Down to Earth (2001) |
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Down to Earth (2001) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Comedy |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Dolby Digital Trailer-Aurora Theatrical Trailer Featurette-Down To Earth: A Look Inside |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2001 | ||
| Running Time | 83:47 (Case: 87) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By |
Chris Weitz Paul Weitz |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Chris Rock Regina King Mark Addy Eugene Levy Frankie Faison Greg Germann Jennifer Coolidge Chazz Palminteri |
| Case | Soft Brackley-Transp | ||
| RPI | $39.95 | Music | Jamshied Sharifi |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0  (192Kb/s)
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | Yes, credits begin to roll over the final scene | ||
Down To Earth is a slow and predictable comedy with a number of gaping plot holes.
Lance Burton (Chris Rock) is a bicycle courier who dreams of success as a stand-up comedian. Following an accident, Lance is whisked up to Heaven by mistake. The powers that be decide to return Lance to Earth as someone else. A new body must be found, and the one chosen is a recently murdered millionaire, Charles Wellington. If this all sounds familiar, it is, because Down To Earth is a remake of Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait (1978), which in turn was a remake of the 1941 movie, Here Comes Mr. Jordan. The twist with this remake is that a poor, urban black man is placed into a millionaire white man's body.
As a young, black comedian, Chris Rock has a licence to make outrageous and inflammatory remarks about both blacks and whites, remarks that might otherwise be considered racist and taboo. The highlights of this movie are when Rock is allowed to abandon the script, and perform some of his stand-up routine. Anyone who saw Lethal Weapon 4 would recall Rock doing similar there in a supporting role. Sadly, while Lethal Weapon 4 also had a great plot, great stunts and good leading actors, Down To Earth has none of those. It limps along, only to be violently shaken awake during the rare moments when Rock is allowed to cut loose.
While Heaven Can Wait managed to be both brilliantly comic and tragic, Down To Earth is neither. It often attempts to be serious, and while Rock is a great comedian, he is no actor. Subsequently, the romantic and dramatic moments of this movie are lost. In fact, even though the movie runs for a little over eighty minutes, it feels much, much longer.
The transfer is very good.
The packaging incorrectly states that this movie is presented in an aspect ration of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced. It is actually 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer is generally very sharp, and good examples of this include a shot of a bookshelf at 11:54, and of New York at 34:29. Occasionally, the background is a little soft, such as at 9.22, 20:17, 32:26, 51.53, 60:03 and 68:09. The shadow detail is fine, and good examples include a shot of a dark street at 6:33, a nightclub at 47:40 and comedy club at 57:04.
The colour is excellent, and the transfer displays a rich palette of bright primary colours. An example of this is the shot of the party in Central Park at 59:11.
There were no MPEG artefacts or film-to-video artefacts, but the movie is lightly peppered with small film artefacts throughout. Examples occur at 9.39, 18.45, 22.54, 37.36, 47:36, 60:51, and 70:33.
There is slight edge enhancement, which can be seen at 31.55, 53:38, 57:39 and 72:11.
Only English subtitles for the Hearing Impaired are provided, which are very accurate to the spoken word.
This is an RSDL-formatted disc, but I was not able to locate the layer change. In fact, I watched the movie three extra times, from start to finish, for the sole reason of trying to spot the layer change. The third time I watched it, I used my computer's DVD-ROM drive, which usually provides an awkward layer-change at best, but still nothing!
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The audio mix is very front-heavy, but as this is a dialogue-based comedy, that is acceptable.
Apart from the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, there is also a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack provided. I listened to the 5.1 track.
The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent.
The musical score is credited to Jamshied Sharifi, and consists mainly of very subtle swells of orchestral music in the background. The movie's source music often takes centre stage, with pounding hip-hop songs by Lauryn Hill, DMX and Mystikal.
The surround sound mix is very front-heavy, and the rear speakers are called upon very rarely to help carry the score (for example at 11.19), and provide the odd effect (for example at 15.18). The rears do add nicely to some of the stand-up comedy scenes, for example at 66:35 and 69:50.
The subwoofer does not get much to do during this movie, but occasionally lends a hand to support some of the deep bass during some of the hip-hop tunes, such as at 77:21.
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The extras are very slim.
The animated menu is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.
Theatrical Trailer
A great piece of advertising, this trailer makes the movie look a lot funnier than it actually is. This two minute and thirty four second trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, non-16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo surround-encoded audio.
This ten minute and five second extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, non-16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio. It contains a few clips from the movie, along with the usual back-slapping sound-bites from the Directors and main cast members.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Down To Earth was released on DVD in Region 1 in October 2001.
The Region 4 DVD misses out on:
The Region 1 DVD misses out on:
I favour the local release for its superior PAL image.
Down To Earth is a disappointing comedy. Chris Rock is a very funny man and Heaven Can Wait was a very enjoyable movie. Sadly, combining the two has not created a movie that is either comic or tragic. For Chris Rock fans, like me, Down To Earth is worth renting. After all it does have its moments, but be warned -- they are far and few between.
The video quality is very good.
The audio quality is good, albeit front-heavy.
The extras are slim.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using S-Video output |
| Display | Grundig Elegance 82-2101 (82cm, 16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Sony STR DE-545 |
| Speakers | Sony SS-V315 x5; Sony SA-WMS315 subwoofer |