review: ARE WE DONE YET? (Blu-ray)

Sony Pictures  //  Buy from Amazon.com Now married to Suzanne (Long), Nick Persons (Ice Cube) buys a quiet suburban house to escape the rat race of the big city and to provide more space for his new wife and kids Lindsey and Kevin. But when his new home quickly becomes a costly "fixer upper" and he finds himself at the mercy of an eccentric contractor (McGinley), Nick's suburban dream becomes a riotous nightmare. You have to hand it to Ice Cube - starting out in such films as "Boyz in da Hood" and "Trespass," he then went on to unleash the (hilarious) comedic "Friday" franchise upon us, while also making some stops along the way in big Hollywood productions such as "Three Kings" and "Anaconda." He seems to have once again found a magic formula with this "Are we..." franchise, as the first film ("Are We There Yet?") grossed $82 million, so you just knew a sequel was coming... And so here we have "Are We Done Yet?" - at attempt to go back to the well, and while it isn't as successful or entertaining as the first (it's rare the sequels ever are), this one still has some laughs and introduces John C. McGinley (from "Scrubs") to the mix, and he's always good for some hijinx. Pretty formulaic, but harmless fun that's suitable to the whole family. As for the quality: wow is Blu-ray fantastic. Read below for more details, but I was far more interested in checking out this film on Blu-ray than simply checking out just the film... wow. Video Unbelievably rich 1.85:1 1080p transfer is included, and as I'm still getting used to what can be expected from a high definition DVD, I was blown away. There is no comparison between regular & Blu-ray! Audio While a lossless PCM 5.1 audio mix is included, this is a pretty front-heavy mix (no surprise, given the subject matter.) However, for what it is, it's solid & clean throughout. Extras making-of featurette bloopers featurette: "Chuck Mitchell, Jr. - Jack of All Trades" film quiz Closing Thoughts Harmless family fun + decent extras = maybe not your first choice of film to see on Blu-ray, but it's good for some chuckles and a fine showpiece for the technology!