Cirque du Soleil - Journey of Man (2000) Reviews

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The most important thing to understand about this DVD is that "Journey of Man" was originally created for an IMAX 3-D presentation. I saw it in the theaters and was blown away, and so I bought the DVD as a reminder of that experience. The sound on the DVD was spectacular, drawing out the beauty of the soundtrack, but there are inherent limitations on the visual side. Because IMAX's aspect ratio is close to that of a TV, there's no need to letterbox this feature, but there's no way to capture either the size of the IMAX screen or the 3-D effects that made it so spectacular.

All of the acts were taken from the various touring Cirque shows: The opening "Taiko" from Mystere, some synchronized swimming from "O", "Cube" from Alegria, "Statue" and "Banquine" from Quidam, and so on. I'm not sure that there were any original acts, but each of the performances here has been further stylized and put into a setting that frees the act from the constraints of the stage, making each one larger and more powerful. "Statue" is especially striking, as the performers in full-body grey makeup perform on a vivid green leaf floating in a black pool. The colors are beautiful throughout, and the performances are, of course, spectacular. The acts are connected by sequences that were amazing on the big screen but feel a little bit unnecessary in the living room.

The storyline explores the "child-like wonder" theme of previous Cirque productions, but I think that the theme is both better portrayed and has more of an impact here than I've felt in Cirque's other work. There are all sorts of amazing things in the world if you keep looking, and what you think you want isn't always what you need most.

Basically, this DVD is a good buy for rabid Cirque fans who need to have everything that Cirque has produced, people who never got a chance to see Mystere, "O", or Alegria and so can enjoy some acts they haven't previously seen, or for those of artistic bent who don't mind shelling out the money for a 35-minute presentation of beautiful staging and cinematography. I fall into all three categories and am very happy with my purchase.

However, EVERYONE should see this in its original IMAX 3-D format. On the big screen it truly is an amazing spectacle throughout. On the small screen it's more of a novelty.

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I saw "Journey of Man" in 3-D and felt I could catch the Banquine flyers in my lap. The movie is the next best thing to a live Cirque du Soleil show, even though nothing compares to the being there. The soundtrack, written by Benoit Jutras, not only proves to be a great background for the film, it is great to listen to even without visuals. I hope this movie is eventually released on DVD.

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If you are a die hard Cirque Du Soleil fan and must have everything they put out, like me, then by all means go out and buy this DVD. If not, I would strongly recommend you pass on this one.

Why you ask? Well, lets start with the fact that it is (dollar amount)and is only 35 minutes long, and it's not even in widescreen. There are only a few acts and they are very short. There are no acts in this show that aren't available in their full length in other videos or DVDs. Even the soundtrack is copied from other shows, with the exception of "Journey of Man", which is a great song, but is much better (and is complete) on the audio CD.

There are a couple of pros, though. The audio seems to actually be 5.1, not 5.0 as specified on the box, and the quality of the video is quite good, once you get past the fact that is in 4:3 format. The scenery is spectacular, it is nice to see a rich background to the acts (as apposed to the scafolding of the big top). And it is a cute story...

With a little more effort, this could have been great. Unfortunately, it's, well... not...

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The best video production of a Cirque de Soleil I have ever seen. The reason it gets 4 stars, because it's only 32 minutes long. I was still on my popcorn as the movie ended. It felt that the producers robed me. This DVD should have been called a trailer but not the whole feature. Otherwise it's so beautiful that I had to play it again. A word to the producers, please release part 2, and make it this time at least an hour long, let me finish my popcorn.

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This DVD is amazing, the visual effects, the performance of the artist, colors and the music. This DVD is a "must have" in your collection. If you don't have any of the dvd's of the Cirque du Soleil is a great buy the 3 pack (Journey of man, Dralion and Quidam) those 3 are great!

Reviews of Cirque Du Soleil - Corteo (+ BD Live) (2006)

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Any Cirque show is best seen live but owning the DVD also shows you more than the show did. The film version was shot over 2 different shows on the same day and all the closeup shots done without an audience to protect both the performers and audience. Because of these shots, the film is able to give more depth to the story and helps to add to the plot itself. The show is in a word "beautiful" (or "heavenly") due to the simply vintage costumes and complicated set which transports you to these different memories and the reality going on stage. Corteo includes all the "normal" Cirque themes about hope, humanity, life, and image juxtaposition. This show is in no way scary for children at all as anything evil, demonic, or even a "freak show" is severly lacking.

The music itself is in it's own category by Cirque standards. It is less operatic (1 male and female singer are seen once in awhile, but rarely) but is more mystical, "Godfather"-esque, classical music, classical guitar, heavenly choir, and an organ help to make up the score. The CD release has been pushed back until later this year. Porque?

