Review of National Lampoon`s Animal House (Collector`s Edition)

Introduction

When I think of American further education, the first thing that springs to mind is the fraternity/sorority system. Then there are the wild toga parties, copious alcohol consumption, smoking pot, exploding toilets, childish pranks, Louie Louie, promiscuity and more pranks. No single film has done more to promote this image than 1978`s Animal House. National Lampoon`s Animal House was the first in a long line of anarchic and juvenile comedies that was low on good taste and heavy on the hilarity. Without Animal House, there would have been no Police Academies (though that`s hardly a glowing endorsement) and none of the gross out stuff that have made nineties cinema a taste free zone. I first saw this film in my mid-teens, and I had my reason for going to university. Fortunately the British further education system has no equivalent for the proto-freemasonry that creates such rivalry and cliques as well as the offensive misuse of the Greek alphabet. Sigma, Phi and Rho are symbols for the polar co-ordinate system and nothing else. Pi is 3.141592654 and always will be on my calculator. Unfortunately, no one told me that you may be having a good time, but once you have drunk a certain amount of alcohol, you`ll never realise that you had it. You`d think they`d put a couple of warnings on bottle labels or something. Ah University! It`s time to see if Animal House has aged well over the intervening years and can compete with modern rivals like the American Pies.

Faber College is a distinguished institution that rightly holds its head up high as the academy that produces America`s finest. That is except for one slight blemish on its reputation, the Delta Tau Chi fraternity, where students party heavily and academia remains a distant second priority. We follow two freshmen students as they attempt to join the most prestigious fraternity, the Omega Sigma Pi`s but due to their rather strict entry code, they end up in the Deltas, and get introduced to the Deltas` unique outlook on student life by the Animal himself, John `Bluto` Blutarsky. But Faber`s Dean Wormer is intent of ridding his college of the decadence of the Deltas, and uses the connivance of the Omega`s to destroy the Delta`s chances of staying on campus, despite being on probation. The Delta`s will get payback, though they won`t let something as petty as vengeance get in the way of the good times.

Video

An excellent job has been done on the picture here. It`s a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, but for a film made in 1978, the picture is nigh on pristine. It`s clear, pin sharp and absent of any noticeable print damage. There is also very little grain. If only all back catalogue titles could get this treatment.

Audio

The sound is a DD 5.1 English track, but don`t expect your system to be overly taxed. I doubt that you`ll really notice your rear speakers used that much on this very front-focussed affair. It`s a competent enough track, but the highlight has to be an excellent selection of retro music, including of course Louie Louie in heavy doses. This may have been the first film to associate that track with campus life, but it`s been so done to death since that even here that tune sounds hackneyed. Fortunately there is a great selection of other tunes to bop along to.

Features

It`s a pretty nice selection of extras that accompany the main feature, if not all that extensive.

There is the ubiquitous trailer of course, as well as a completely pointless music video from MPX who do a metal cover version of Shout. What it has to do with Animal House, I haven`t the faintest. (Answers on a postcard)

The Where Are They Now? mockumentary lasts 24 minutes, is presented in 1.85:1 letterbox and in DD 2.0 Stereo with subtitles. This looks at the careers of the boys of the fraternity after they left college, and sees what has happened in their lives. Narrated by John Landis, it`s almost as funny as the film.

The Yearbook: An Animal House Reunion is the straight documentary that looks at the making of the film and has interviews with the cast and crew, both then and now, and with some archive footage of John Belushi. It`s certainly interesting and a worthy companion to the film. It`s presented in 4:3, DD 2.0 and with subs and lasts 45 minutes.

Finally there is a Did You Know That? Universal Anecdotes trivia track which is a subtitle track that flashes up interesting tid-bits during the movie, like the fact that Bruce McGill (D-Day) can actually play the William Tell Overture on his throat and that scene was written into the movie when his talent came to light.

In the documentary, John Landis states that the original cut of the film that was presented to the studio was 175 minutes long. That leads to the obvious question, where are the deleted scenes? That`s the one thing lacking on this disc, and the one disappointment.

Conclusion

Ok I admit that Animal House has dated. Compared to modern gross-out comedies like American Pie, the humour is tame indeed, the innuendo fleeting and sex barely registering on the risqué meter. On the other hand, it doesn`t have any pretence at all to political correctness, which in many respects is refreshing, if you do have to have to put up with one or two moments where you think "Oh my God, I can`t believe they said that", shocking for completely different reasons 26 years down the line. The storyline is ephemeral at best, and often the film seems like a constant flow of gags and set-ups. But the bottom line is that even after all this time Animal House is still hilarious. Some of the gags had me gasping for air, even now.

What really makes Animal House work is the carefully observed humour, none of it at all contrived. That added with the brilliant characters, archetypes we have all encountered still make Animal House a treat. But it`s fair to say that were it not for one man, Animal House would not be the institution that it is today, I`m talking of course about John Belushi. His role as `Bluto` Blutarsky simply makes the whole film. When you think about the moments that are the most memorable about Animal House, you automatically think of John Belushi, whether it`s the classic impersonation of a zit, smashing the guitar, or downing a bottle of Jack Daniels. He is easily the best thing about the whole movie and he guarantees laughs every time you watch.

I doubt whether someone coming fresh to Animal House will get it the same way as established fans will. There is a heavy dose of nostalgia that makes watching it funny and warm at the same time. A great ensemble cast came together to make a madcap comedy that can truly be counted as classic. It has often been imitated, but rarely bettered. Indeed until American Pie, most films in that vein were usually crass and juvenile, and lacking in heart, something that Animal House has in spades. For 2004, it`s tame, it`s mellow and it has been surpassed in the gross-out stakes by teen comedies in the last few years, but for nostalgic thirty-somethings, Animal House still hits all the right spots.