Dreamgirls (Blu-ray)
Features: Widescreen, English, French, Spanish
Director Bill Condon brings Tom Eyen's Tony award-winning Broadway musical to the big screen in a tale of dreams, stardom, and the high cost of success in the cutthroat recording industry.
The time is the 1960s, and singers Effie (Jennifer Hudson), Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose), and Deena (Beyonce Knowles) are about to find out just what it's like to have their wildest dreams come true. Discovered at a local talent show by ambitious manager Curtis Taylor Jr. (Jamie Foxx), the trio known as "the Dreamettes" is soon offered the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of opening for popular singer James "Thunder" Early (Eddie Murphy).
Subsequently molded into an unstoppable hit machine by Taylor and propelled into the spotlight as "the Dreams," the girls quickly find their bid for the big time taking priority over personal friendship as Taylor edges out the ultra-talented Effie so that the more beautiful Deena can become the face of the group. Now, as the crossover act continues to dominate the airwaves, the small-town girls with big-city dreams slowly begin to realize that the true cost of fame may be higher than any of them ever anticipated.
"Elegant, unabashedly theatrical, and packed with lush concert scenes and period-perfect costumes." Albert Williams, Chicago Reader
"A musical masterwork. An explosion of passion, power and, most significantly, a film of true heart." American Film Institute
"Rapturously entertaining." Entertainment Weekly
"Condon's Dreamgirls is a triumph! It's smartly entertaining, fresh and alive." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"A fabulous movie with plenty of pizazz!" Richard Corliss, Time
Editor's Note
IN THEATERS DECEMBER 29, 2006
An all-star cast, including Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx, and Beyonce Knowles, brings this Broadway production to the screen, with three soul singers enjoying a delicious slice of pop success in the 1960s.
Features Dreamgirls Soundtrack Promo
Anika Noni Rose Audition
Art Department Archive
Audio: English, French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Auditions & Screen Tests
Beyonce Knowles Screen Test
Dubbed: French, Spanish
Extended & Alternate Scenes
Featurettes: Building The Dream, Dream Logic - Film Editing, Dressing The Dreams - Costume Design, Center Stage - Theatrical Lighting, & Steppin' To The Bad Side - Fatima Robinson Choreography Audition
Image Gallery
Interactive Menus
Music Video: Listen By Beyonce Knowles
Previsualization Sequences
Scene Selection
Storyboards
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
This Is A Blu-Ray DVD Made For Blue-Laser Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture And Sound
Director Bill Condon brings Tom Eyen's Tony award-winning Broadway musical to the big screen in a tale of dreams, stardom, and the high cost of success in the cutthroat recording industry.
The time is the 1960s, and singers Effie (Jennifer Hudson), Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose), and Deena (Beyonce Knowles) are about to find out just what it's like to have their wildest dreams come true. Discovered at a local talent show by ambitious manager Curtis Taylor Jr. (Jamie Foxx), the trio known as "the Dreamettes" is soon offered the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of opening for popular singer James "Thunder" Early (Eddie Murphy).
Subsequently molded into an unstoppable hit machine by Taylor and propelled into the spotlight as "the Dreams," the girls quickly find their bid for the big time taking priority over personal friendship as Taylor edges out the ultra-talented Effie so that the more beautiful Deena can become the face of the group. Now, as the crossover act continues to dominate the airwaves, the small-town girls with big-city dreams slowly begin to realize that the true cost of fame may be higher than any of them ever anticipated.
"Elegant, unabashedly theatrical, and packed with lush concert scenes and period-perfect costumes." Albert Williams, Chicago Reader
"A musical masterwork. An explosion of passion, power and, most significantly, a film of true heart." American Film Institute
"Rapturously entertaining." Entertainment Weekly
"Condon's Dreamgirls is a triumph! It's smartly entertaining, fresh and alive." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"A fabulous movie with plenty of pizazz!" Richard Corliss, Time
Editor's Note
IN THEATERS DECEMBER 29, 2006
An all-star cast, including Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx, and Beyonce Knowles, brings this Broadway production to the screen, with three soul singers enjoying a delicious slice of pop success in the 1960s.
Features Dreamgirls Soundtrack Promo
Anika Noni Rose Audition
Art Department Archive
Audio: English, French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Auditions & Screen Tests
Beyonce Knowles Screen Test
Dubbed: French, Spanish
Extended & Alternate Scenes
Featurettes: Building The Dream, Dream Logic - Film Editing, Dressing The Dreams - Costume Design, Center Stage - Theatrical Lighting, & Steppin' To The Bad Side - Fatima Robinson Choreography Audition
Image Gallery
Interactive Menus
Music Video: Listen By Beyonce Knowles
Previsualization Sequences
Scene Selection
Storyboards
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
This Is A Blu-Ray DVD Made For Blue-Laser Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture And Sound
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Review
Dreamgirls - DVD
Bill Condon certainly seems to like giving people the old razzle-dazzle. His latest directorial effort (for which he also penned the screenplay), Dreamgirls, hits store shelves this week in a two-disc “Showstopper” edition. Condon also wrote the screenplay for the Academy Award winning Chicago, and there are certainly more than a few similarities between these two musicals. There is also a reason that Chicago went home from the Oscars with a Best Picture win and Dreamgirls did not.
The story follows the rise and fall of a group known originally as the Dreamettes and later as the Dreams. After being discovered by Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jamie Foxx), the girls, Deena Jones (Beyoncé Knowles), Effie White (Jennifer Hudson), and Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose), are brought on a musical tour as backup singers. Eventually they are brought out into the spotlight as Taylor realizes that the girls have the potential to be the first African American singing group to cross over and become popular among a white audience. The catch to his whole plan is that he wants Deena to become the lead singer rather than Effie. This causes huge internal conflicts within the group and forever alters their direction.
It’s an old tale, based on a true story (or not, depending on whom you listen to), and it is abundantly clear from the first moment where everything is headed. The ride however, is an enjoyable one.
The music in Dreamgirls is fantastic and the movie is full of strong performances, but the movie as a whole is oddly structured, outside of the thin plot-line. Condon is still able to make the two-hour plus movie work through his sleight of hand, through razzle-dazzle, but it simply is not enough to make this a great film.
It is fully 45 minutes into this film before the first song occurs that isn’t a stage number or the playing of a record. To introduce characters as singing to each other at that late point in a film throws the whole movie off kilter. To this point, Dreamgirls has been building a story about the starting of a musical group and a record label, and all the songs were organic to the film itself. When Jennifer Hudson starts singing to her manager and the rest of her group nearly halfway into the movie it’s not even a full song, it’s just a few lines. The moment is completely unexpected, and not in a beneficial way. All the other dialog has been spoken, not sung, and now, when Hudson’s Effie White is hurt, shocked, and humiliated by her friends, she starts singing in a way no one has heretofore done in the film. Has she had a psychotic break? Is she dreaming? What has caused this huge turn in the film? As it turns out, the answer simply is that this is a musical and characters sing. It’s an odd turn of events and doesn’t work.
Even so, the movie does provide enough shimmer, enough glitz, and enough good music (on stage, not off) that it is unquestionably fun to sit down and watch. With strong performances by Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Jamie Foxx, and others, there is little doubt as to why it was nominated for so many acting awards. I must state though, as has been stated elsewhere, that Jennifer Hudson’s role was not really a supporting one as much as a lead. That she would have had a more difficult time winning lead actress awards is more than likely the reason she was only submitted for supporting awards.
The two-disc “Showstopper” edition features a dozen extended and “never before seen” musical numbers, a Beyoncé music video, a full-length documentary on the making of the film, as well as screen tests, auditions, and other enticements. To a point, they are fun to watch in order to see what goes in, at least partially, to making a film of this caliber.
Available in HD-DVD, Blu-ray, and the plain old vanilla standard DVD, Dreamgirls is a brisk, breezy, 130 minutes where, even if very little happens, the performances and on-stage singing are able to carry it through.
The story follows the rise and fall of a group known originally as the Dreamettes and later as the Dreams. After being discovered by Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jamie Foxx), the girls, Deena Jones (Beyoncé Knowles), Effie White (Jennifer Hudson), and Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose), are brought on a musical tour as backup singers. Eventually they are brought out into the spotlight as Taylor realizes that the girls have the potential to be the first African American singing group to cross over and become popular among a white audience. The catch to his whole plan is that he wants Deena to become the lead singer rather than Effie. This causes huge internal conflicts within the group and forever alters their direction.
It’s an old tale, based on a true story (or not, depending on whom you listen to), and it is abundantly clear from the first moment where everything is headed. The ride however, is an enjoyable one.
The music in Dreamgirls is fantastic and the movie is full of strong performances, but the movie as a whole is oddly structured, outside of the thin plot-line. Condon is still able to make the two-hour plus movie work through his sleight of hand, through razzle-dazzle, but it simply is not enough to make this a great film.
It is fully 45 minutes into this film before the first song occurs that isn’t a stage number or the playing of a record. To introduce characters as singing to each other at that late point in a film throws the whole movie off kilter. To this point, Dreamgirls has been building a story about the starting of a musical group and a record label, and all the songs were organic to the film itself. When Jennifer Hudson starts singing to her manager and the rest of her group nearly halfway into the movie it’s not even a full song, it’s just a few lines. The moment is completely unexpected, and not in a beneficial way. All the other dialog has been spoken, not sung, and now, when Hudson’s Effie White is hurt, shocked, and humiliated by her friends, she starts singing in a way no one has heretofore done in the film. Has she had a psychotic break? Is she dreaming? What has caused this huge turn in the film? As it turns out, the answer simply is that this is a musical and characters sing. It’s an odd turn of events and doesn’t work.
Even so, the movie does provide enough shimmer, enough glitz, and enough good music (on stage, not off) that it is unquestionably fun to sit down and watch. With strong performances by Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Jamie Foxx, and others, there is little doubt as to why it was nominated for so many acting awards. I must state though, as has been stated elsewhere, that Jennifer Hudson’s role was not really a supporting one as much as a lead. That she would have had a more difficult time winning lead actress awards is more than likely the reason she was only submitted for supporting awards.
The two-disc “Showstopper” edition features a dozen extended and “never before seen” musical numbers, a Beyoncé music video, a full-length documentary on the making of the film, as well as screen tests, auditions, and other enticements. To a point, they are fun to watch in order to see what goes in, at least partially, to making a film of this caliber.
Available in HD-DVD, Blu-ray, and the plain old vanilla standard DVD, Dreamgirls is a brisk, breezy, 130 minutes where, even if very little happens, the performances and on-stage singing are able to carry it through.