The DVD "extras" include an Intimate Theatre piece not included in the edited play run time but is included in the live show, "A Day in the Life of Corteo Artists" follows an acrobatic couple from Corteo on their average show day, "Filming Corteo" includes all of the information included above about filming, and a "Creating Corteo" which resembles an HBO behind the scenes creation process and character explaination in 25 minutes. The only problems that I found with the DVD itself was in the menu run times they're shorter than 5 seconds of animation and a single sound clip from the music. It can become annoying if you leave the room for a minute. There is also no closed caption or subtitle feature so you better know your Italian if you want to know what The Dead Clown is saying!

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I am a huge Cirque Du Soleil fan. I have seen almost every touring show live with the acception of SALTIMBANCO, and have seen every resident show acept "O" , ZUMANITY, and their newest resident show "The Beatles LOVE". I have just about every CD and DVD, so when I learned that they were coming out with a DVD of their latest touring show CORTEO I bought it right away. The filming itself in HD makes the experience all the more real and like your there seeing it live. Unfortunatlly, I was suprisingly not awed by the show. There are some acts that did amaze me, but the majority of the show didn't have the usual Cirque amazement to it. I was disapointed when I finished watching the DVD, I'm not saying that I disliked it, just that I have seen live (and bought the DVD) of other Cirque shows where I'm left in amazement and not wanting the show to end. For CORTEO it was the oposite, I found myself wondering when it would be over.

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh in my critique, that is probably due to the fact that I am a long time Cirque fan and have seen better. I will admit that I have not seen CORTEO live yet due to the fact that it hasen't come to Boston (but will be towards the end of the summer).

This is a wonderful kids show, I found most of the acts appealing to the "new" Cirque Du Soleil fan. By that I mean, as mentioned before I am a long time Cirque fan and have seen better shows. However, I think that someone just discovering Cirque Du Soleil will enjoy CORTEO, for you new fans I highly and strongly recomend looking at VAREKAI, ALEGRIA, QUIDAM and DRALION.

The music is also unlike any other music from Cirque shows. I did not dislike the music, yet on the other hand I did not enjoy it as much as I have for other Cirque shows. I do not know if I will buy the CD when it comes out which is change since I ususally cannot wait for the soundtrack to come out.

But I say try it, if you have seen it live then buy the DVD and remember what it was like to see live under the big top.

However, if you are expecting to see something equal to VAREKAI ALEGRIA,QUIDAM and DRALION, I would recomend not buying CORTEO. Vintage Cirque Du Soleil is VAREKAI, ALEGRIA, QUIDAM, and DRALION. I do not know what path Cirque is trying to take, but I hope its not the path of CORTEO otherwise fans of the shows mentioned above will be disapointed.

Cirque Du Soleil took a huge step forward in changing its idenity with their resident show KA (which I was fortunate to see and loved every second of) in Las Vegas. They took a small step backwards with CORTEO, but as a long time fan I am not at all about to give up on them, I know they will reveal a new touring show in the year(s) to come and it will be back up to their potential.

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Another one of those Blu presentations that had the customers watching for upwards of 20 minutes in the store. I was worried about how the grain/darklit features would look on the display, which in turn would have people asking that dreaded First Knight question of "are all the BDs that bad?"...but after watching the entire presentation several times on a standard/non-tweaked setting LCD I was surprised how great it looked.

The colors come thru vibrantly and contrast nicely with all of the dark backgrounds. The horse scenes and golf tee sequence look outstanding for testing line clarity with bright colors. The multi-color light/reflection sequences looked great and people were commenting often on how great the color looked for an indoor presentation.

The sounds were adequate for a compressed channel display and of course came through beautifully on a 5 channel set I tried later. Even on the plasma display I was pleased with how the darks/grays looked.

The special features are all from the DVD except for the subs (I believe) as they are shown in 12 languages. The BD disclaims that the overall grain structure was retained for this presentation, but I think the whole performance looked great in HD and I am not sure why another reviewer had color problems, they looked perfect across the board.

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CORTEO is not greatly related to the other Cirque shows in that the Drama,use of dramatically rich deep tones and the magnificent musical score could (and have done so to me)take you back in time to the richness of past centuries. Corteo involves the complete cast for most of the peformance as they either play instruments or sing in chorus. Yes, there are lovely and clever circus performances by some of the best artistes around, but they seem to me to take second place, although incorporate perfectly,into this magnificent performance.

Not one for the lighthearted La Nouba, Saltimbanco, Varekai lovers, but one which is so far above and beyond all the other Cirques', a treasure, a complete immersion in sound and sight. Such a pity it could not be Rated "OUT OF THIS WORLD" as it certainly deserves, and yes, I will watch it again tomorrow--I'm totally hooked on Corteo.

