Blu-ray Movie Reviews

In this contemporary Cinderella story, a streetwise prostitute, Vivian (Julia Roberts), meets no-nonsense billionaire Edward Lewis (Richard Gere), who hires her to be his companion for a week. Their business arrangement turns into something more when the couple discovers they are a match made in heaven.

On the heels of two successful films, Julia Roberts was on her way up when Pretty Woman came along. After this 1990 hit, the future Oscar winner became a superstar and hasn't looked back. Her chemistry with Gere was like lightning in a bottle, and director Garry Marshall channeled this energy into one of the most memorable romantic comedies of all time.

The AVC encode is a colossal disappointment. It's an improvement over a DVD, but not by much. Low-light scenes look drab, lack depth, and have inferior resolution. Brighter daytime scenes look better in both color and depth, but even they don't look great compared to other titles on Blu-ray.

The uncompressed PCM 5.1 soundtrack is an improvement over the video but definitely shows its age and limitations of the original stereo source. Dynamics are fairly limited, even with the kick-ass music, but this is a heavily front-loaded track with little use of the surround channels. On the plus side, the dialog is always clear and intelligible, which is a good thing.

The limited supplements include a blooper real, some behind-the-scenes featurettes, an audio commentary with director Garry Marshall, and the theatrical trailer—all in standard definition.

The entertainment value is still there after all these years, but the presentation on Blu-ray is a major disappointment. The video quality is below-average, and the audio shows the inherent limitations from the source. If you own the DVD, the upgrade isn't that substantial and you may want to pick this up on sale, but I wouldn't pay full retail for it.

Release Date: February 10, 2009
Studio: Touchstone / Disney

Movie: 8/10
Picture: 5/10
Sound: 6/10

Review System

Source
Panasonic DMP-BD55

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 Amplifier
Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics