Grease (Rockin' Rydell Edition) Blu-ray

Review by dooby for Grease (Rockin` Rydell Edition) [Blu-ray]Rating: It`s already an American Classic and obviously anyone who`s contemplating buying this will already know it. I felt guilty about double-dipping but the cute leather jacket was an irresistable gimmick. The following discusses mainly technical aspects of the new disc.

I did a one-to-one comparison with the old disc.

The film has been cleaned up and looks noticeably different, though not necessarily better. The tiny dirt specks and film nicks, few as they were on the first disc, have been almost completely eliminated. There is less grain. The film also looks brighter, due to application of higher contrast. This has both positive and negative effects. In the darker scenes; like ONJ`s "Hopelessly Devoted to You," the greater contrast (deeper black levels and brighter highlights) makes it appear clearer, and I personally prefer it this way. Some viewers may not wish it as the light now appears harder and more "artificial". In other places, the greater contrast tends to rub out detail in the brighter parts of the picture; you can see this at the opening beach sequence, where the view now appears brighter and clearer but the finer detail in the sandstone rocks have been obliterated in the glare. So pluses and minuses, but overall I liked the new transfer.

The sound too has been remastered. The bass here is noticeably more striking than on the previous DVD. It has that very satisfying visceral feel to it but there is also swamping of the underlying instrumentation. However I question if many people would notice or bother. What reviewers have referred to as an echoey quality on the first remix is nevertheless there. It is really an over exaggerated reverb added to the vocal track. Most of the tracks in Grease have electronic reverb applied but some are more obvious and artifical than others; especially so in the 1998 remix featured here. The most glaring examples would be at the "Tone at Me, I`m Sandra Dee" reprise and Travolta`s "Electrifyin`" repeats in "You`re The One That I Want." Again I liked the newer, audio remix, mainly for its richer bass extension. Like previous reviewers have said, the 2.0 Stereo featured here is not the original theatrical Stereo mix but a downmix of the later DD 5.1 remix (made in 1998 for its twentieth Anniversary re-release). And purists should observe that the DD 5.1 remix (1998) is actually messing around with the music itself - there are additional instrumental and vocal overlays not found on the original theatrical soundtrack. (Eg. additional bass drum in 2nd half of "Summer Nights," background vocals in "Hopelessly Devoted to You," and a clap-track in "We Go Together.") Perhaps someday the producers will see fit to release Grease with its original unembellished soundtrack.

The very delight here are the Extras. My favorite is the 15-minute long "25th Anniversary DVD Launch Party." Exerpts from the party concert include full length versions of Olivia Newton John singing "Hopelessly Devoted to You," Olivia and John Travolta singing "You`re The One That I Want," and the reassembled cast singing "Summer Nights." All fine performances packed with fun-filled nostalgia. The 11 deleted/extended scenes are all in B&W and death for only 10 minutes. Nothing earth-shattering here but secure to feature all the same. The Sing-Along was something I appreciated. In the previous DVD, there was no direct approach to single songs. A remark near the Sing-Along subtitles. These are multicoloured, animated, karaoke-style, lyrics that accompany the songs and can be activated within the picture or in a separate Sing-Along session. It apparently caused problems for some viewers. I tested it out on several DVD players, a Sony, a Pioneer and a Denon, one of which was over 5 days old. The lyrics displayed without any problem. It also worked on a computer DVD-ROM drive (Pioneer), so at least these models apparently work. Only the main characteristic is anamorphic (enhanced for widescreen TV - 2.35:1 OAR). All the extras are in standard 1.33:1 fullscreen.