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Meet Dave (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review

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#1 ·


The Review at a Glance: (max score: 5 )

Film:


Extras:


Audio/Video total rating:

( Max score: 100 )

84






Studio and Year: 20th Century Fox - 2008
MPAA Rating: PG
Feature running time: 90 Minutes
Genre: Comedy

Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 1.85:1
Resolution: 1080p/24


Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, English/Spanish/French/ Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Korean, Cantonese, Mandarin
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Banks, Gabrielle Union, Scott Caan, Ed Helms, Kevin Hart
Directed by: Brian Robbins
Music by: John Debney
Written by: Rob Greenberg & Bill Corbett
Region Code: A

Blu-ray Disc release Date: November 25, 2008







"Eddie Murphy in Eddie Murphy Meet Dave"



Film Synopsis:


It's not that he's clumsy, shy or dressed for disco that makes Dave Ming Chang (Eddie Murphy) stand out from everyone else in New York City. It's that he's an alien! More accurately, he's an alien ship, on a mission to Earth to save his home planet. Torn between the voices in his head - a tiny alien crew led by a high-strung, miniature version of himself - and the world around him, Dave struggles to appear normal. But when he falls for an Earth woman, the consequences are hilarious.




My Take:


Eddie Murphy has a very decent cinematic resume to his credit. While he doesn't come to mind when I think of great actors, he has managed to carve out a rather successful and extensive career in a difficult business. I honestly wonder what went through his mind when he read the script for Meet Dave. I mean its obvious that the film is built around him but aside from that I can't see an earnest appeal to play this role. This is a simple, family based comedy that is light hearted but unfortunately not particularly entertaining. The story revolves around a group of aliens who come to earth seeking the status of an orb that had been sent 3 months earlier. The alien's planet require the earth's water supply in order to save it from dying and the orb has the ability to drain all of the earth's water. The problem is that the orb is knocked off course on its entry in the atmosphere and ends in the hands of a middle school aged boy named Josh and his widowed mother Gina. The aliens are small at just an inch or so tall and they arrive in their dual purpose spaceship which appears to be a human being that coincidently looks exactly like the alien ship's captain with Murphy playing both parts. Upon their arrival the alien crew immediately attempt to seek out the orb and move around relatively unnoticed in their spaceship. By startling happenstance the alien ship is struck by Gina's car as it crosses a busy intersection. She essentially dusts him/it off invites him/it to her apartment for a glass of water. It is during this conversation that the aliens come up with the name Ming Chang (which according to their computer is the most commonly used name on earth??). Gina tells him/it that in her opinion he/it looks more like a Dave and there you have it. The film then plays out in fairly formulaic style with Josh and his mother befriended Dave while Dave attempts to locate the missing orb which has fallen into the clutches of the school bully. There are a few fun and endearing moments but they are overshadowed by the banality of the script. It doesn't send mixed messages and stays positive regarding the importance of self worth, and friendship. It's too bad that Murphy spends a large portion of the film acting like a droid that is devoid of emotion. His quick wit, sharp tongue and physical expression are some of the things that make him so entertaining to watch.









Parental Guide:


The rating is for bawdy and suggestive humor, action and some language.





AUDIO/VIDEO - By The Numbers:
REFERENCE = 92-100 / EXCELLENT = 83-91 / GOOD = 74-82 / AVERAGE = 65-73 / BELOW AVERAGE = under 65

**My audio/video ratings are based upon a comparative made against other high definition media/blu-ray disc.**


(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)


Audio: 84


  • Dynamics:

  • Low frequency extension:

  • Surround Sound presentation:

  • Clarity/Detail:

  • Dialogue Reproduction:





Video: 84


(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)

  • Resolution/Clarity:

  • Black level/Shadow detail:

  • Color reproduction:

  • Fleshtones:

  • Compression:

Meet Dave comes to Blu-ray featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 36 mbps and lossless DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound that has an average bitrate of 4 mbps.

This video presentation offered definitive high definition detail, nicely saturated colors and dynamic contrast. Bright scenes tend to look a little hot with vivid hues and slightly washed out white detail. Blacks are stable with visible gradational stages and above average shadow delineation. Flesh tones seemed to vary from scene to scene. There were times where they appeared quite natural and times where they looked artificially enhanced. I never found it to be distracting or outside the realm of realistic depiction. The lossless sound quality featured excellent dynamic highlights, crystal clear dialogue and deep, punchy bass. Surround activity offered a nice balance of discrete and spatial sound effects that were spread out over the course of the presentation. I found the simulated atmosphere to be involving especially during the sequences where the tiny aliens were outside of the spaceship and encountered the large dangers on the city streets. This isn't an action based film but there were several sequences that had plenty of full system activity. I thought it sounded great.



Bonus Features:

  • (HD) Crew profiles - interactive feature

  • (HD) Gag reel

  • (HD) 4 Deleted scenes

  • (HD) Alternate ending

  • (HD) The making of Meet Dave - Featurette

  • Fox Movie Channel Presents: Life after film school with Director Brian Robbins

  • Fox Movie Channel Presents: Making a scene

  • Fox Movie Channel Presents: World premiere of Meet Dave





Final Thoughts:


Meet Dave is a rather bland comedy that doesn't offer any truly memorable moments. With Eddie Murphy's talent this film could certainly have been much more. Its Blu-ray Disc presentation offers solid audio/video quality and an average set of bonus supplements that fans may find enjoyable.















Ralph Potts
AVS Forum Blu-ray Reviews





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#2 ·
This movie totally bombed in its theatrical release. I tried to watch it, but it was one of the few times I just waited for the time to pass and the movie to end. Without giving away the movie, I will just say the best part of the movie is the very beginning. After that it just seems to lose it's focus and gets completely screwy at the end. I like Eddie Murphy and enjoy most of his films, but I didn't get this one.


Thanks for the review Ralph.
 
#3 ·
I found the video quality to be unacceptable. There was a lot of grain that was not present in the extras. The grain was so bad that it totally distracted from the film.
 
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