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I had the opportunity to see Corteo on tour, and enjoyed it immensely. The latter cannot be said for the DVD of the production. Apaprently the camera crew was unable to deal with the "two-faced" stage of Corteo about one third of the time, the performers are facing AWAY from the camera, and you, the viewer, will be looking at the backs of the performers far more often than you would have if you were just sitting in the chapiteau.

The bonus features are worth a look, so perhaps renting this DVD rather than buying it is the preferable option. With the video composition as it is, you will not want to watch this DVD twice.

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THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE 3D BLU-RAY.

I will start this review the way I felt when I first saw it in the movie theater...

1. You have to LOVE Cirque Du Soleil. Not just "like"...you have to love them.

2. Don't spend even one second trying to analyse the plot. It's about a young woman who is mesmerized with a young male aerialist and she tries to find him again when they are separated. Everything else are sections of different Las Vegas Cirque shows and even in their entirety don't always make sense. If you try to understand why this is here or that is there, you will run out screaming. Turn off your brain and just let your eyes enjoy all the spectacular.

3. It helps a lot to have seen at least a few of these shows in Las Vegas because the movie selects some of the best parts from each. This will be sort of a video souvenir book for you.

4. Did I mention you have to LOVE Cirque du Soleil?

The thrilling sequences that the couple encounter individually are from the Las Vegas productions of "O," "Ka!", "The Beatles' Love," "Mystere," "Chris Angel's Believe," "Zumanity," and "Viva Elvis!"...and they come back together for a romantic aerial (updated from "Ka!").

The 3D was spectacular on the movie screen and I have absolutely no qualms about giving it a full 5 of 5 for the 3D Blu-ray. Scenes from "O" will have you putting down towels in case of water spilling out of your TV. There is excellent depth and a few really wonderful popouts. Colors are glorious!!!

I have been to most of these shows in Las Vegas. While I feel there is never ever any way to capture the experience of seeing them live, especially when performers fly overhead of you, this film does something that seeing it live never could: you will never see the performers this close up, no matter how good a seat you have. The 3D cameras would occasionally be anywhere from 40 to 80 feet in the air, right there with the performers.

Audio is likewise a 5 out of 5. Great sound all around the room. (Speaking of music, my favorite Cirque show in Vegas is "The Beatles' Love" and there are about six scenes from it (with Beatles music in the film, too), including "Get Back," "Octopus's Garden," "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and the film ends with a group shot of curtain moments for the different show casts set to "All You Need Is Love." "Love" fans, rejoice!)

Extras are really minimal and are located on the 2D Blu-ray disc. A behind-the-scenes look with James Cameron that is only about 2-3 minutes long. There is a featurette with star Erica Linz that looks at creating a series of acrobatic moves, and that 10-15 minutes is only minimally interesting. The remaining extra is an ad for several Vegas Cirque shows.

For fans of Cirque du Soleil and 3D, this comes highly recommended.

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WOW! A real VISUAL FEAST. Incredible talent and imagination. (This starts a bit slow but hang in there, you get used to the pace and it's a great show.) I always wanted to see a live performance in Vegas but it's pretty pricey for me and will probably never happen so I was THRILLED to have the opportunity to see them perform in this movie. I was not disappointed at all!

The acrobatics, the skill, the choreography, the fantastic sets etc. are about impossible NOT to appreciate. The acrobatics, by the way, are somewhat creepy at times but even still you just can't help but appreciate the incredible control and talent of these artists it's fantastic, sometimes sensual and perhaps erotic (but G rated so it's ok for the kids to watch)

I believe you have to think of this movie like watching a weird dream a circus kind of dream. And, you don't have to "understand" it to appreciate it. Just enjoy the show, the costumes, the talent, the cool sets, the pure fantasy of it all.

There IS a loose "story" of sorts to this dialogue-free show... A young girl goes to a circus and is watching an aerialist IN WHITE PANTS who falls (30+ feet?) to the sand of the circus ring floor which collapses to suck him in (like falling into the sand in the top part of an hour-glass). She rushes from the audience seats to help him when he falls and gets sucked in too into another circus type world/dimension. Turns out he's been "captured". She see's many cool circus acts in this new place as she looks for him. And there is a "battle" of sorts (all on visible wires, but it doesn't matter that you can see the wires because it's just cool to watch and you can't help but appreciate the precision of choreography and all to keep that many wires from getting crossed/tangled while they do all this, and small spoiler: the captured (WHITE PANTS) aerialist is freed. Once freed, he goes wandering around and like the girl, he also sees some incredible things.

