Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy (2010)

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General		Extras
Category	Comic Oratorio	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Making Of Additional Footage Featurette-The Bright Side Karaoke
Rating
Year Of Production	2010
Running Time	87:43
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Aubrey Powell
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Eric Idle Michael Palin Terry Jones Terry Gilliam Shannon Mercer Rosalind Plowright William Ferguson Christopher Purves Carol Cleveland Neil Innes Sanjeev Bhaskar
Case	?
RPI	$24.95	Music	John Du Prez

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/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 German French Italian Spanish Dutch Arabic Bulgarian Croatian Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Slovak Slovenian Swedish Turkish English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     I should probably start by saying that I am a big fan of all things Monty Python and therefore was keen to see this DVD. It is something quite different for the Monty Python boys even though a lot of your favourite jokes are included. According to the extras this stage production was inspired by two very disparate things, Monty Python's Life of Brian and Handel's Messiah. Eric Idle and his long time composing partner John Du Prez worked together to come up with this Comic Oratorio which was then performed a few times before they had the British Premiere at The Royal Albert Hall on 2 Oct 2009. This DVD contains a film of this British Premiere.

     Like Handel's Messiah this work is performed by a number of solo singers (in this case 5 if you count Idle), a symphony orchestra and a choir. The soloists (beside Idle) are all classically trained signers either from Opera or Musicals. It is staged and sung in quite a straight way, with tongue firmly in cheek. Also appearing are a number of special guests including Michael Palin (as a number of characters including Mrs Betty Palin, Narrator), Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes.

     A lot of the songs have been newly written for this production but a few you will have heard before including Always Look on the Bright Side of Life and I'm a Lumberjack. The storyline pretty much follows the movie but with a few extra things thrown in such as a song for Terry Jones and Eric Idle doing a quite impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan. There is certainly fun to be had here for fans of Monty Python and there is also something in it for fans of musicals or light Opera. Some of the songs could stand on their own and not be out of place in a musical. There is a sense as you watch this that Eric Idle is having more fun than anybody else.

     It is worth seeing if you are a fan of Monty Python and will probably be greatly enjoyed by the small group who are fans of both Python and Handel's Messiah.

Video

     The video quality is very good.

     The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced widescreen. The picture was clear and sharp throughout. The colour was very good with no colour artefacts. There were no noticeable artefacts.

     There are subtitles in English, English for the Hearing Impaired and lots of other languages. They were clear and easy to read.

     There is no layer change during the main program.

Video Ratings Summary

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Shadow Detail
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Audio

     The audio quality is very good.

     This DVDs contain an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s. Dialogue was clear and easy to understand. The music sounds very good on this transfer, with the classical singers coming across very well indeed. The surround speakers were used mostly for crowd noises but certainly added atmosphere. The subwoofer was used for music support.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

     Extras have subtitles available.

Menu

     The menu was fun including an intro, music and scenes from the production.

The Road to the Royal Albert Hall (29:47)

     Video Diary of the last week of preparation for this concert performance including interviews with John Du Prez and Eric Idle. Covers the inspirations, musical styles used, what an Oratorio is, casting and all the fun they had. Quite interesting.

Showtime (3:00)

     Backstage footage just before and just after the performance.

The Bright Side (2:50)

     Small featurette about the song, it's genesis and the performance.

Sing Alongs (17:15)

     Karaoke style versions of six songs from the production with bouncing ball style lyrics. You can play all or individual songs.

    The Region 1 DVD version is exactly the same. Also available on Blu-ray in Region A and Region B (UK) but not seemingly locally.

        A fun but very silly reinterpretation of Life of Brian and Handel's Messiah.

      The video quality is very good. The audio quality is very good. The extras are decent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall