Why So Blu?

Dream A Little Dream – Collector’s Series (Blu-ray Review)

1989’s Dream a Little Dream is a cult classic that’s been on the list of many a collector in the world of physical media enthusiasts. Finally their “dreams” are being answered with a really cool new Vestron Video Collector’s Series release that arrived on March 15th. The release comes to Blu-ray for the very first time and carries some brand new features. Those include a commentary from a film historian and new interviews. One of said interviews is with that of the film’s lead, Corey Feldman. One of the crazy things with these Vestron releases is just how budget-friendly they are from day one. So, if you want to land yourself a copy of this brand new polish on a piece of obscure 1980s cinema, look no further than the paid Amazon Associates link that follows the review and grab a copy for under thirteen bucks!

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Film

Bobby has everything a young guy should: a good buddy, a girlfriend, and parents who love him. When the older couple down the street try a transcendental experiment to extend their lives, they quite literally become trapped in the teen’s bodies. This teen comedy has a great cast including the two Coreys – Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, as well as Harry Dean Stanton (Repo Man, Alien), Piper Laurie (Carrie), and Jason Robards (Magnolia).

Dream a Little Dream is a fun product of an era where things could be weird, wild and explore crazier off the wall ideas. Offering up movies that hopefully no one else was offering. In today’s box office, much of what we see is super safe and carefully calculated with suits, algorithms and filmmakers who only know how to ape what once was. This isn’t that I’m calling Dream a Little Dream some grand achievement, just that it sticks out and is plenty memorable for being so unique and one that carries some of the bigger stars of its time.

Originally not slated as a Two Coreys movie, it potentially works better and is one of the more memorable ones being that. They sort of switch the type they played in those movies and Corey Haim gets to screw around and be silly while Feldman shows he can pull off some more dramatic leading man chops. Its been argued this isn’t “really” a team movie, but it still works like one, even if it gets more serious at times and has a adult characters that the film truly gives a damn about. Jason Robards, Henry Dean Stanton and Piper Laurie all turn in good work and the cross generational exchanges only help to benefit both end of that spectrum.

Overall, Dream a Little Dream has a fun hook and interesting take on the classic cinematic trope of body swapping. Meredith Salenger is quite a joy who lights up the screen with her dancing and acting chops. There are also some good environmental aesthetic choices that keep the film looking neat and not just a standard high school type flick. Overall, the film is more fascinating than perfect, but definitely a fun curiosity if you’re looking to check out something different from the past.

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: Details are provided on the transfer of Dream a Little Dream‘s debut on Blu-ray. If I were to wager, this is just a standard HD master here. Its set to 1.78:1 and has some pretty rock solid crispness and details/texturing afloat. Colors are a little muted but that possibly is by production design. Overall, there could be improvements with a more involved restoration down the line, but this works just fine if its all they are going to go for right now.

Depth: Depth of field is pretty average here. Some solid pushback and spacing, but nothing wholly wowing. Movement is smooth and filmic with no issues from motion distortion.

Black Levels: Blacks are deep and do a pretty good job of shadow and nighttime sequences. No real issues occur with hiding information in patterns and surfaces. No crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction:  Colors are pretty decently saturated, but overall a bit muted besides scenes of dreams and such when they are going more flashy in the film. Some of the garments/apparel stand out ok.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent from start to finish of the features. Facial features and textures are discernible from any reasonable distance in the frame.

Noise/Artifacts: None

Audio

Audio Format(s): English 2.0 DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish

Dynamics: The film has a nice 2.0 track that is pretty loud and deep for one of its type. The music in the film really has a strong presence and fills out the room. There’s a good balance on display too, with some surprising ranges of depth. Overall this more than does the trick and impresses in some areas.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: N/A

Surround Sound Presentation: N/A

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp.

Extras

Dream A Little Dream – Collector’s Series comes with a redeemable digital code for the film.

Audio Commentary

• With Film Historian Jarret Gahan

Young At Heart (HD, 29:40) – An interview with Corey Feldman. The film came from Feldman’s desire to be in some movies that allowed him to stretch and show his chops more than just being in #1 movies. He found interest in the script and its desire to bridge a generational gap and found Jason Robards to be a wonderful acting coach to him. Feldman goes over things like wardrobe (Even picking out his own stuff for the poster shoot), the fact that this movie showed that Corey Haim could do goofy comedy, working with the director, how it wasn’t supposed to be a 2 Coreys movie, Jennifer Connelly was supposed to be the original female lead and more. The actor has a very good detailed recollection of the film. In the end, he mentions being in possession of a lot of cut footage and wanting to assemble the director’s original vision in his honor.

When Lightning Strikes (HD, 17:46) – An interview with executive producer Lawrence Kasanoff. Seeing James Bond made him want to grow up to be a movie producer. He talks about the 3 times in history there have been a “content gold rush” and his moment being the second one with Home Video and Vestron Video. Unlike today, he was encouraged to push the envelope and do something crazy. One of his first projects was “Making Thriller”. This is a fascinating interview just from the history of Vestron and home video standpoint, before it even gets to the Dream A Little Dream stuff. Kasanoff’s perspective and overall view on making the film is intriguing and comes with a lot of nice anecdotes. There’s also the little secret about Vestron and making their money with home video. He acclaims people’s love and fondness of Vestron movies is that they have “a touch of the madness”.

Theatrical Trailers (HD, 1:47)

TV Spots (HD, 1:04) – Includes a VHS commercial for it with Earth Girls Are Easy. A tease, perhaps? hmmm…

Stills Gallery (HD, 5:26)

Summary

Dream a Little Dream remains a fun little oddity, and perhaps one day we’ll see that lengthy director’s cut/extended version of the film that adds a lot more. This latest Vestron Video release has a solid presentation and comes with some really cool new extras to sink into, in the form of a commentary and two very good interviews from different perspectives making the film. At such a low cost, this is a nice little slice of 80s weird to add to your collection.

This is a paid Amazon Associates link