Mr. Bean’s Holiday (HD-DVD/DVD Combo Format + DVD-Video)

 

Picture: B+/B-     Sound: B+/B-     Extras: C     Film: C

 

 

*Mumble…mumble…grumble….oooo….mumble*  No, that is not Mr. Bean speaking on my behalf that is my feeling of disdain toward this film.  I must openly admit (to many critics dismay) that I loved the first Mr. Bean film; it was fast paced, funny, and had just enough plot.  The second film, Mr. Bean’s Holiday, however, was slow, lacked life, and had a plot that tried way too hard.

 

The tale behind this adventure is neither deep nor captivating.  The plot of Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007) follows our beloved Bean as he embarks on the journey of his life; a journey to the French Riviera!  After some early buffoonery and comical happenings in the film Mr. Bean finds himself the winner of a church raffle that earned him a once in a life time chance to go on an all expensed paid trip to the French Riviera with a free digital camcorder.  Well, if you know anything about Mr. Bean you know that even the simplest task manages to turn into chaos; so you can only imagine what a long distance trip could turn into (he didn’t exactly fair so well in America on his first trip).

 

Well, from the very beginning of his trip Mr. Bean manages to foul things up; taking wrong modes of transportation, causing accidents as he meanders through France, and even losing all of his personal possessions.  In the midst of the chaos of causing his own personal misfortunes he finds a way to pull others into his insanity; breaking computers, causing fights, messing up movie sets, and even getting mixed up in a kidnapping scandal.  After Mr. Bean mistakenly kidnaps a child, the movie’s focus begins to center on getting this kid back to his famous father at the Cannes Film Festival and surely chaos ensues.

 

The technical features on this HD DVD Combo Format Disc are nothing stunning by any means and are certainly not one of the better High Definition releases from Universal.  The 1080p VC-1 1.85 X 1 picture on the HD side is similar to that of the standard Anamorphically Enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on the DVD side in that both have color issues, but the HD Side far surpasses the Standard DVD (sold separately) and standard DVD side nevertheless with better (though not great) colors and a resolving the somewhat gritty picture quality the standard version had at times.  The sound on both sides of the disc is nice but not fantastic.  The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Mix on the HD side definitely stands out over the less impressive Dolby Digital 5.1 Surrounds on the DVD side & in the separate DVD version, just having that bit of extra ‘pop’ and emphasizing the soundtrack all the more.

 

The extras actually annoyed this reviewer.  Extras featured on both discs include Deleted Scenes and three all new featurettes.  The featurettes include ‘French Beans’ that explores how the production of the film went in France, ‘Beans in Cannes’ that explores how the production of the film went at the Cannes and how they were treated there, and finally ‘The Human Bean,’ which explores how Rowan Atkinson the man and method behind Mr. Bean works.  Overall, this reviewer was not impressed at all by these features and after watching a lackluster film, who wants to see how ‘why that disaster was so great?’

 

In the end, avoid this film.  I knew Beans gave people gas, but who knew they also stimulated your gag reflex?

 

 

-   Michael P Dougherty II