Blu-ray Movie Reviews

John Travolta solidified his position as the most versatile and magnetic screen presence of the decade in this film version of the smash hit play "Grease." Recording star Olivia Newton-John made her American film debut as Sandy, Travolta's naive love interest. The impressive supporting cast reads like a "who's who" in this quintessential musical about the fabulous '50s.

The musical smash makes its way to Blu-ray in rather subtle form. I was expecting a bit more hoopla over this one considering its popularity. The film still manages to be fun all these years later and now you can even sing along with a karaoke style feature included with the release.

The HD presentation is a bit of a mixed bag. While detail and dimension are a clear step up from the DVD releases I’ve seen, the focus drifts considerably throughout the image. Some parts of the image are quite sharp with nice fine detail, while others look almost blurred over. The quality of the print source also wavers a lot through the film. Fine detail in close ups looks great though and the color rendition has held up pretty well.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix makes the most out of the musical sequences but shows its age overall. The dubbing is considerably different during the musical numbers and has a wider soundstage and slightly better dynamic range. Dialogue sounds a bit thin at times but wasn’t annoying. Surrounds are used quite a bit but at times the effect can seem a bit gimmicky.

Extras include a sing-along mode and most of the special features from the DVD. There is a look back on the film, some production features and a retrospective on the anniversary release to DVD. The trailer is also included.

Paramount delivers a pretty solid Blu-ray presentation for this catalog hit. I’m surprised it isn’t a bit more elaborate considering the popularity but I’m glad Paramount is picking bigger titles from their library.