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Juno: Special Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (22nd April 2008). |
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The Film
 In its premise, 'Juno' resembles a little 2005 Korean movie so much that I'm surprised it has never been mentioned. What's even more striking is the Korean movie is called "Jeni, Juno." That movie concerns a couple of 13-year-olds having a child. It went to theatres and left even quicker, and was promptly forgotten. However, the similarities pretty much end at the premise, as the 2005 movie centered around the couple, and is more a drama than comedy, whereas this movie clearly revolves around Juno and her eccentric surroundings, and is more a comedy than a drama. Both a blessing and a curse for the movie is its dialogue. Saying that she's dealing with things way beyond her maturity level is both intelligent and silly. The dialogue is very witty and funny, but by the same token it would never be uttered in life, for the most part, especially not by a 16-year-old girl. This is Diablo Cody putting her words in the body of a 16-year-old, whether it's realistic or not, and not allowing the characters to be themselves. A lot of people don't like writerspeak, and the movie loses a bit of credibility because of this. This makes the character lose believability and diminishes the impact of her problem. It also makes her seem more immature than she would usually seem when she comes to her crisis point. Knowing everything she does, it's quite surprising (and convenient) she doesn't know what she should know. The movie, however, isn't about downplaying the issues associated with teen pregnancy, but is about Juno (Ellen Page) finding herself in the world around her. Ellen Page does a terrific job handling the material she's given. You fully believe her and she gives the perfect, dry delivery for her confused Juno. Tone is very important for this movie and director Jason Reitman handles the material very deftly, creating the perfect atmosphere. This is a movie and everything reflects this. Some of the characters are a bit loopy, and the dialogue is very nice. The situations, though, seem real and in the end Juno is fully developed, despite her vast knowledge of things (even though she's only 16 years old). The movie is sweet and funny and very enjoyable to watch, if nothing to see Ellen Page’s great performance.
Video
1.85:1 widescreen, using the AVC/MPEG-4 codec. The transfer from start to finish is very strong. It never wavers or shows any print defects or compression artifacts. The colors show a very nice saturation, making everything look very rich and natural. The level of detail is also strong, clearly showing every wrinkle of Ellen Page's various expressions. The contrast may be a little bit on the flat side, but it's not a problem at all. This is a very strong transfer.
Audio
As per all of Fox's Blu-rays, the movie comes with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. There are three extra Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks (in English, French and Spanish) as well. The movie is very low-key and the sound reflects that very well. The movie is pretty much all talk and the dialogue is clear and crisp, clearly centered. The music doesn't really go to the rear, but stayed in the front and is very strong and crystal clear. There are a few positional effects but for the most part everything stays clearly in the center. It's a small movie, so the track reflects it. The movie has English and Spanish subtitles.
Extras
The first and best extra is an audio commentary with director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody. With this kind of movie, the pair have a lot of fun talking about the movie. Miss Cody explains how she knows Sonic Youth and 'The Wizard of Gore', for example. The pair talk about the slushie drinks, the butterfly glasses and the other little quirks of some of the characters. The director talks about the decisions he made, like why Juno takes off her skirt before going to see Paulie. They also talk about various scenes and which ones they like, explaining the details in the background and set design. The director also explains camera placement and why the shots look the way they look. They also explain how the costumes show the evolution of the character and give out stories from the set. It's a very enjoyable track and fans of the film should definitely give 96 minutes of their life to this track. Next are some 11 Deleted Scenes (20:24 total). 'Café Triste' is easily the best of the bunch because it's absolutely hilarious. It's a bit out of place from the movie so cutting it out is best, but it's definitely worth watching. The other scenes are nice, and introduce things differently than what's in the movie. What's in the movie is better, but the scenes here add something, even if just a little. The scenes are: 'Mrs. Rancik' (2:14), a very funny scene, 'Juno Hitchhikes' (0:48), 'Intro to Family' (1:01), 'Carry Chair to Bleeks. Sit in Car Drinking' (1:46), 'Café Triste' (2:10), 'Bleeker’s Bedroom with Juno' (4:55), 'Lorings in Bathroom' (1:04), 'Mark Plays Guitar' (0:48), 'Juno Plays Guitar' (1:36), 'Montage' (3:11) and 'Mark's Loft' (0:45). There's a pretty funny Gag Reel (5:11). A lot of Sorrys are uttered and a lot of actors laugh. Some of the flubs are pretty funny. A Gag Take (1:57) is also here. It seems to be a director's worst nightmare. I'd actually like to hear the idea for this joke. A Crew Music Video (3:12) is next, but is nothing special, though is pretty nice. Twenty-two and a half minutes of Screen Tests are next. It's a whole bunch of scenes with Ellen Page doing various scenes from the movie as her test, I suppose. It's nice to see how her readings here changed before making it to the movie. Next are a bunch of featurettes focusing on various things. Way Beyond 'Our" Maturity Level: Juno-Leah-Bleeker (8:59) is more or less an EPK. It's the cast and crew talking about the movie, the relevance of the story, the actors and the characters. Diablo Cody is Totally Boss (8:35) is next. Diablo Cody talks about how the movie's producer found her, and the producer talks about how he found Diablo Cody. The actors talk about the script and how smart it is. They also talk about Miss Cody. Miss Cody doesn’t talk about why or how the script came to be, but it’s a very nice featurette. Jason Reitman for Shizz (8:08) is about the director and how good he is with actors, with tone and with reality. The actors talk about working with him, and how funny and great he is. Honest to Blog!: Creating Juno (13:01) is a bit better than the EPK. It's about how Diablo Cody went from blogger to screenwriter. Actors talk about the script, telling you what they think of it. It's a nice featurette. Two Blu-ray exclusive featurettes finish out the real extras. Fox Movie Channel Presents World Premiere… Juno (5:26) is a short promo piece for the Fox Channel. Basically, this talks about the serious subject matter and finding the comedy in this situation. Fox Movie Channel Presents Casting Session: Juno (7:51) talks about the main actors and how important it was to get them given the tone of the movie. Ellen Page, Michael Cera and Jason Bateman talk about their characters, but this is pretty fluffy and was probably only for promotional purposes. A ad about digital copies (1:03) and the '27 Dresses' trailer (2:04) are here as start-up trailers and finish (or rather start off) the disc. Disc two has a Digital Copy of the movie, which you can put on your computer to transfer to your Ipod, Creative Zen, Microsoft Zune or what-have-you.
Overall
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