Da Kath & Kim Code: Live in London-Uncut (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-The G'Day Leonardo Tour Featurette-Behind The Scenes Outtakes Featurette-Barry At The Buckingham Deleted Scenes Featurette-Kath & Kim On Bert
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	81:48 (Case: 131)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (59:31) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Ted Emery
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jane Turner Gina Riley Glenn Robbins Peter Rowsthorn Magda Szubanski
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$39.95	Music	Jeremy Smith Penny Southgate Kitty Stuckey

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

Kath : 'He's in the Dordogne, ya nong'

Kath : 'Gee, put the phone down Russell'

Kim : 'Why would he go for fillet steak when he has sausage meat at home?'

    Welcome back to Fountain Lakes for another round with Australia's favourite foxymorons, Kath & Kim. Running with the assumption that you haven't been living under a rock and were one of the well over 2 million viewers who watched this telemovie on the ABC, I won't bother explaining the basic premise of this ongoing television show, which has now produced three series of episodes plus this brand new telemovie, first seen late last year. If this had been on during the ratings period it would have been one of the highest rating shows of the year, but the ABC chose to show it just after ratings had finished. This DVD arrived very quickly after the show was aired and includes quite a few other features, although it's questionable whether it really needed two discs as the second one has only 30 minutes of content on it.

    The story of this telemovie is that Kel & Kath have just returned from their 'Da Vinci Code Tour' of Europe, arriving just two weeks before Christmas. They return to find Kim very excited about Brett's big promotion where he has been 'moved sideways'. Brett is getting tired of Kim and his eye is wandering. Sharon is trying to find love on the internet. Kath & Kel's dance class is chosen to back Michael Buble at Carols by Candlelight. The mysterious albino, John Monk, who ran their tour of Europe seems to be chasing Kel & Kath for 40 euros which they owe him. Prue & Trude are in legal trouble. The plot, of course plays second fiddle to the great dialogue and sight jokes which make Kath & Kim the great Aussie comedy that it is. Some of my favourite lines are included at the beginning of this review but they have to be seen in context to really hit the mark.

    Despite having seen this recently on TV, I was really surprised at how much fun I had watching it again. I was laughing throughout including some fantastic belly laugh moments such as the dance routine with Michael Buble, especially Kel's incredible trousers. I think the Da Vinci Code link is fun but perhaps could have been explored a little more because there is a rich vein of humour in the way people have reacted to what is a work of fiction with some small basis in fact. Special guest appearances are included by Judith Lucy, Barry Humphries, The Wiggles, Mark Trevorrow & Rove McManus. Full marks to Gina Riley & Jane Turner for coming up with another brilliant instalment of Kath & Kim.

    This is classic comedy. Highly Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is excellent.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was excellent. The bitrate was uniformly very high.

    The colour was wonderful, rich and solid throughout.

    There were no noticeable artefacts.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read. They were exact to the spoken word and included spelled version of their 'mispronunciations' such as 'moosli'.

    The layer change occurs at 59:31 and caused a short pause.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The music sounds good and I enjoyed the 'Da Vinci Code' theme song used every time the albino monk appeared.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The extras are spread over two discs and include some funny stuff but also a bit of filler. All the extras are shown 16x9 enhanced.

Menu

    The menu included music and the ability to select scenes and subtitles.

Disc 1

Epilogue - The Da Vinci Code Tour 2 - G'Day Leonardo (1:47) 

    This is a very short set of extra scenes, some of which were shown when this program first aired. The scenes show Kath & Kel running their newly acquired Da Vinci Code tour franchise and showing people around Melbourne and pointing out the locations used in the second Da Vinci Code book. Not very funny really.

Behind the Scenes - How They Cracked The Code (24:12)

    Very funny making of which includes interviews with the cast & crew, lots of clowning around on set, Michael Buble, rehearsals and discussion of costumes and makeup. A quality extra which is definitely worth watching.

Goofs (2:59)

    Another funny extra including a variety of amusing stuff-ups.

Barry at the Buckingham (3:52)

    Barry Humphries visits the Buckingham Hotel which is used in the show. I cannot explain why because it is completely unfunny.

Deleted Scenes (2:14)

    5 deleted scenes which were not missed. Forgettable.

Kath & Kim on Bert (9:19)

    A very funny guest appearance by Kath & Kim on Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton. It was filmed just before the third series of the show.

Disc 2 - Live in London - Uncut The Full 30 minute Version

    Based upon the packaging you might get the impression that this disc includes a thirty minute live performance somewhere in England plus some extras. In reality, the disc includes 4 short extras which total around 30 minutes. Some are worthwhile but are nothing more than extras. The extras cover their UK tour to promote the launch of the show there.

At Toast Festival (8:14)

    This extra includes some TV appearances and then is mostly an appearance by the foxymorons at a food & wine festival in England. It's pretty standard Kath & Kim using a lot of the older dialogue from early seasons. Still funny but hardly essential.

Wine Tasting (10:04)

    This is more of their appearance at the festival however this time they are involved in an on-stage wine tasting where they tell the presenter how to pronounce the different wine varieties and then proceed to slag off the wine he is promoting. Very funny.

Talk to the BBC (7:04)

    An appearance on BBC2 where they answer various interview questions including questions about Brett, Kel, Sharon, Wine Time, British Men and the Royal (and Royle) family. Not bad.

...Have A Current Affair (6:35)

    A story which A Current Affair in Australia did on their UK tour. Includes interviews with Kath & Kim plus Jane & Gina.

    This movie is not available in other regions at this stage. This disc is coded for all regions.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The set has a large selection of extras spread over two discs.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall