Bunny and the Bull (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Deleted Scenes Featurette-Behind The Scenes Featurette-Making Of-Get The Picture Outtakes Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	97:08 (Case: 101)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (72:59)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Paul King
Studio Distributor	Wild Bunch Madman Entertainment	Starring	Edward Hogg Simon Farnaby Verónica Echegui
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Ralfe Band

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

     To call Bunny and the Bull "The Mighty Boosh: The Movie", as the film’s advertising all but does, is equal parts deserving and unfair on the film. Written and directed by Boosh director Paul King, co-starring Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt and Richard Ayoade and starring Simon Farnaby, an occasional Mighty Boosh co-star as the titular "Bunny", Bunny and the Bull exudes the same type of humour as The Mighty Boosh and a similar visual aesthetic (albeit far more intricately assembled). The film even plays out quite episodically. Where it does stand apart is in the sentimentality of its story, which adds a depth to the film never experienced (or warranted) in The Mighty Boosh. Think of it as a little like the movies of Michael Gondry and Charlie Kaufman crashed head on with The Mighty Boosh.

     The film tells the recollections of a young man, Stephen (Edward Hogg), who has become a shut-in after going on a bizarre tour of Europe with his once best-friend, Bunny (Simon Farnaby), to get over a painful break-up. The pair is polar opposites. Stephen is shy, naive, nerdy and insufferably nervous. Bunny is extroverted, scheming and yet impossibly spontaneous. It is a surprisingly plausible friendship as each possesses the qualities the other lacks and needs at a point to draw upon, but unsurprisingly it becomes a rocky relationship as the pair gradually tests each others' limits. Along the way the pair hook up with Eloisa (Verónica Echegui) as she quits her job at a crab-themed fast food restaurant and travels back to her home town, which leads to a painfully hilarious love triangle. The pair also encounter numerous other unusual folks along the way, including a dog-loving hermit (literally) who lives under a bridge made of newspapers in Poland (played by Julian Barratt) and Eloisa's bull-fighting cousin Javier (Noel Fielding). Their encounter with this last chap inspires Bunny to make his ultimate goal in life to fight a bull.

     The sets are akin to those of The Mighty Boosh, cartoonish and ever-exaggerated, but taken up a notch. The film features an entire city made of newspaper and a wonderfully odd "Museum of Shoes". As well as some magnificently oddball sets, the film employs some beautiful stop motion animation to bring many of its creations to life. Bunny's ultimate encounter with a mechanical bull is the most spectacular of these. The bull, made of what looks like kitchen utensils and other bits of scrap metal, is flawlessly animated and blended to the live action video seamlessly.

     Bunny and the Bull is delightfully offbeat. The film is must-see viewing for any Mighty Boosh fan and well worth checking out by anyone looking for something a little different.

Video

     The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced. The video is clear and sharp. Very mild film grain is visible in the image. The bright array of colours on display is beautifully represented. The image features a good level of shadow detail. There is no sign of any film artefacts or video compression artefacts in the transfer.

     The film features English subtitles for the hearing impaired. Based on the portion sampled they seem accurate and well timed.

     This is an RSDL disc with a layer break occurring between scenes at 72:59.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     A choice of English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kbps) or 2.0 (224Kbps) is available. The audio is clean and clear. The dialogue is well placed in the mix and there are no issues with audio/video sync.

     The film features an appropriately whimsical score from Ralfe Band, which is well presented in the mix.

     The film makes intelligent use of the surrounds and occasionally the subwoofer, which adds to the wonderment of the film without distracting from it.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Deleted Scenes (4:12)

     A handful of amusing, but inessential deleted scenes. Not 16x9 enhanced.

Behind the Scenes (13:05)

     An amusing press-kit making-of type affair, featuring plenty of cast interviews.

Get The Picture Featurette (4:15)

     A brief sets and effects featurette which delves into how some of the more visually impressive bits of the film were laboriously constructed, narrated by director Paul King. Whilst the rest of the extras and the main feature all look good, the video on this one is noticeably over-compressed.

Bloopers (4:26)

     A surprisingly amusing outtakes reel, made up equally of on-set japes and the usual line fluffs.

Trailer (2:17)

     A reasonable representation of what to expect from the film.

    Bunny and the Bull is not available in Region 1. The Region 4 edition has the same extras as the UK Region 2 edition.

     A wonderfully offbeat and inventive comedy from one of the creative forces behind The Mighty Boosh. More like this and team Michael Gondry / Charlie Kaufman will have hot competition.

    Video and audio are of a high standard. The extras are reasonable in number and well worth a look for fans.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall