by Jenny Jones
“Away We Go” is a delightful depiction of one expectant couple’s journey to find a new place to lay down roots. Burt and Verona decide to cross the country visiting old friends and family members in the hopes of deciding on the perfect place to welcome their first child into the world. Along the way they experience some intensely awkward, comedic and painful situations as they witness the beautiful miracles and heart breaking tragedies that parenting has unleashed on their loved ones. At the same time they are faced with all of those soul searching questions that any expectant parents struggle with. It is a wonderfully hilarious and heart warming journey that we are fortunate to be a part of.
This movie is an absolute gem. This is one movie where the entire cast demonstrates flawless performances. John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are the perfect pregnant unmarried couple. Catherine O’Hara and Jeff Daniels cracked me up as Burt’s illiterate hippy parents. Allison Janney and Jim Gaffigan had me laughing out loud. Melanie Lynskey and Chris Messina tore my heart out and had me fighting back tears of compassion, and even Maggie Gyllenhaal was fabulous (I never like her in anything).
To add to an already stellar display of acting, the musical genius, Alexi Murdoch (Garden State soundtrack), has put together yet another sensational soundtrack that adds a whole new dimension of excellence to the film. Overall “Away We Go” is a grown up version of “Juno”. It is a witty and heart warming movie that I can not wait to watch again and again.
Video Quality
The release is 1080p in VC-1 on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) and is presented in the 2:35:1 aspect ratio. The film tends to have a warm palette with subdued colors. Fleshtones are accurate while contrast levels are solid. This results in a rather realistic looking image. Being a newer film, the print is also in near immaculate condition. Universal continues their winning day-and-date ways with this one earning an excellent “4.5 Stars”
Audio Quality
Audio is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. Despite being a rather heavy dialogue film, the included DTS-HD track is actually quite good. The film’s dialogue is reproduced clearly with no instance of drop out. While not using the surrounds much, I was still pleased. All in all, this is a fine presentation for the subject at hand. “4 Stars”
Bonus Material
* BD-Live on this releases includes Universal’s standard “My Scenes”, which allows viewers to bookmark their favorite scenes so they can share them with people around the world via BD-Live.
* The Making of Away We Go: Director Sam Mendes takes us through what working with Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida was like.
* Green Filmmaking: In this feature we get to hear from cast members on the concept of “Away We Go” being a “green” film.
* Audio Commentary with Director Sam Mendes and Writers Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida
Overall: 9 out of 10.