Your Highness (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review

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

Film:

Extras:

Audio/Video total rating:

( Max score: 100 )

85

Studio and Year: Universal Studios - 2011
MPAA Rating: R/Unrated
Feature running time: 103/106 minutes
Genre: Comedy

Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 2.40:1
Resolution: 1080p/24


Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, Spanish/French DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Starring: Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Justin Theroux, Zooey Deschanel, Toby Jones, Rasmus Hardiker
Directed by: David Gordon Green
Music by: Steve Jablonsky
Written by: Danny McBride & Ben Best
Region Code: A,B,C

Blu-ray Disc release Date: August 9, 2011

Film Synopsis:

Get high and mighty with Danny McBride, James Franco and Natalie Portman in Your Highness, the epic and hilarious action-comedy from the director of Pineapple Express. Two royal princes, slacker Thadeous (McBride) and the noble Fabious (Franco) join with an elusive warrior (Portman) on a quest to free a princess from an evil wizard. Along the way, they'll have to vanquish horrific creatures and traitorous knights in this raunchy trip loaded with footage too outrageous for theaters.

My Take:

Your highness is a fantasy/adventure/action/comedy (adventure/action being very loose descriptions) that revolves around a small medieval kingdom where brothers, Prince Fabious (Franco) brave, gallant and quest successful, and Prince Thadeous (McBride), lazy, shallow, and jealous of Fabious, become involved in a quest to rescue Belladonna (Decshanel), Thadeous’ true love, from the evil sorcerer Leezar (Theroux), who seeks to use her as a virginal concubine to obtain more mystical power. Along the way they are met with various obstacles and meet up with the beautiful Isabel (Portman), a skilled warrior on a secret quest of her own. Thadeous finds himself attracted to her and seeks to use the quest as a means to win her affections. The question is will he be able to overcome his own ineptness and “rise” (pun intended) to the occasion?

Unfortunately my tolerance for idiocy when it comes to filmmaking runs pretty low. I don’t mind over the top as long as it comes with a decent foundation geared toward a conceivable thought process. Your highness not only lacks the foundation to serve as a platform for its over the top absurdity but it does little more than play out like a monotonous series of sexually exploitive skits each trying to one up the previous one. According to co-writer Danny McBride and director David Green the idea for this film goes back to their college years. They claim that it is a medieval comedy/action that is a sort of throwback to the eighties sorcery action classics ala Conan The Barbarian, Krull etc. that aired time and again on cable TV back in the day. I watched the unrated version which runs 3 minutes longer than the theatrical cut and it was a pretty painful way to spend 106 minutes. The script which is co-written by McBride consists of nonsensical drivel that serves as the basis to setup the one note jokes and sexual banter/innuendo that run throughout. I sat there shaking my head as I watched Natalie Portman partake in this ridiculous film. She is a personal favorite so at the very least I enjoyed seeing her onscreen although she doesn’t enter the story until 45 minutes in (arrgh!). The “action” is uninspired, the “adventure” is nothing of the kind and there isn’t anything contained herein that feels like a throwback to the 80’s classics. I will admit that Your highness appears to be a film that was probably fun to make especially if you like the people that you are working with. As far as watching it goes? I just didn’t get it and found it to be one of the worst films I have seen in quite some time.

Parental Guide:

This film contains strong crude and sexual content, pervasive language, nudity, violence and some drug use.

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

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Video: 86

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

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Your highness comes to Blu-ray from Universal Studios Home Entertainment featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 28 Mbps and lossless DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound that has an average bitrate of 3.7 Mbps.

This is a solid high definition presentation that is indicative of a newer release film. Detail is readily apparent as images are firmly resolute with crisp edges, defining sharpness, and two dimensional depth that enhances dimension. Colors are beautifully rendered with revealing delineation and tonal warmth. The long range shots of the earth toned colors of the rolling hills and countryside look terrific. Fleshtones appear lifelike with natural tonality and complexional delineation among the cast. Contrast is boldly applied and blacks exhibit good dynamic range with discernable gradational highlights and excellent depth of field during low level scenes. The lossless sound mix features definitive front channel separation and opulent clarity. Soundstage depth and imaging across the left, right and center channels is quite good. This enhances directional sounds and dialogue, allowing deep room penetration, high level perception of detail, and appropriate near field placement. The surround channels effectively extend the front soundstage by adding spatial ambience, directional pans and discrete sound placement. Dynamics and low frequency effects have solid weight and tangible authority that resonate well in the room. The combination enhances the film’s active segments and results in a decent surround sound experience.

Bonus Features:

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• Theatrical and Unrated versions of the film
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• Feature commentary (with director video intro) with director David Green, Danny McBride, James Franco and Justin Theroux
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• (HD) 2 alternate scenes
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• (HD) 6 deleted scenes
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• (HD) 4 extended scenes
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• (HD) Gag reel – 5 minutes
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• (HD) Damn you gods: The making of Your highness – 30 minute featurette
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• (HD) *Exclusive* Line-O-Rama – 4 minute montage of alternative jokes/goofs
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• (HD) *Exclusive* Perverted visions – 2 minutes
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• (HD) *Exclusive*A vision of Leezar – 3 minutes
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• My Scenes bookmark feature
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• D-Box Motion Code enabled
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• My Movies - Consumers can choose to rent a variety of Universal favorites including Role Models, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The 40-Year-Old Virgin
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• Pocket Blu - App for iPOD/iPHONE
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• BD-Live enabled
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• Digital Copy

Final Thoughts:

Your highness is the brainchild of co-writer/star Danny McBride and director David Green. At best it’s a cheap action/comedy with a screenplay that consists of over the top, nonsensical buffoonery that is overrun with one note jokes and sexually derived/raunchy humor based on a lame medieval plot. At worst it simply isn’t funny. Universal Studios Home Entertainment brings it to Blu-ray Disc featuring eye catching high definition video and crystal clear DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound. The supplemental package consists of the theatrical/unrated cuts of the film, a filmmaker commentary, extended/alternate/deleted scenes, a making of featurette, gag reel, Blu-ray exclusive content and digital copy. I didn’t care for Your highness however different strokes for different folks. If you’re curious I would strongly recommend a rental prior to purchase.

Ralph Potts
AVS Forum Blu-ray Reviews





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