Beverly Hills Ninja [Blu-Ray]

Director: Dennis Dugan

Cast: Chris Farley, Nicollette Sheridan, Robin Shou

Release Date: June 18, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 6.5/10

Synopsis:

Chris Farley stars as an orphan who was raised from infancy by the head of a ninja institute. Farley grows into an overweight young klutz who manages to become a ninja, albeit and inept one. His first assignment is not to screw up a murder investigation in Beverly Hills.

‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ tells the hilarious tale of an orphan who is raised by the head of a ninja institute who believes him to be a prophesized hero destined to be the greatest ninja ever. But as this young orphan grows into an adult and continues his training he quickly proves to be largely incompetent and clumsy, often the only one unable to master the techniques that the other students are easily able to perfect. But when he is enlisted to help a seemingly troubled woman in danger he ventures to the faraway land of Beverly Hills where he must try and uncover the truth of a dangerous mystery, assuming of course that he doesn’t ruin everything first.

Directed by Dennis Dugan from a screenplay written by Mark Feldberg & Mitch Klebanoff, Dugan does a capable job in the director’s chair for ‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ guiding along the goofy, comedic fun with fittingly silly style. The film stars Chris Farley, Nicollette Sheridan, Nathaniel Parker, Robin Shou and Chris Rock who each offer appropriately over the top and enjoyable performances in their respective roles and help to keep the fun and laughs moving swiftly throughout.

‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ was first released into theaters in early 1997 and sadly ended up becoming one of the final lead performances by star Chris Farley, with only the adventure comedy ‘Almost Heroes’ co-starring Matthew Perry being released after. ‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ probably didn’t land on any best of the year lists and certainly didn’t sweep any award shows but for those who are fans of Farley’s style of goofy and often notably physical comedy, it’s still an awful lot of fun. Packed with goofy and over the top moments and no shortage of physical comedic gags, the movie may not be a great film by any means, yet I still find it almost impossible not to laugh consistently throughout its entirety. Chris Farley was a truly gifted and just plain likable comedy star that absolutely nailed the physical comedy and his charm and antics are still greatly missed today.

‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ sends Farley out as a bumbling and klutzy but kindhearted ninja who is determined to prove his abilities but often ends up causing more hiccups and problems than showcasing grace and competence and it makes for a great (and fitting) addition to Farley’s beloved offerings and one that’s still just as fun and hilarious today as it was when it was originally released more than two and a half decades ago. If you’re a fan of Chris Farley but haven’t ever had the pleasure of this silly comedic ride, then I would say it’s just about time to rectify that and even if it may be lacking in many departments this one definitely doesn’t struggle whatsoever in delivering ample laughs.

‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ arrives home on Blu-ray at last for the first time ever from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The release features the Chris Farley led comedy in full 1080p High Definition which offers some rewarding upgrades in detail, colors and sharpness and is almost certainly the best this film has ever looked at home by a substantial margin. The solid High Definition video presentation is only complemented by a quite decent DTS-HD MA multichannel soundtrack which paired together aren’t necessarily groundbreaking but should be certain to leave fans of this amusing comedy truly thrilled, marking a definitive upgrade from the previous standard definition releases over the years. The release also features an Audio Commentary and the Trailer and for anyone that’s been anxiously awaiting the arrival of ‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ on Blu-ray, the release is definitely recommended.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks surprisingly good for a catalog film of this nature and it provides a clean, colorful and richly detailed presentation from start to finish that retains its filmic appearance and a nice grain structure. The detail is surprisingly sharp throughout and everything from character faces and clothing to the ninja school and the vibrant streets of Beverly Hills look crisp and clean, while colors are vivid and strong; visible on the robes and other outfits and the bright scenery throughout. Overall, this is a great High Definition video presentation that looks better than many will likely expect and fans should be extremely pleased.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack offers a clean, crisp and at times fairly immersive audio presentation throughout. Dialogue, music and effects and strong, clean and rich, while it also utilizes all five available channels along the way in order to send some of the music and nature effects, action content and more throughout the various speakers when appropriate, while never conflicting with any simultaneously occurring dialogue or other effects. Overall, this is a solid 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that won’t blow viewers away but does its job sufficiently and shouldn’t disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ includes an ‘Audio Commentary with Dennis Dugan’, in addition to the film’s ‘Theatrical Trailer’ (running approximately 2 minutes in length).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 6.5/10

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‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

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You can purchase ‘Beverly Hills Ninja’ on Blu-ray at Amazon HERE!

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