Shall We Dance?

Blu-ray Review

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

Release: May 6, 2008

MSRP: $29.99

Shall We Dance? has been released on the Blu-ray format from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film blends music, romance, as well as dance into one visually impressive release on the high-def format. Is it worthy of a purchase though?

The film features a great cast led by Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Susan Sarandon,a nd Stanley Tucci.

You do get some comedic entertainment here in few spots, but overall the film is rather forgettable for the most part. Richard Gere plays John Clark, a man who feels trapped in his own life and career. He meets a beautiful dance instructor, played by Lopez, and begins to take ballroom dancing lessons.

From here you see him dancing away in his own secret obsession, with enjoyable music and rhythm. Of course, his wife, played by Sarandon, is going to find out, which causes some fun events to play out.

Lopez was the worst out of the entire cast as she does not play a very believable character here at all. The entire relationship just seems off for the most part.

The film’s dance scenes are enjoyable and fun in their own way, but for the most part you may want to say no to Shall We Dance?

The video quality of the Blu-ray release is nothing to really get all that excited about. The colors look decent, but there are clearly some spots, such as in the flesh tones, where things just do not seem right. Blu-ray releases are supposed to be a huge jump over DVD, but this is not the case here. The transfer is sharp in some scenes, but really falters in others.

The audio is the best aspect of the entire release as the music is captured and pumped out nicely throughout your surround sound system.

The bass, clarity, etc. is all top notch and is a huge step up from the DVD release of the film.

In terms of extras, you get a commentary with director Peter Chelsom, pretty standard stuff.

You also get 17 minutes of deleted scenes which are fun to watch if you want to see a bit more of the characters.

The Behind the Scenes of Shall We Dance? looks at the origin of the film a bit, as this was a remake of a Japanese film.

Another nice add-in is the Beginner’s Ballroom which is a 6-minute feature which teaches some dance moves. A music feature and music video are also included.

Overall Shall We Dance? is a bit of a disappointment on the Blu-ray format. The film itself is very forgettable, and the video quality will not really impress over the DVD version. In the end, Shall We Dance? is a Blu-ray you may want to give a pass on. Worth a rental at best.

Film: 5.0

A very forgettable film with a poor performance from Jennifer Lopez.

Video: 6.5

Not up to par with other high-quality Blu-ray releases.

Audio: 8.4

A great audio mix, the music sounds terrific.

Special Features: 7.8

A nice set of extras with commentary, deleted scenes, and some nice little add-ins.

Final Score: 6.8