I own both films, so I'm not anti-Holy Grail by any means. I do think that Life of Brian is the best film by the Pythons, however they are all great and worth picking up. Non Python fans should rent this one first, as it's style of humor does not appeal to everyone. The source material for Life of Brian is not the best, so I did not expect miracles from this transfer. I was very suprised though, the video looks great, light years beyond every release, although I believe the print is the same one used for the Criterion laserdisc.
Colors are very rich and lush, and black levels are right on target.
The Anchor Bay release of LOB was lacking in the black levels, but Criterion fixed those issues with this release. Again, don't expect a pristine print, because the source material was lacking, to say the least. With the audio, the way the audio was captured during the making of the film makes it hard to get a great mix. While dialogue is usually crisp and audible, there are some segments where it's almost impossible to pick up what the characters are saying. The soundtrack on the other hand is always good, sometimes making it difficult to hear the dialogue.