NORBIT - Blu-ray review

Eddie Murphy is one hell of a great comedic talent. He excels at both physical and verbal comedy. The man has been part of nearly every genre imaginable and his next project is always hard to predict. Murphy rose to fame as a foul-mouthed action/comedy star who rose to excellence with films such as "Beverly Hills Cop" and "48 Hours." His comedy was well known, but he became a superstar with "Raw." After years of steady work, Murphy found some of his strongest success in Disney films and remakes of Disney classics. He became family friendly, but remained a very funny man. One thing Murphy has done frequently in his career is star in films that allow him to portray numerous characters in one film. He did so in "Coming From America" and found success in the "Nutty Professor" films as a number of Klumps. "Norbit" is the first time that Eddie Murphy received multiple billings on one of these projects and while the film is ultimately not very good, the veteran funnyman keeps it just barely afloat.

Murphy has three roles in "Norbit." He is the two principle characters, the nerdly Norbit and the gigantic and bitchy wife Rasputia. Murphy's funniest character is that of Mr. Wong, an elderly Chinese man who operates an orphanage/Chinese restaurant and takes the ‘ugly black baby' in when Norbit is discarded as a toddler. Norbit is a horribly backwards young man who fits in with nobody, accept for the lovely young Kate Thomas (Thandie Newton). Kate and Norbit are separated as children when Kate is adopted and Norbit is forced to stay behind. Rasputia claims Norbit as her mate through the usage of force and intimidation, but she provides a semblance of acceptance for the misfit. Rasputia's three brothers are local thugs who consistently threaten Norbit. When Kate returns to town, she has a con-man for a fiancé (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who teams up with the brothers to take control of the orphanage and create a topless bar.

Regardless of Murphy's incredible ability to blend into fat suits and makeup and provide countless laughs, he is nearly sunk by a script that is just not very funny. Most of the humor surrounding Rasputia is visual by her tremendous and disturbing girth. She is bitchy and mean, not funny. You feel sorrier for the manner in which Norbit is treated than humored by the situations he finds himself in. Murphy is very good in all roles and the character of Norbit is a role he has yet to try. With Rasputia being repulsive and Norbit being a sorry sack of humiliation, this comedy has trouble generating and deep and long-lasting laughs. Only when the non-billed performance of Murphy's is present on-screen does "Norbit" have a chance at tickling your funny bone. Sadly, Wong is a racist and stereotyped character that will certainly offend numerous groups of people.

The film is also horrible predictable. From the early moment when Wong hits a plywood whale in the "browhole," you know what the next "browhole" will be. The token misunderstanding and hard times between the two romantic characters in the film is a cardboard cutout of so many other films that you know Kate and Norbit are in for trouble before the scene occurs and it is easy to figure out what will bring them apart. Cuba Gooding Jr. is a damn good actor. Why can he no longer get good roles? Did "Boat Trip" sink his career forever? For all of the talent and charm of Eddie Murphy, there isn't enough of him to save this film from failing; even with three major roles. Somehow, it has earned blockbuster dollars, and I am one hundred percent certain Mr. Murphy deserves each dollar, but everybody else involved with the project shouldn't see a single wooden nickel.

Video:
About nineteen minutes and twenty seconds into the film, I remember seeing a large amount of shimmer in Eddie Griffin's pimped up ride. Every time I saw that car, I saw the same digital deficiency and it was irritating. This flaw was repeated in other tight patterns and this was not the only flaw in this new Blu-ray release. The film's colors were horribly oversaturated and the bright reds tended to bleed into surrounding colors. Detail was surprisingly poor for a brand new film. There were so many soft scenes throughout the film, that I can imagine the standard definition release will look comparable through an upconvert player. The source materials are clean and there are no flaws as a result of the original print, but the digital transformation of "Norbit" is almost as offensive as Murphy's fat suit. Keep in mind, a few scenes during the film do exhibit strong detail and vivid coloring, but much of "Norbit" looks overcooked and overdone to the point where it lost its visual tastiness. The film features a transfer that is effectively identical to the HD-DVD release. Although this is mastered in AVC MPEG-4 compared to the HD-DVD's VC-1, there are no apparent visual differences between the two.

Sound:
"Norbit" sounds pretty spiffy with its Dolby Digital 5.1 transfer. The very familiar water slide scene sounds terrific and from the deep booming bass output by the .1 LFE channel as Rasputia climbs to the top of the slide to the enveloping effects as she reaches the sound barrier on the way down, this scene is exemplary of the rest of the film's solid soundtrack. Intertwined with the various sound effects found in the film, the hip hop and pop soundtrack drives the rear surrounds and subwoofer nicely that complements the busy front channels. Dialogue is quite clear, although some of Murphy's stereotype driven dialogue as Mr. Wong is lost due to intended comedic dialect. The film sounds far better than it looks and although it is not the most aggressive and dynamic film, it is an above average sounding comedy. The soundtrack of this Blu-ray release is again mostly identical to the higher bit-rate HD-DVD Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix. I would give the HD-DVD a slight edge, as it appears to have a little more "oomph" during the waterslide sequence, but it is minimal.

Extras:
"Norbit" isn't the most packed disc on the planet, but the supplements provided relieves some of the gas discomfort caused by the poor visual quality and even more depressing script. Paramount has tried to soften the pain by providing nearly all of the value added content in full high definition. First up is The Making of Norbit. This fairly long feature shows how Murphy suited up for each of the characters, although everybody involved in this featured seemed to honestly enjoy the film. I wonder if they even saw the same sludge that I paid witness to. Man of a Thousand Faces was far too short and glosses over the impressive makeup used to help Murphy morph into each character. Power Tap was a mock infomercial with Marlon Wayans and featured the film's fitness guru. This was more annoying than funny and I would have preferred to see Eddie Griffin give a pimp speech. The Stunts of Norbit showed some of the physical work undertaken by Murphy and company. A number of Deleted Scenes helped carry on the dreadful brand of humor found in the film and were short and forgettable. Finally, a Photo Gallery and the Theatrical Trailer stopped the pain.

Closing Comments:
I remember being pretty excited when I first saw the theatrical trailer for "Norbit." Then the reviews and word of mouth arrived and it seemed quite certain that "Norbit" was indeed dreadful. This film allowed Eddie Murphy to run wild in his performances, but with horrible writing and poor direction, it just isn't very funny or heartwarming and I found myself eagerly awaiting the closing credits. I even enjoyed "Pluto Nash," but I couldn't find much value to this mess. It wasn't the most disastrous film and Murphy's performance as Mr. Wong and Norbit were both examples of his physical comedy talents. It is just a shame that more time was invested feeling sorry for the title character. The Blu-ray, which is pretty much identical to the HD-DVD release, has a surprisingly weak transfer that just doesn't look very good. The sound is not bad at all and the supplements are worth taking a quick gander at. This film is a disappointment and thank goodness Paramount sent "Coming to America" and "Trading Places" along with this title.