|
|
|
| Johnny
English DVD Review |
|
Order this DVD from Amazon.com
|
Johnny
English
(Universal Studios Home Entertainment)
|
| DVD
Release Date:
|
January
13, 2004
|
|
Length:
|
88 mins.
|
| Rated:
|
PG
|
| Format:
|
Widescreen (1.85:1)
|
|
Audio:
|
5.1
Surround English, French, Spanish
|
| Subtitles:
|
French, Spanish, English Captions
|
| Extras:
|
"Making
of Johnny English" Featurette, Deleted Scenes, Spy Tips,
Character Profiles, Observation Test, DVD-ROM Features - Spy
Challenge, Identikit, Spy Profiler
|
The spy movie. The last few years have
seen there share, starting with the revival of the James Bond
franchise with Pierce Brosnan. Then there was Austin Powers with Mike
Myers in the title role. Next, spies for the tween set, with Frankie
Muniz as Agent Cody Banks. Now? Johnny English, played by Rowan
Atkinson. And even though some people might say that the fun has gone
out of the spy genre, if we can learn anything from Johnny English,
there is still some fun to be had - and a laugh or two at the same
time.
In this latest spy flick, we meet Johnny English, who is
Johnny-on-the-spot after every single last British secret agent is
killed and he is left as the last hope for the British Empire. The
problem is, of course, that he is a bumbling idiot. Maybe idiot is a
bit harsh - but he's definitely a bumbling something or other. So,
when the crown jewels go missing and Johnny begins his investigation,
you just know you're in for a few chuckles. The culprit? Sinister
businessman Pascal Sauvage, played brilliantly by John Malkovich! But
because our fair Agent English is such a fool, nobody believes his suspicions
. Enter the unlikely love interest (Natalie Imbruglia) who happens to
also be an Interpol agent also on the trail of the same criminal. Long
story short - he gets the girl, gets the criminal and gets more than
his fair share of laughs along the way.
Johnny English was a pretty good movie. Sure, the plot was absolute
nonsense, but at times it was funny as hell. The laughs were there and
the acting was decent, so it should have done well - but you would
never know it looking at how it performed at the box office. Only $28
million. Overseas, people were all over this movie to the tune of $129
million. How successful is that, you ask? Consider this - The Hulk
only made $109 million overseas. 2 Fast 2 Furious made $107 million.
Tomb Raider 2 - only $88 million. Sure, those aren't stellar examples,
but they all smoked Johnny English here in North America. What's up
with that? Maybe American audiences just don't know who Rowan Atkinson
is. He is, however, a comedic God overseas.
For the DVD release, there are some pretty entertaining features for
you to check out. First off, the mandatory "Making of"
featurette, which is pretty decent because it shows Rowan Atkinson
being, well, himself. I can't ever remember seeing him not do comedy.
We hear from a lot of the people associated with the making of the
film along with looks at a few different scenes from the movie and how
they were accomplished. Nothing extraordinary here, but worth checking
out if you're a fan. Next up, a few deleted scenes, all of which were
good candidates to stay in the movie. A little commentary here would
have been nice to find out why they were deleted. Then, there are some
"Spy Tips" brought to us courtesy of Johnny English himself.
A brief little feature running less than a minute, there are some
not-so-useful tips. The next feature is a look at some "Character
Profiles", which is just a bit of background info on the
characters. A few funny things here, like what kind of DVD player
Sauvage uses. With the "Observation Test" we are given five
scenes from the movie and a multiple choice test to show how well you
paid attention. Get them all right, and you're treated to a deleted
scene from the movie. It's too bad, though, that the deleted scene can
be found in the "Deleted Scenes" feature. Kind of pointless.
Finally, there's a preview for "Peter Pan" - this is in an
extra beyond the previews that are shown before the actual feature.
All in all, some decent features here that you can play around with
for a bit.
A knock against this DVD? A commentary track with Rowan Atkinson would
have been a nice feature, but there was none to be found. Also, from
the "Making of", we learn that Johnny English is based on a
character that was featured in commercials in the mid-1990s. Why couldn't
these have been included here?
Pop the disc in you DVD-ROM and you're treated to even more features,
including some wallpapers and screensavers, a fun "Spy
Challenge" game where you can shoot targets, race cars and
parachute just like our bumbling hero, and a couple of features like
"Spy Profiler" and "Identikit" that weren't so
interesting.
So, you might want to check this one out on DVD if you are one of
those people who were afraid to see it at a theater near you. Could it
be that Americans (or even Canadians) don't have a taste for British
humor? Or for Rowan Atkinson? I wonder why? Can that many people
overseas really be wrong?
| The Movie: |
   |
6.5/10 |
| The
Extras: |
|
5/10 |
|
|
|
What
did you think?
Have your say on our Message Boards...
Click here for more information on
Johnny English
Liam Cullin -
Editor
More Reviews - Click Here
|
|
|
|
|
