I’m a big fan of retaining the film grain look of a movie when transferring it to Blu-ray. ADVENTURELAND surely does that, but how much is too much? At times the film seems too grainy especially during nighttime scenes. I have to concur with what Kenneth Brown said over at Bluray.com, whether the heavy grain and desaturation of colors at times is part of director Greg Mottola’s ‘80s film aesthetic or a problem with the transfer is up for debate. As for the audio track, like many comedies or even dramas, the 5.1 surround sound is wasted on a front speaker heavy soundtrack.
When it comes to the special features, the disc is a little hit or miss. The commentary track from director Mottola and star Jesse Eisenberg is one of the minor hits. As Mottola states out front, their commentary doesn't delve into the filmmaking process like a Martin Scorsese commentary would, but it does give film fans an interesting look into the compromises that go into filmmaking. It also provides fans of the film some behind-the-scenes gossip presented with a great deal of dry humor. The "Just My Life" featurette is the typical making of doc, but it does delve into Mottola's real-life experiences that inspired him to write the screenplay. But the highlight of the features is the four "Welcome to Adventureland" segments. These '80s vintage videos feature two Adventureland commercials and two humorous employment orientation vids, one hosted by Martin Starr as his character Joel.
The deleted scenes are nothing too special, chronicling a few more park mishaps. The Song Selection feature allows users to jump right to their favorite songs in the film. The low points, however, are the Blu-ray exclusives "Frigo's Ball Taps," where Matt Bush goes on for three minutes punching people in the balls, is about as entertaining as the running gag was in the film. Annoying. While not as bad as "Frigo's" featurette, "Lisa P's Guide to Style" has Margarita Levieva as Lisa P., explaining her style inspiration. Like the character in the film, she's good for a few laughs, but she's so shallow you hit the bottom pretty quickly. All in all, the good featurettes make the bonuses well worth it.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
