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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Dirty Dancing

    Featured In Issue 122, July/August 2007

    Picture3
    SoundNR
    WSR Score
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    Lionsgate Home Entertainment
    (Catalog Number):
    21282
    (MPAA Rating):
    PG13
    (Rating Reason):
    (Retail Price):
    $29.99
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    100
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    1
    (Theatrical Year):
    1987
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    05/08/07
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    Emile Ardolino
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor):
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers):
    (Co-Producers):
    (Producers):
    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    PCM 24/48 6.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
    (Additional Languages):
    (French Language):
    (Spanish Language):
    (Chinese Language):
    (Subtitles):
    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
    (Japanese Language):
    (Italian Language):
    (German Language):
    (Portuguese Language):

    While vacationing in the Catskills in the summer of 1963, 17-year-old Baby (Grey) falls for hotshot hotel dance instructor, Johnny (Swayze), who is as experienced in life as she is naive. She gets him to teach her Dirty Dancing, his style. The experience is a coming-of-age time for Baby, and a rebellious time for Johnny, but the more they practice dancing, the closer the two become.

    Special features include commentary with Eleanor Bergstein; multi-voice commentary with Kenny Ortega, Miranda Garrison, Jeff Jur, Hilary Rosenfeld, and David Chapman; a 12-1/2-minute "Dirty Dancing With Patrick Swayze" featurette; a six-plus-minute tribute to the late Jerry Orbach and a 13-minute tribute to Emile Ardolino; 11 deleted, three alternate, and six extended scenes; 37 seconds of outtakes; two original screen tests; two multi-angle dance sequences; "The Classic Story On Stage" in five minutes; a photo gallery; interviews with Jennifer Gray, Kenny Ortega, and Eleanor Bergstein; and three ("Hungry Eyes," "She's Like The Wind," and "The Time Of My Life") music videos.

    The anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 DVD looks noticeably cleaner than the last attempt (reviewed in Issue 81), but minor edge enhancement, some spurious noise, and source element artifacts are still noticeable. Colors are slightly more realistic, but delineation in the darker scenes is still limited. The H.264 AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc doesn't look much better, with poorly defined details and bland colors. Blacks are deep enough, but shadow delineation is slightly lacking. The imagery can often look very harsh, with stair-stepped edges galore. (Danny Richelieu)

    The Dolby® Digital Surround EX™ 5.1-channel and the DTS® ES™ 6.1-channel discrete encodings are also improved over the previous release, but fidelity is still dated, sounding thin, bright, and edgy. Music is generally well mixed and sounds slightly more refined than in the previous release. The DTS ES version provides a slight improvement in the bass, but surround envelopment is not improved much with the discrete center surround channel. The Blu-ray Disc's uncompressed linear PCM 6.1-channel soundtrack sounds more refined than the Dolby Digital Surround EX 5.1-channel encoding that is also included on the disc, but both sound noticeably dated, with poor fidelity, especially with effects and Foley. (Danny Richelieu)

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