|
Monty Python's the Meaning of Life
Universal Studios Home Entertainment Product Details |
Product Description
It features small comedy sketches dealing with all of the stages and trials of life. Expect the un-expected. Plenty of religious vulgar and sexual humor may offend some groups. There are even musical numbers but with that same unmistakable brand of python humor. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 02/05/2008 Starring: Monty Python Simon Jones Run time: 108 minutes Rating: R Director: Terry Jones
Amazon.com essential video
Perhaps only the collective brilliant minds of the Monty Python film and television troupe are up to the task of tackling a subject as weighty as the Meaning of Life. Sure, Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, and their ilk have tried their hands at this puzzler, but only Python has attempted to do so within the commercial motion picture medium. Happily for us all, Monty Python's the Meaning of Life truly explains everything one conceivably needs to know about the perplexities of human existence, from the mysteries of Catholic doctrine to the miracle of reproduction to why one should avoid the salmon mousse to the critical importance of the machine that goes ping! Using fish as a linking device (and what marvelous links those aquatic creatures make), The Meaning of Life is presented as a series of sketches: a musical production number about why seed is sacred; a look at dining in the afterlife; the quest for a missing fish (there they are again); a visit from Mr. Death; the cautionary tale of Mr. Creosote and his rather gluttonous appetite; an unflinching examination of the harsh realities of organ donation, and so on. Sadly, this was the last original Python film, but it's a beaut. You'll laugh. You'll cry (probably because you're laughing so hard). You may even learn something about the Meaning of Life. Or at least about how fish fit into the grand scheme of things. --Jim Emerson
Amazon.com
Perhaps only the collective brilliant minds of the Monty Python film and television troupe are up to the task of tackling a subject as weighty as the Meaning of Life. Sure, Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, and their ilk have tried their hands at this puzzler, but only Python has attempted to do so within the commercial motion picture medium. Happily for us all, Monty Python's the Meaning of Life truly explains everything one conceivably needs to know about the perplexities of human existence, from the mysteries of Catholic doctrine to the miracle of reproduction to why one should avoid the salmon mousse to the critical importance of the machine that goes ping! Using fish as a linking device (and what marvelous links those aquatic creatures make), The Meaning of Life is presented as a series of sketches: a musical production number about why seed is sacred; a look at dining in the afterlife; the quest for a missing fish (there they are again); a visit from Mr. Death; the cautionary tale of Mr. Creosote and his rather gluttonous appetite; an unflinching examination of the harsh realities of organ donation, and so on. Sadly, this was the last original Python film, but it's a beaut. You'll laugh. You'll cry (probably because you're laughing so hard). You may even learn something about the Meaning of Life. Or at least about how fish fit into the grand scheme of things. --Jim Emerson
|
Click on Product Listings for Details!
Monty Python's the Meaning of Life
- DVD: 0 pages (2005-08-23)
- Publisher: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
- Label: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
- Starring: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
- Director: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
- Encoding: Region 1
- Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1,
- Rated: R (Restricted)
- Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
- DVD Release Date: 2005-08-23
- Run Time: 108
- ISBN: 1417067373
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 258 reviews
- Sales Rank in DVD: #3402
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: I bought this because they told me too. On the Monty Python Free YouTube Channel! 2008-11-23
Comment: And now I know "The Meaning of Life!" We are all programmed to carry out orders! lol Freida
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: I LOVE this movie but... quality wise, I prefer the VHS version! 2008-11-19
Comment: The DVD seems to have a big problem with interlacing.
Even when played on a 1080p blue ray up-convertion player on a HD-TV, the picture is terrible.
None the 20+ others DVD I own have this problem.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: if you like slap stick style humor 2008-11-16
Comment: if you like other Monthy Python, or things like Naked Gun then you will love this movie, i didn't find the opening scene very funny but the rest was hilarious
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Typical Monty Python Quirkiness 2008-10-30
Comment: If you like the Monthy Python style of humor, then you'll enjoy "The Meaning Of Life". It's as simple as that. On the other hand, if you don't care for jokes about vomiting, sperm, penises, vaginas, and menstrual periods, liberally sprinkled with profanity, and with men playing the women's parts, then you should probably skip this.
In my opinion, the movie's best feature, by far, is "The Galaxy Song" which is sung by a man who steps out of a refrigerator a little more than halfway through the movie. That song is brilliant! That one brief, shining moment, however, isn't enough to merit a five-star review for the movie as a whole. There's too much other stuff, much of it not funny at all. The fat man vomiting at his table in an elegant restaurant is the worst. I suppose humor is in the eye of the beholder. The vomiting scene just didn't work for me.
I would recommend that Americans play the movie with the English subtitles on. The actors all have British accents, which can be a little hard to understand at times.
One thing I would warn against is the "Soundtrack For The Lonely." Whoever came up with that idea should consider a different line of work. It is just not funny at all. It is completely boring all the way through.
The movie begins with a short film about The Crimson Permanent Assurance Corporation. It isn't funny. It's dumb. Like the restaurant vomiting scene, it basically has nothing to do with anything.
Besides "The Galaxy Song", the movie's only other really good moment is "Every Sperm Is Sacred", which occurs near the beginning of the film. The song (Every sperm is sacred... every sperm is great... if a sperm is wasted... God gets quite irate) is charmingly sung by cute kids who are part of an enormous Catholic family. (Their mother is seen with a baby dropping out of her body while she's doing the laundry.) Across the street, a Protestant couple converse about how lucky they are to be allowed to use birth control, even though they don't bother with it since they never have sex.
I can't think of much more to say about this movie. It definitely has some great moments, but also has a lot of drivel. There is a French soundtrack, and subtitles can be activated in English, French, or Spanish. The humor will definitely not be to everyone's taste.
If you want to get some serious insights about the meaning of life, I would recommend reading _The History Of Western Philosophy_, by Bertrand Russell. If you just want to see a really funny movie, then I would suggest "Knocked Up", with Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl. On the other hand, if profanity bothers you, but you want to see something funny, stick with "The Simpsons" on DVD.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellence! 2008-10-23
Comment: This was one of the best movies that I have seen in a long time. I rolled with laughter from the beginning to the end. Wonderful!
|
|
|
DVD 
Enlarge View
