The Good
An enjoyable tale with good looking people and great looking clothes.
The Bad
I wish the audio had been leveled better on this disc.
If you want to see great looking girls and also get an education in fashion than The Devil Wears Prada is for you. Anne Hathaway stars as Andrea Sachs, a would be journalist who ends up taking a job as personal assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). That pretentious sounding name should tell you the kind of boss she is. Well, she makes Andrea’s life hell because Andrea is working in fashion, she doesn’t care about fashion, but she’s also not doing a very good job as Miranda’s assistant. After a pep talk from Nigel (Stanley Tucci), Andrea changes her ways and soon finds herself becoming the apple of Miranda’s eye. This sadly estranges Andrea from her friends and her boyfriend (Adrian Grenier), and in the end Andrea has to choose which life she is going to live. Will she stay in the world of fashion which seems to turn backstabbing into an artform? Or, will she continue to follow her dream?
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Ultimately, I don’t think we learn anything new from a film like The Devil Wears Prada, but it sure was enjoyable having this realization after the movie was over.
Features
Director David Frankel, producer Wendy Finerman, costume designer Patricia Field, screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, editor Mark Livolsi and director of photography Florian Ballhaus are all on this commentary track, and truthfully it should have just been the director and one other person. It’s not that these folks are talking over one another incessantly, it’s just that I don’t think many of them offer much to warrant being a part of this. They discuss shooting the aerial shots in New York City, what were and weren’t sets, the transitions used within the film, the music, etc.. All in all, I don’t think I would have missed this commentary track much if it hadn’t been on this DVD.
Believe it or not, there are 15 scenes that were deleted from this movie. This isn’t The Lord of the Rings, so I think the fans would have been okay with less, but with titles like “Andy Waiting for the Book,” we get to see a little more into the characters. Also, having the commentary track helps us understand why these scenes were taken out of the movie. I felt that as it was The Devil Wears Prada played just fine, but I think if you really liked the movie than you will appreciate what is being offered up here.
Video
Aspect Ratio - 2.35:1 - 1080p MPEG-2. As this is a fashion movie, they have really gone out of their way to make the colors shine. In this format, I really felt that this movie got a chance to breath. I reviewed it on Standard DVD so I do know of what I speak. I felt when I first saw it that they really captured the New York Fashion scene and infused the feeling of New York throughout this entire film. In reviewing this Blu-ray disc, I have not been disabused of this thought at all. All the colors here are really sharp, and it wasn’t until I got to see the movie in this format that I noticed just how much better it could look. There is an elegance to this film that seems perfectly suited to the Blu-ray disc format, and I am humbly apologizing for originally writing that The Devil Wears Prada didn’t need to come out in this way.
Audio
DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Dolby Digital 5.1. As I had mentioned before, the audio for this movie, like it’s picture, doesn’t do anything amazing. For the audiophiles, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend picking up this film on Blu-ray disc unless you were hell bent on building up your collection. Things sound good but this isn’t one of those movies that you would invite people over so they could check out your next generation system. This is another department that I also mentioned in my Standard review. I opined that this release could sound really amazing on Blu-ray disc. Well, nothing really jumped out at me and I was surprised at how differently leveled the music soundtrack was from the dialogue one. However, when it was simply the music playing, I actually did sort of feel like I was engulfed in the world of this film.
Package
The front cover of this Blu-ray disc features the same image we saw of the red, high heeled shoe, with a pitchfork in place of the heel when this movie played in theaters. On the back are some pictures from the movie, a description of what The Devil Wears Prada is about, a Special Features listing, a cast list, and system specs. Overall, this packaging is about as straightforward as it gets.
Final Word
I have become a big fan of Anne Hathaway. I didn’t think too much of her when she was doing those The Princess Diaries movies, but I saw a clip of her in that film Havoc and I suddenly saw her much differently than I ever had before. Then she gave a great performance in Brokeback Mountain, and suddenly I no longer felt she was this little girl who just did the movies Hilary Duff doesn’t want to do. In The Devil Wears Prada she is perfect. She really embodies that youthful spirit, and even in the improbably ending of the movie, I somewhat believe that she would indeed make the decision that she does.
All in all, filled with interesting performances and giving many people a glimpse of a world they only see in magazines, The Devil Wears Prada dresses things up quite nicely.
The Devil Wears Prada was released June 30, 2006.
