Review: Prom BD

Prom is a mediocre film, with poor picture quality and a short amount of special features. This won’t be a top buy, but I wouldn’t ignore it completely. I’d say give this one a rent… you might be surprised.

 

 

Prom (2011)

REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

 

Genre(s): Comedy
Disney | PG – 104 min. – $39.99 | August 30, 2011

MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Joe Nussbaum
Writer(s): Katie Wech (written by)
Cast: Aimee Teegarden, Thomas McDonell, DeVaughn Nixon, Danielle Campbell

Theatrical Release Date: April 29, 2011

DISC INFO:
Features: Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Music Videos, Gag Reel
Number of Discs: 1

Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.78
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC

THE MOVIE – 2.5/5

This is another one of those films that was marketed all wrong. Watching the trailers on TV, you might think this is a hokey kids film and to some degree, yeah, it is. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find a big cast of characters whose stories intertwine and the film progresses. Don’t get me wrong – the film isn’t all that great, but it’s certainly not as bad as some of the Trailers made it out to be (or the poor box office performance).

Nova (Teegarden) is head of her class and head of the prom committee. After getting all the decorations ready, a fire breaks out and ruins them. Lucky for her, she is paired up with bad-boy Jesse (McDonell) who happens to know a thing about… uhh… making things work? Eventually, as one might assume, the two quickly fall for one another and have to decide on the ultimate question – will they go to prom together?

Clichéd to say the least. You know the ending ten minutes into the start of the film, but at least some of the characters are memorable. Aside from Nova (what’s with these weird choices for girls nowadays?), the only other interesting character is probably Lloyd who is desperately seeking a girl to go to prom with. He tries every stunt possible – putting notes on a girls car, hanging a banner from the freeway, but eventually, he finds the best way to do it is to just ask. I really enjoyed Nicholas Braun in “10 Things I Hate About You”, so I’m glad Disney is recycling him into other properties.

But, aside from those two characters, everything else is pretty bad. Jesse, who is getting top billing, is horrific. The kid can’t act and I don’t see why someone as beautiful as Nova would ever be interested in him. The two have no chemistry together and really should have been replaced with Nicholas Braun who seems more her type. Even Nova’s “boyfriend” Brandon is a bad actor who disappears for weeks on end. There are a few other characters like Tyler who cheats on his girlfriend and nerdy Lucas who wants to date the hot girl…but you won’t care. Your focus should really be on Nova and Lloyd.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.25/5

The Blu-ray is housed in an embossed slip cover.

Last Chance Lloyd (10 Minutes, HD) – This is just some deleted scene repackaged as a feature (which is bonus subplot that shows up later on). Which is fine by me, since this was the best part of the film? Too bad they didn’t focus on Lloyd the entire film and just cut Jesse and Nova altogether. There, I said it. **Blu-ray Exclusive **

Rounding out the disc is 7 Music Videos (by artists such as Moon, Neon Tree’s and Allstar weekend” along with a Blooper Reel and 4 Deleted Scenes (5 Minutes). Oh, and a pathetically bad Making of Featurette (6 Minutes, HD) that is your typical “x was so awesome in this film! I love working with x”. Pass. All of these are **Blu-ray Exclusives ** except the Bloopers and Making of Featurette. 

For a limited time, the Blu-ray will come packed with a DVD.

VIDEO – 3.25/5

Prom is presented in 1.78 aspect ratio on a 25GB disc. Not sure what was going on, but the film looked washed out. I had to actually change my video settings (to Natural) to even make it look good. Once changed, the film looked alright. I still felt colors were off the entire time (and I played around a lot to make them look good), but it seems the small budget went to the large cast, and not the equipment.

AUDIO – 4.0/5

Disney has included an English 5.1 DTS MA Track for this release. Well, they succeeded here. The film has numerous ‘hot’ music tracks, and they sound great in 5.1 Dialogue is well placed in the front, and since this is a kids film… not much is going on.

OVERALL – 3.0/5

Prom is a mediocre film, with poor picture quality and a short amount of special features. This won’t be a top buy, but I wouldn’t ignore it completely. I’d say give this one a rent… you might be surprised.

Brad Lowenberg
Published: 08/26/2011