DVD Corner

RiffTrax: Shorts To Astonish DVD Review

“RiffTrax: Shorts To Astonish” contains a fun batch of shorts.

If you’re clicking on this review, you want to know what’s on this disc. So as to not waste anyone’s time, I’m going to breakdown all of the shorts that have been included on ‘Shorts to Astonish.’ So, without further adieu…

First up on this set is a short titled “Library World” that essentially tries to make the library seem like a cool place. The short follows two kids being guided around by a librarian who shows them the vast selection of book topics (and genres) that exist. It’s a rather cheesy short that is filled with plenty of great RiffTrax jokes about everything from animal butts and ZZ Top to “Beavis And Butthead” and “Manos”!

Next up is “Fad Diet Circus” which is an anti-Atkins diet P.S.A. It’s a short short that ends all too abruptly, but fans should get a kick out of the bikini bods jokes and the “Moose Baby” reference.

“Cops Who Needs Them” involves hard ass cops and a stolen car. Expect to see awful acting, many Steve and Frank name drops, and a great Rowsdower joke.

“Alone At Home” is an educational short about what kids should do when they are, you guessed it, alone at home. Between Kevin Murphy’s great song, Urkel and “Problem Child” jokes and some great character mocks, this one will undoubtedly amuse RiffTrax fans.

“Telephone For Help” is another educational short about emergencies. There’s not too much to say about this one as it’s not one of the more memorable shorts. The “Batman” joke is a laugh riot though.

Continuing the educational theme is “Safe Living At School” which was made to promote accident preventions at schools. This might be my favorite short here as there are loads of great jokes about the Darwin Awards, clown college, JC Penny, goofy drum music and freeze frames.

If you’ve had enough of educational shorts that’s too bad because “What If We Had A Fire” is yet another one. In this cheesy short, a family goes through a fire drill together. With hilarious fire jokes and cracks about a comic book shirt, Mr. Sulu, and “The Room,” it’s safe to say that this is also one of the best shorts here.

Finally, the last two shorts on this disc are “The Parts Of Speech” and “Three Magic Words.” While these are both beloved shorts in the RiffTrax fandom, they have been previously released on DVD before. Granted, ‘Magic’ was only released on the live show “Christmas Shorts-Stravanganza,” but I think most fans would have rather seen one of the many shorts not yet on DVD placed on ‘Astonish’ instead.

Video/Audio:

As expected, the video and audio quality differs from short to short. One short can look solid (such as “Safe Living At School”) while others like “Cops Who Need Them” can look shoddy at best.

While Mike, Bill, and Kevin’s jokes all sound crisp and clear, the audio quality of the shorts (like the video quality) is hit-and-miss with serviceable (hear “Alone At Home”) and faint (hear “Library World”) tracks abound.

As far as bonus features go, three bonus shorts riffed by comedians Cole Stratton and Janet Varney have been included on this disc. The first short is titled “A Boy Of Mexico” and mostly revolves around Juan (and his donkey) and Juan’s father helping a man in need of assistance. The second short (“Borrowed Power”) is about a hit-and-run and the last short is the classic “At Your Fingertips: Boxes” which the RiffTrax gang has already done. Personally, I love the idea of including other riffers shorts on DVD releases, but I would have liked to have seen a variety of riffers rather than just hearing Stratton and Varney. Overall, their riffing feels a bit too scripted for my taste. At times they seem too concerned with imitating Mike, Bill, and Kevin’s line deliveries rather than honing their style. Still, despite the rough around the edges riffing, there are some amusing jokes and puns about everything from Kevin Pollak to the Juan character.

Summary: While I wouldn’t call any of these classic shorts, they’re all still worth a watch. Recommended.

January 25, 2013 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy, Mike Nelson, Rifftrax, RiffTrax: Shorts To Astonish DVD Review