The House Bunny appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This turned into a consistently strong presentation.
Sharpness mostly worked well. A few interiors looked a smidgen soft, but they remained in the minority, as the majority of the flick seemed tight and concise.
I saw no jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge enhancement seemed to be absent. Source flaws also failed to create concerns, as the movie was free from defects.
As for colors, Bunny went with a bold palette. Shelley’s world was a candy-colored one, and that spread to the flick’s production design. The film offered consistently dynamic hues; the tones fit the design and looked good.
Blacks were dark and dense, while shadows showed fine clarity and delineation. Overall, this was a satisfying transfer.
I thought that the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack of Bunny seemed fine but it didn’t excel because of a lack of ambition. Like most comedies, the movie featured a limited soundfield that strongly favored the forward channels. It showed nice stereo spread to the music as well as some general ambience from the sides.
Panning was decent, and the surrounds usually kicked in basic reinforcement. A few scenes opened up better, though, especially in clubs or at parties; those sequences boasted lively music. However, as most of the movie stayed with limited imaging.
Audio quality appeared good. Speech was natural and distinct, with no issues related to edginess or intelligibility.
Effects sounded clean and accurate, with good fidelity and no signs of distortion. Music was perfectly fine, as the score and songs showed positive dimensionality. This track was good enough for a “B“ but didn’t particularly impress.
How did the Blu-ray compare to the DVD version? The lossless TrueHD track offered a little more punch, while the visuals appeared tighter and demonstrated brighter colors. This became a decent step up in quality.
The Blu-ray repeats the DVD’s extras, and we find 12 featurettes. These run a total of 53 minutes, 13 seconds, and include “Anna Faris: House Mom” (5:46), “The Girls of Zeta” (5:24), “The Girls Upstairs” (3:08), “Colin Hanks: Mr. Nice Guy” (4:45), “From Song to Set: Katharine McPhee” (4:19), “From Tour Bus to Trailer: Tyson Ritter” (5:15), “Look Who Dropped By” (4:24), “House Bunny Style” (6:07), “Zetas Transformed” (2:32), “Getting Ready for a Party” (3:21), “Calendar Girls” (3:52) and “House Bunny Memories” (4:20).
Across these, we hear from producers Allen Covert and Heather Parry, costume designer Mona May, and actors Anna Faris, Katharine McPhee, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, Dana Goodman, Rumer Willis, Kimberly Makkouk, Kiely Williams, Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, Kendra Wilkinson, Tyson Ritter, Matt Leinart, Sean Salisbury, Nick Swardson, Dan Patrick, and Sarah Wright.
We learn about cast, characters and performances, some story elements, costume design, hair and makeup, and general thoughts about the shoot. The first 33 minutes – from “Faris” through “Dropped” – are essentially a waste of time. Those featurettes offer some decent shots from the set and a few quick alternate lines/scenes, but mostly they just show a lot of joking and silliness.
Matters improve a bit once we get to “Style”, but not much. The featurettes include some basic notes about costumes and whatnot, but they remain awfully superficial.
With 53 minutes at their disposal, I’d expect the producers of these featurettes to provide something informative. However, these pieces are little more than a whole lot of fluff and happy talk.
10 Deleted Scenes go for a total of 12 minutes, one second. We see a little more of Shelley’s time between her eviction from the Mansion and her arrival at the Zeta house.
We also check out a little more of Shelley’s experiences with the girls and additions to the film’s climax. I actually think the bits that follow Shelley’s departure from the mansion might’ve been good to find in the final film, but the rest of it seems superfluous.
We find a music video for “I Know What Boys Like”. The tune features McPhee the most prominently, but the other Zeta actresses sing a bit too. The video mixes new lip-synch performance bits with shots from the movie. Neither the song nor the video do much for me.
We also get a 30-second introduction to the video. In it, McPhee tells us how great the whole experience was. Music producer Kenna also throws in a line or two. Yawn!
Previews supplies ads for Hancock, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, This Christmas, Casino Royale (2006), 50 First Dates, Made of Honor, Married Life, 21, Vantage Point, Persepolis, The Other Boleyn Girl and Center Stage: Turn It Up. No trailer for Bunny appears here.
Random and pointless, The House Bunny boasts a marginally clever concept but comes with no other positives. The film does little more than steal from other flicks, and it never ties together these elements in an amusing or satisfying manner. The Blu-ray offers very good picture with acceptable audio and a superficial set of supplements. Outside of an early appearance from future Oscar-winner Emma Stone, this movie lacks much appeal.
To rate this film visit the DVD review of THE HOUSE BUNNY