracy
Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky in a terrific performance) is a young lady who loves
music, dancing, has good (if a little dysfunctional) parents and believes in a
better world and future for her and others, no matter how different. Instantly one of the Musical’s great
existentialist heroes, Tracy cannot see why there is any racism, why there
should be hate, why “whites & blacks” cannot dance together and why more
people don’t dance enough. Her mother
Edna (John Travolta in one of the funniest performances of the last few years
by anyone) thinks she is wasting her time, projecting her own unhappiness onto
her daughter. Her joke & gag store
owning father (the great Christopher Walken) tries to up the self-esteem of
both.
Still in
high school, Tracy watches the local TV dance show religiously and her best
friend Penny (Amanda Bynes in a career-making performance) would more often if
her religiously-oppressive mother (the amazing Allison Janney) would let
her. In the meantime, things a change is
on the horizon, which Tracy discovers more so when she starts to meet the
dancer from the show she is most infatuated with, Link Larkin (Zac Efron, out
from behind the protective wall of Disney, hitting a homerun) who al the girls
dig. Could heavy-set Tracy become
involved?
In so
many ways, this old Baltimore is segregated by looksism, race, class and
snobbery, down to the dance show, which gives a day here and there for “Negro
Day” hosted by Motormouth Maybelle (another winning performance by Queen
Latifah) who has to tolerate the powers that be at the station, including the
self-centered Velma von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer in one of her best-ever
performances) protecting her daughter Amber (Brittany Snow) in hopes of making
her the next big star. When Tracy
somehow wins a spot on the show, both will be challenged, though for Tracy,
this will only be the beginning of challenging the entire system and she has no
idea what she is in for.
Leslie
Dixon’s screenplay (her script work on the 1989 film Loverboy is somewhat underrated) adaptation of the hit Mark
O’Donnell/Thomas Meehan stage musical (from the 1988 film) takes full advantage
of the filmmaking process and does clever things with digital that hundreds of
big budget embarrassments failed to do, taking the Musical itself to a new
level and frankly mowing down the many bad Music Videos since the late 1980s
that ruined that art form. At every
turn, there are surprises, hilarious jokes and golden moments that make this the
best Musical in decades in the best tradition of what Classical Hollywood put
out at its peak.
Sure, it
can be more daring, but it never becomes too gross, yet it does not hold back
in its boldness about Civil Rights, human nature or lets go of its exceptional
grasp of the music; especially the genres covered. While the Civil Rights movement is treated as
incidental to some extent in Dreamgirls
(where the Motown-like company serves as odd refuge from reality in one of that
film’s great ironies) is taken head-on in this film.
Shankman’s
films have been at least competent, classy product, but his biggest previous
hit Bringing Down The House (2003)
proved you could handle and spoof ignorance in a knowingly broad way. The more substantial issues he takes on, the
greater a director he becomes and all this without abandoning entertainment,
substance or comedy, which is something few directors could pull off. He has become a better director since and
this could be a career-changing work that puts him on the A-list for a long
time.
The cast
is also top-rate and Travolta wisely asked for Walken and Pfeiffer in a
brilliant coup for the film. The
chemistry among all the actors, singers and dancers is phenomenal, like few
films we have seen in many years. From
its opening visual reference to West Side
Story (1960) to constant hints of other great musicals (like the Grease films) and pop culture, once
this film gets started, it just gets better and better and better. The songs are rare in that they are all
distinct and memorable, choreography top rate and designs consistent, creating
a density that creates another world perfect for Musicals. Hairspray
is one of the year’s triumphs and a must-see, especially on Blu-ray.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is terrific, stylized with an advanced
color palette that becomes more complex as the film moves along. Not since Down With Love (another retro comedy, reviewed elsewhere on this
site) has a film used color so effectively.
Filmed in Super 35mm (complete with a CinemaScope joke in the script,) Bojan
Bazelli (Body Snatchers, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) tops himself in a
genre he is not used to working in. He
did not want to shoot in scope, but wow, does this look good. The superior HD image is stunning, with great
depth, detail, color and solid appearance (down to the Video Black, White &
Red) that makes the image here often reference quality. Sure, there are limits from the digital
internegative and Super 35 itself is a more limited frame than if this were
shot in real anamorphic Panavision or the like, but New Line has picked the
right film to launch their HD entrance with and we look forward to comparing
this to the HD-DVD due to be announced soon.
In the
audio department, we get a DTS MA 7.1 mix that is instantly a sonic stunner,
perfect for a Musical with this kind of energy and dynamics. Easily surpassing the CD soundtrack version
and Dolby Digital 5.1 on the standard DVD editions, this is a new watermark for
audio on a Musical (Chicago had PCM
5.1 on Blu-ray, Dreamgirls Dolby
Digital 5.1 on the now out-of-print Blu-ray and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 on the
HD-DVD) and will hopefully be a new industry standard New Line will get the
rest of the industry to follow. Vocals
are exceptionally recorded and so are the musicians to the point that audiophiles
will consider this of particular sonic reference value. This is a new high for composer Marc Shaman
to boot. The combination of picture and
sound will sell HD to the public big time.
Extras
include a sing-along lyric track, step-by-step dance instructions, five Deleted
Scenes, including the never-before-seen musical number I Can Wait, You Can't Stop
The Beat: The Long Journey of Hairspray Documentary, Hairspray Extensions: Multi-view Dance Experience, The Roots of Hairspray From Buddy Deane to
Broadway!, two audio commentary tracks: one with Adam Shankman & Nikki
Blonsky, the other with Producers Craig Zadan & Neil Meron, a Golden Compass preview, the original theatrical
trailer for this film and Blu-ray exclusive Behind The Beat picture-in-picture feature.
- Nicholas Sheffo
