Extras:
Additional Scenes, Theatrical Trailer, Music Video, Making the Music Video.
Director:
Ron Underwood
Screenplay:
Neil Cuthbert
Cast:
Pluto Nash: Eddie Murphy
Dina Lake: Rosario Dawson
Bruno: Randy Quaid
Flura Nash: Pam Grier
Tony Francis: Jay Mohr
I know what you're thinking.
When you saw the title of this review you
automatically prepared yourself for the onslaught of sarcastic remarks
that come from a movie like this. You probably went into my
Rollerball
review expecting that.... wait a minute I guess that one was really bad
(I was caught up in the fact that I finally got to review, if I reviewed
that movie now it'd be different). Well let's just say I was suprised by
The Adventures of Pluto Nash. There's something about this movie that oozes quirkiness
that you don't see anymore. It's funny because I watched this and I was
reminded of the hokey sci-fi cinemas of the 80s like
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension and many more.
You just don't see movies like this anymore.
Pluto Nash tells a simple story. The moon has been colonized and Little
America houses the most rocking night club: Club Pluto. Pluto Nash
(Eddie Murphy) owns it - obviously - and makes it the most money grossing
club on the moon despite it's lack of gambling. When the mob comes in to
forcefully buy the club Pluto refuses. Like clockwork a bomb detonates
in the club and now Pluto, along with waitress Dina Lake (Rosario
Dawson) and his robot bodyguard named Bruno (Randy Quaid) he must find
out who wants him killed.
Despite the overly simple story Eddie Murphy provides more comedy relief
here than he did in Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps and more likeability
than his overlooked role in I Spy. Rosario Dawson bounces back from
the terrible
Men in Black II
(Pluto was filmed at least a year before MIB II) and Randy Quaid's robot
character Bruno works on a goofy level. Another thing that suprised me was the
good action sequences. These aren't going to make Jerry Bruckheimer fear for
his job mind you but they are filmed well.
Despite my apparent gushing of this movie be warned that it's either a
like it or loathe it film. You're not going to love it, no matter what
you do. That's how I felt about, it has this average feel to it but it's
enjoyable if you check your brain at the door.
Even if you do end up hating the movie you'll walk away being impressed
with the transfer. Presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen (thankfully
another Warner release lacking a full frame counterpart) this is one of
the best transfers I've seen from the studio. Maybe they're learning a
few things from affiliated company New Line Cinema. Pluto Nash exhibits
deep blacks and vivid colors. Check out the neon signs in Little America
to see what I mean. I noticed no compression artifacts like
pixelization. The only flaw in the transfer is that flicker can be
spotted from time to time.
Audio is offered in an average Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Most of the
movie is dialouge driven but the action sequences exhibit minor
ambience. Some scenes scream to be rendered louder. A very average track
indeed.
This is another release, like
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
(shudder), that could have been given the bare bones treatment. Warner has
provided a few extras but definitely nothing to write home about.
Additional Scenes:
12 minutes, non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen. These are presented in very
bad shape but there are four scenes here. Don't bother.
Theatrical Trailer:
No wonder the film bombed and hit video so fast!
The trailer runs a mere 1.5 minutes and offers no clue of what the film
is about. Presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen.
Music Video:
A pretty crappy music video by some group I can't even
remember. Runs 3 minutes and is non-anamorphic.
Making the Music Video:
An odd feature, shouldn't there be a making of
the film here? Runs 3 minutes and is full frame.
No extra is truly worth watching as the additional scenes are beyond
tolerable and the music video is worthless.
Packaging is the elusive snapper case exhibiting the theatrical poster
as its cover. There are 26 chapters to the film and menus are static
with music.
I'm not condoning 'Pluto Nash' as the best movie of all time, I'm just
saying that it's a harmless picture that deserved at least a little
more. It's no 'Lord of the Rings' but you may find some fun here.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
