The only problem
with sleeper hits like Napoleon Dynamite
is that once they get popular, often the heart is pounded right out of the very
thing that was special in the first place. This happened with The Blair Witch Project and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. One had a bad
sequel and the other had a worse spin-off television show. Though there were no
attempts at furthering the Napoleon
Dynamite franchise, it is yet another one-hit-wonder which has lost some of
the appeal in the ten years since its release. This makes the 10th
Anniversary Blu-ray release feeling a bit redundant and unnecessary, especially
with no new additions aside from the combination of DVD and Blu-ray in one
package.
Napoleon Dynamite took pop culture by
storm with dozens of catch phrases and endless crappy impressions of favorite
characters. The film has virtually no plot, essentially just a series of
strange experiences with a bizarre geek living amongst many odd characters in
rural Idaho
The Blu-ray
release for the film had all of the great special features from the single disc
DVD, and they were transferred over again for this 10th Anniversary
Blu-ray release. The major addition is a DVD copy also included, along with a
fuzzy collectible cardboard cover. Both discs include most of the special
features, including an audio commentary with director/co-writer Jared Hess, Jon
Heder (Napoleon), and producer Jeremy Coon. There is also a new cast commentary
track with Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries and Tina Majorino. It would
have been nice to see a retrospective commentary, but this is just a re-release
of previously featured extras.
The additional
special features are split up into three categories. The first category is
documentaries, which there are two of. The first one is “World Premiere Jared
Hess”, a documentary about the director of Napoleon Dynamite. There is also a
new documentary, “On Location: Napoleon Dynamite”, which is a ton of behind the
scenes footage, often split-screened with the actual footage from the takes.
This is fascinating at times, but can be incredibly boring as well. There is a
lot of footage and most of the time the camera is just a fly on the wall. It
shows that being on a movie set can be dull, frustrating, and occasionally fun.
The second
section of extras is dedicated to deleted and extended scenes, which there is
plenty of. There are all of the deleted and extended scenes from the single
disc, with a number of new ones. The last section of additional features
includes the Napoleon and Pedro sightings. For a while it seemed like Jon Heder
was going to be appearing only as Napoleon, and all of these random appearances
were collected and put in the special features of the DVD release. There are
award show appearances, Utah State Fair ads, TRL and SNL. The strangest is when
a spelling bee contest does a random Napoleon Dynamite impression before
spelling a difficult word. There are also all new audition clips, promos, still
galleries, and the original short film, Peluca, with an optional commentary
track.
This isn’t
exactly a film that lends itself to needing a Blu-ray release, at least not for
the obvious reason of a high definition film, but it is an improvement if only
for the easier access to the special features, of which there are many, and the
inclusion of a DVD copy. Overall, this is an unnecessary release with little
other than a new case to offer fans.
Entertainment Value:
8.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 7/10
Historical
Significance: 6.5/10
Special Features: 7.5/10
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