Orange County Blu-ray review

Apr 13, 2022- Permalink

Jake Kasdan’s 2002 comedy Orange County is now getting the Blu-ray treatment from Paramount Home Entertainment. The film stars Colin Hanks as Shaun, a carefree teenager who coast through school until he finds a book that inspires him and he decides to become a writer. When he discovers that the author teaches at Stanford, it becomes his sole fixation. Unfortunately, his transcript is mixed up with another student and he’s rejected. He refuses to give up and supported by his girlfriend (Schuyler Fisk) and variously aided and impeded by his dysfunctional family (John Lithgow, Catherine O’Hara and Jack Black), Shaun will stop at nothing to get in.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It’s a typical Blu-ray with good detail in facial textures, textiles and environments. The film has a bright and vivid colour palette and there’s no digital noise or compression artifacts to talk about. This is the nice thing with studios moving some of their smaller catalog titles to Blu-ray. Though this isn’t some super dazzling restoration of a highly-anticipated classic, just the upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray gives the film a nicer way to be remembered.

As for audio, your ears are given the choice of an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack as well as German, Spanish (Latin American) and French 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, German, Spanish, French and Japanese. It’s a front-heavy mix, though the surrounds do get the occasional chore. The score is bright and dynamic, while dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized.
Orange County comes with neither a slipcover nor a digital code. Extras include a commentary track by Kasdan and writer Mike White, a handful of deleted scenes, a variety of interstitials, and a theatrical trailer.

With a great comedic cast and very good video and audio, Orange County is a fun movie and a good addition to your collection.