Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Ferris Bueller (Mathew Broderick), his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck), and his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) ditch school for the day and frolic around Chicago in a Ferrari. Although Ferris's parents think he's the ideal child, his sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) and principal Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) know better and would like nothing more than to catch Ferris in his shenanigans.

John Hughes has written 38 screenplays, and this is by far my favorite of them all. There's something to like in every one of his films, but what sets Ferris apart from the rest is the title character. He's the guy everyone wanted to be in high school—popular, charming, a great-looking girl on his arm, and he gets away with murder!

Generally speaking, movies from the '80s haven't looked spectacular on Blu-ray, and this is no exception. It's an improvement over the 2006 DVD release, but it shares many of the same flaws. The print isn't in very good shape, with ample nicks and scratches along with some grain, but at least it was kept intact in the AVC encode and shows no sign of bit starvation. Colors leap off the screen, especially the red Ferrari, but the black levels are more dark gray and flesh tones look a bit unnatural and pasty.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack sounds surprisingly good for a teen comedy, with improved imaging over the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track on the DVD. Stereo separation is wide, dialog is more precise and clear, and the surround speakers create a more realistic environment with lifelike ambience, especially during some of the more memorable moments—the trio's trip to Wrigley Field and Ferris's performance of "Twist and Shout."

Ported over from the DVD release, the bonus features include five featurettes, four of which look at the movie while the fifth is an interview with Ben Stein, who plays one of Ferris's teachers and delivers one of the most memorable lines from the film—"Bueller?….Bueller?" —all in standard definition. Rounding things out is a gallery of photographs from the film.

This is one of my favorite comedies from the '80s, and it's a nice upgrade over the DVD, although don't expect a huge difference. It's cleaner and more vibrant, with the biggest difference in the audio track. Recommended.

Release Date: May 5, 2009

Studio: Paramount

Movie: 8/10

Picture: 7/10

Sound: 8/10

Review System

Source

Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display

JVC DLA-RS1 projector

Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics

Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro

Anthem PVA-7 power 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