Blu-Ray Review: ‘Austin Powers Collection’ Asks You to Behave

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CHICAGO – There wouldn’t be a second and third “Austin Powers” movie if it wasn’t for the massive success of the first film on Home Video, so it seems appropriate that all three have been released in a Blu-Ray box set called the “Shagadelic Edition: Loaded with Extra Mojo” but Warner Brothers missed an opportunity to do anything more than a technical upgrade.

It wasn’t that long ago that Mike Myers was on top of the world. What a difference a few years off, some bad publicity, and a movie as awful as “The Love Guru” can make. His star may not shine as bright as it did in the ’90s, but there are still millions of fans of the “Austin Powers” trilogy who would appreciate the upgrade from DVD to Blu-Ray this holiday season.

But is it really an upgrade? One of the biggest selling points of the Blu-Ray revolution has been that they can upconvert your old DVDs to near HD quality. So, if three movies you already own are released on Blu-Ray with no notable new special features, do you really need to make the switch? Sometimes studios truly do remaster the films that are making the leap from standard to BD, but it just as often feels like someone trying to make a buck with a package that is not that dissimilar from what you already own.

“Mike Myers Austin Powers Collection” is too much of the latter to truly recommend if you already own “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”, “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”, and “Austin Powers in Goldmember”. If you never made the mojo leap from video to DVD, then the Blu-Ray collection is clearly the way to go, but Warner Brothers doesn’t do enough to warrant an upgrade for anyone else.

Austin Powers Collection: Shagadelic Edition Loaded With Extra Mojo
Austin Powers Collection: Shagadelic Edition Loaded With Extra Mojo

All three of the “Austin Powers” movies are presented in 1080p High Definition with a 16x9 2.4:1 aspect ratio. The films certainly don’t look bad, but there’s nothing more notable about the video transfer than an upconverted standard DVD. The audio tracks have been upgraded a bit to Dolby TrueHD English 5.1 but no one is using “Goldmember” to show off their new surround sound system.

The only relatively new special feature is “Focus Points” on “Austin Powers in Goldmember”. The new WB features a pop-up of a gold disc when there’s a featurette related to the scene you’re watching. Not as much “new” as “newly divided”, it’s too bad WB couldn’t include one actual original special feature in the “Shagadelic Edition”.

Imported special features include commentaries by Mike Myers and director Jay Roach on all three films (joined by co-writer Michael McCullers on “The Spy Who Shagged Me”), deleted scenes from each film, and extensive behind-the-scenes featurettes on the second and third film. The sequels also include a total of 8 music videos from artists like Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, and Beyonce Knowles.

‘Mike Myers Austin Powers Collection’ is released by Warner Brothers on Blu-Ray and stars Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Heather Graham, Beyonce Knowles, Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer, Michael York, Michael Caine, and Seth Green. All three films were written by Mike Myers (with co-writing by Michael McCullers on ‘The Spy Who Shagged Me’) and directed by Jay Roach. It was released on December 2nd, 2008.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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