About 3/5 of the way through, the WHITE PANTS aerialist and the girl almost find each other but are kept apart. The girl seems to walk out of the circus tent area (back to where they fell through??) and a group of the people that helped rescue the WHITE PANTS guy come across her and she tries to show them the flier/picture of the guy she's looking for but before they can help her they are attacked by creatures and the girl falls into a chasm or something. (Then comes a spiked wall fight with NO wires).

Eventually, the girl wakes up in a safe place and the guy in the WHITE PANTS finds her and they do some aerial stuff together, flirt, play and fall in love...

All in all it's pretty cool fantastic even. Sit back and enjoy the dreamlike fantasy worth watching more than once!

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I had seen the trailer for this movie a couple of times in the theater in recent weeks and couldn't wait to see this movie. Other than the trailer, I had no previous knowledge about what I could expect (I have never been to any Cirque du Soleil show before).

"Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away 3D" (91 min.) brings a very simple story line (girl meet boy (the Aerialist) at a circus, boy disappears into a bottomless pit, girl chases after boy and eventually she finds him) to various scenes from a smorgasbord of Cirque du Soleil shows. There is of course no dialogue, so the visuals and the music are key in any such movie. First as to the music, I thought it was rather bland and uneven, but then midway into the movie we get a huge chunk of Beatles songs (Blackbird; Octopus's Garden; Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds; For the Benefit of Mr. Kite; Get Back; and later also While My Guitar Gently Weeps as the credits start), and immediately the movie perks up for me. As to the performances, they are outstanding and at times jaw-dropping (I particularly liked the trampoline performances set to the Viva Elvis music, but also the extended closing aerial ballet piece between the 2 protagonists is outstanding).

Several comments: first, it wasn't until the credits started rolling that I realized this movie is in essence a "greatest hits"/"best of" Cirque du Soleil as it is made clear that all these scenes come from existing shows. Second, despite this being executive produced by James "Avatar" Cameron, I didn't feel like the 3D played all that an important role in enjoying the movie. Third, even though the running time is listed at 91 min., the end-credits are just about the longest I have ever seen and run close to 10 min. if you can believe that. Bottom line: although I enjoyed the movie and the visuals are at time stunning, it was not the "over the top" experience that I had expected after having seen the trailer some weeks ago. That said, I still have seeing Cirque du Soleil's "The Beatles Love" show on my bucket list!

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Talk about Systems Overload. And in 3D! Maybe you should look into a 3D DVD player from Amazon, although it has been brought to my attention that the only 3D players are Blu-Ray, which will play standard DVDs, but I doubt if they play 3D DVDs.

This G-rated fantasy can save you a fortune in tickets because it has excerpts from five or six spectacular Las Vegas shows, and you know how much THEY cost! Among them we see selections that feature Beatles music, Elvis music, a water ballet, and some extremely athletic work that looks like it's drawn from a Chinese opera (or at least like the one I saw at the opera house here in Seattle).

This show features a flimsy plot built around a sweet attraction between a lovely young French-looking woman (Erica Linz) and a strapping young fellow (Igor Zaripov) who looks Russian.

You can expect:

* Astonishing aerial work (I expected applause like Seattle's Teatro Zinzanni);

* Cleverly choreographed synchronized swimming (a salute to Esther Williams);

* An engaging little tricycle that leads our heroine from place to place;

* Rubber-boned gymnasts (you have to see them to believe them);

* Athletic martial arts (Jackie Chan trained in Chinese opera as a child);

* Gigantic crustaceans and centipedes in a menacing dance;

* A Spiderman-themed bit on trampolines;

* Mind-boggling special effects with flowing curtains and streaming sand;

* A lovely aerial pas de deux for the finale.

This is a visual feast with unbelievable athletes in outrageous costumes showing us their amazing stuff. Not much plot, but we don't go to Cirque du Soleil for plots! We go to be dazzled and we are! This one is almost worth the extra for the 3D.

It's comforting to see all the safety lines on the amazing rigging for these shows. This would mean full employment for every theatrical rigger in Las Vegas. Many of you watch the spectacle; I watch the logistics. Wow!

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I purchased this movie because I wanted to see it in 3D. I was not disappointed. The movie had such beautiful effects and you felt like you were in the audience watching it live. The colors were great and the general beauty of the production was great. I loved the Arial and water displays. The story was cute, but this is a production of beautiful grandeur. I am so happy to have this movie in my 3D collection. Again, I think the 3D was spectacular and almost as good as watching it live. It's a dance in the air and water. Loved it!! I did get this previously viewed, but could not see any damage or even sign of use with the 3 Disc set.