Product: Becoming Jane [Blu-ray] (2007)
Rating: 4.0
Interesting, with a few minor nits to pick, and a feature I wish I'd known about
First up, an admission that my spouse and I watched this on Blu-ray disc as a rental, not as a disc I own. That being the case, I didn't have the case to read to see about what extra features and bonus material might be on the disc. Personally I am a bonus material lover and will dig into discs to see what bonus content is there when possible. Many times I'll let the presence or absence of bonus materials help me decide if a disc is worth a purchase or if should be strictly a rental for me.In the case of Becoming Jane, I somewhat correctly assumed that the film was going to be aimed more at my spouse than myself. She has been a fan of Jane Austen and other great female authors, so it was a rather safe assumption that she'd enjoy the film. In my case, I thought it would be tolerable enough to sit and watch for a date nite that just happens to land very near to Valentines day 2008.Now, I mention the bonus features first thing above because there are some interesting features available to watch that answer some of the questions my wife was asking as we watched together. What time period was the story covering, how long were the distances from point A to point B, etc., and other interesting tidbits are covered in a pop-up feature that can be enabled in the special features area. Had I known in advance that the feature was available, I would have turned it on immediately, despite some concern from my wife that the pop-ups would obscure the film too much or be too distracting.From the sampling we did after the fact (we watched just a few of the pop-ups as we went back to rewatch a few chapters and see how prevalent the pop-ups were and how they worked *after watching the main feature and not realizing the pop-up feature was available in advance*) I'd have to give credit to the way the pop-ups were done. Not too frequent, and not too distracting at all. And, as they should be, informative and educational.Unfortunately though, there are a few distractions here for me and they leave me marking the film down slightly (into the 3.5 - 4 star range if I could be more precise). First, please note that I tend to watch films with the English subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing on. Though neither my wife nor myself are deaf or really that hard of hearing, there are times we miss dialog and seeing the subtitles can help tell us what we missed. If we don't use the subtitles we tend to have to turn the volume up far too much and then when volume levels invariably fluctuate we get blasted out of the room by loud noises, shouts, cries, etc. In the case of Becoming Jane, the subtitles are fairly true to the dialog, but there are times when it was obvious to me that the subtitles weren't paced in the same manner as the dialog that was being spoken. Little subtleties in the pacing of conversation were lost when reading the subtitles, and it changed things somewhat from the spoken words one hears in watching the film. I'm reminded of deaf friends and the challenges they face in watching films, TV shows and the like, and feel a bit frustrated in knowing that they could be missing things because of the difference in how things are conveyed in written word versus spoken word, at least when the written word doesn't include indications of pauses or perhaps overlapping conversation.Another distraction for me was in the spoken word in the film and the lack of accent that I would expect from people living in England or Ireland. Becoming Jane seemed to be almost completely bereft of accents for any of the major players which just seemed off to me as I think about the film that I watched. While it wasn't distracting while watching, as I sit and think about the film now, it strikes me something that is missing.The final distraction for me, a fairly inevitable one, is having seen various adaptations of the story of Miss Austen or her characters (which parallel her own life in manners similar to say the film Shakespeare in Love) that have been shown repeatedly on say PBS or A&E; and other outlets. From those characters and the actors and actresses that portrayed them one might have a certain expectation and anctipation of events in Becoming Jane that are inevitable and inescapable. Not necessarily a bad thing, and really not overly distracting, just something that you can't help but think of as you watch this particular film and think of similar materials you've seen elsewhere.Becoming Jane is a good film, perhaps aimed much more at female audiences than male, but enjoyable enough for a family to sit and watch. The film is rated PG. Running time of nearly 2 hours, but certainly not dragged out. Perhaps a bit too rushed in some spots, such that viewers may wonder how much time has passed between some events that are shown in the film, but I suspect that the lack of a clear timeline as you go wasn't so much as intentional but more a fault of making a film that covers a greater passage of time fit into a time frame that won't leave viewers tired of sitting still too long.As some point I'll likely purchase a copy of the film for my daughter to watch, and as my wife suggested, it's the kind of movie that my AARP set mother would also very much enjoy (which basically equates to me saying this is a movie that would appeal to a wide spectrum of ages).