Nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, Tom Hanks brought Mr. Rogers back to life for at least a little while. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is making its way home today on 4K Ulta HD, Blu-ray and DVD.
The story follows Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) a jaded and bitter magazine journalist who is assigned to profile the lovable children’s show host. Naturally, Fred Rogers helps the angry man into realize that there is more to life and cynicism.
Unfortunately, for me, I was initially hoping for a Mr. Rogers biopic, not a Hollywoodland type film. Similar to Hollywoodland, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood doesn’t follow the main character of interest, but the investigator trying to get to the truth. But instead of the death of TV’s Superman, we seek to find if Mr. Rogers is really as goodie-goodie as he behaves on TV.
Hanks is fantastic as always and the story is extremely well written and visually executed by Marielle Heller, but alas, it wasn’t the story I wanted because, like mentioned above, I have already seen this movie with a different cast. Heller, has an amazing future as her last film, Can You Ever Forgive Me? got Melissa McCarthy a Golden Globe nomination for best actress. If she keeps up this track record, Heller will become the most respected directors in the industry.
Once, I got past my own bitterness of it not being the film I expected after seeing the trailer, I enjoyed A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood for what it was, a man coming to terms with who he is and learning to love again, while forgiving those who had wronged him in his past.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood comes home today on 4K Ulta HD, Blu-ray and DVD.
The Bonus Features include:
4K ULTRA HD, BLU-RAY, DVD AND DIGITAL BONUS MATERIALS
- Over 15 Minutes of Additional Scenes
- Blooper Reel
- Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers
- The People Who Make a Neighborhood: The Making Of
- Dreaming Big, Building Small: The Puppets & Miniatures
- Daniel Tiger Explains: Practice Makes Perfect
- Filmmaker Commentary
Summary
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is not the movie I expected, but what we got was still a good, heartwarming story that makes us believe in humanity again.
