Written and directed by Jared Hess, who first explored the otherworldly realm of small town geekdom in his short film Peluca – which actually used the talents of Napoleon Dynamite lead actor Jon Heder – has crafted a wonderfully quasi-linear tale (actually it's more like a bunch of interconnected vignettes) revolving around one Napoleon Dynamite and his trials and tribulations in his small, rural hometown of Preston, Idaho. As portrayed by Heder, Dynamite is a bugged-out cross between Steven Wright and an autistic stoner. Tall, lanky, bequeathed with a frizzled fro and droopy eyes hidden behind enormous Foster Grant-styled prescription specs, Dynamite is a social outcast of the highest magnitude.
And so, too, is his family. Made up of the equally, if not more so, geeky older brother Kip (Aaron Ruell), a rather butch Grandma (Sandy Martin), and the stuck-in-the-'80s flashback uncle Rico (Jon Gries), the Dynamite brood takes the concept of dysfunctional to new heights. And let's not discount the rest of the supporting cast, which includes best friend Pedro (Efren Ramirez) and love interest Deb (Tina Majorino), both equally inept at mixing it up with any semblance of normalcy within the world of cheerleaders, thickheaded jocks and out-of-touch teachers.
CLICK HERE to read the full Napoleon Dynamite review by Spence D.
Score: 7 out of 10
Video and Presentation
Napoleon Dynamite is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a dual-layered BD50 disc. Shot on a low budget, the print is not exactly high quality. Marred by a significant layer of film grain and even some noise, this transfer isn't quite up to Blu-ray's finer standards. Still, the encode is much sharper than the DVD, boasting better colors and deeper textures.
That said, black levels are simply putrid, flattening every single scene in this movie. Dust, dirt and other debris is present throughout the transfer, though it isn't particularly distracting. I imagine this BD release is about as good as Napoleon is going to get on home video considering the frailties of the stock used and the low-budget nature of this production. But that's not really saying much.
Score: 6 out of 10
Languages and Audio
Audio choices are English, Japanese and Italian 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Spanish, French and Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1. Cantonese, Korean, French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish subtitles options, as well as English captions for the hearing impaired.
This film never boasted a particularly impressive surround mix, but this new DTS-HD mix does provide a cleaner, more rounded listening experience. Surround usage is lively, but it's mainly ambient noise which is sometimes too loud and overbearing, particularly school cafeteria and hallway sequences. I noted very few discrete elements, as well. Dialogue is pretty clean but also oddly hollow and echoed. LFE is mostly subdued except for a few key sequences, like Napoleon's big dance toward the end of the film and the school formal. This mix is certainly better than any previous DVD, but it could have used some tweaking.
Score: 6 out of 10
Extras and Packaging
This special edition comes in a standard blue BD case. Bonus materials are presented in standard definition (480p). Unlike many of Fox's early BD releases, where most, if not all, special features were dropped from their DVD counterparts, this release is the same booming special edition that was released to DVD a few years back! Thanks for listening to your fans, Fox. Extras include:
- Commentary by writer-director Jared Hess, actor Jon Heder and producer Jeremy Coon
- Commentary by Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries and Tina Majorino
- World Premiere Documentary - 43 minutes, SD
- On Location Documentary - 41 minutes, SD
- Deleted Scenes - 8 minutes, SD
- Casting featurette - 13 minutes, SD
- Audition Tapes - 6 minutes, SD
- Peluca Short Film with Commentary - 9 minutes, SD
- Napoleon and Pedro Sighting - 18 minutes, SD
- Utah State Fair Ads/TV Spots - 2 minutes, SD
- Wedding of the Century Faux Featurette - 4 minutes, SD
- MTV Promos - 4 minutes, SD
- Napoleon Goes to Hollywood TV Spots - 3 minutes, SD
- Easter Egg: What's in Jon's Kool-Aid Outtake - 45 seconds, SD
- Still Gallery
- Fox Promos
Despite the seeming wealth of misinterpretations that many people (including fans) assign Napoleon Dynamite, I'm not entirely sure that this BD's "more is more" approach benefits the film in the way that Hess and Co. probably intended. The two new documentaries, for example, highlight the production of the film as well as Hess' reception at the Sundance Film Festival, but they unfortunately concentrate on a few unflattering details about the director (he likes to give line readings to his actors) and the festival itself (swag, swag, everywhere!).
That said, they do a pretty good job capturing the spirit of a first-time director, especially one who doesn't come from one of the East or West-Coast filmmaking factories like UCLA or NYU, and indicate how tough it sometimes was to survive takes without cracking up the entire production team (Heder's hit in the face with a steak never gets old).
The first commentary track features co-writer/director Jared Hess, producer/editor Jeremy Coon and star Heder talking about their sleeper indie hit, but it's not particularly insightful. You'd think they could talk about the origins and development of the story, the casting and shooting process, how they got the backing and what happened after Sundance and all sorts of interesting stuff, but you'd be wrong.
In between long silences, we hear them take turns declaring that every scene is their favorite and how "sweet" one bit or another is. Every family member and old school teacher cameo is pointed out; every scene that was directly transcribed from their real lives is noted; and the amount of information that is of any interest to us, the audience, is kept to a less-than-bare minimum. It's certainly fun listening to these excited guys spilling the beans on a film they obviously know very well and love very dearly, but a slightly retrospective, engaging take might have made for a much more rounded commentary.
The second commentary, meanwhile, is much better, offering some additional details about the production, including technical information (Ruell, who plays Kip, was given 48 hours to design the film's famous food-centric title sequence) and general character-building background (unsurprisingly, the actors did not easily find themselves laughing at the characters, but with them).
The remaining extras expand the first release's reservoir of ancillary footage, including outtakes and deleted scenes (nothing here of profound note, but there are a few comic chestnuts to be found); the "Napoleon & Pedro Sightings," meanwhile, compile all available material created in the film's wake, including appearances by Heder on Saturday Night Live, the Teen Choice Awards and the MTV Movie Awards. While some of this is only incidentally funny - Nicole Richie's thorough trouncing by Napoleon during an impromptu on-stage game of tetherball is surprisingly satisfying - the best of this footage has to be the Utah State Fair advertisem*nts, where Pedro and Napoleon offer their own colorful version of Utah history, along with a collection of classic sight gags (the "Worst Ride Ever" in State Fair history is a cardboard box taped shut and thrown down a set of bleachers).
Overall, this Blu-ray release is the definitive edition of Hess' directorial debut - if only because there cannot possibly be any additional material not included - and it is absolutely worth picking up if you are a dedicated, hardcore fan of this film.
Score: 9 out of 10
The Bottom Line
Napoleon Dynamite on Blu-ray isn't much better than Napoleon Dynamite on DVD. The transfer's a little sharper, and the audio is a little livelier than ever before, plus Fox was nice enough to port over all the goodies from the two-disc DVD special edition. These additions alone make this new release well worth your time and money.
