Bubble Boy

Bubble Boy. Go on, say it. Bubble Boy. Say it loud. Bubble Boy! Say it four times real fast. Bubble BoyBubble BoyBubbaBoyBubalaBubal. Feels good, doesn’t it?

Bubble Boy is the heartwarming story of a boy and the bubble which he lives in. He has no immune system or some such silliness and has grown up in a large protective bubble to keep the germs and those pesky Jehovah’s Witnesses out. He has led a sheltered bubblelife, taught all he needs to know to survive in his little bubbleworld by his God-fearing bubblemum.

"And then Pinocchio came out of his plastic bubble, touched the little whore next door and died."

In his teens, Bubbleboy meets the girl next door and falls in love. Alas, it’s a love not meant to be. For Bubbleboy lives in a bubble, and non-Bubblegirl doesn’t. Imagine how hard sex would be if you had to wear a condom made from car tyres. Nasty.

So, things don’t work out. She eventually gets a boyfriend, gets engaged and tells Bubbleboy she’s going to Niagara Falls to get married. He gets mad, she leaves for Niagara Falls, he feels bad.

Cue: Road trip.

Bubbleboy makes a portable version of his bubble and sets off for the first time into the great big world to find the girl and tell her he loves her before it’s too late. Now, if my wasted youth watching stupid movies has taught me anything, it’s that when you get around wearing a large transparent bubble you’re gonna meet some fruitcakes. And if my wasted adulthood playing with industrial-grade plastics has taught me anything, the inflated bubblesuit is also going to mean lots of sight gags of Bubbleboy falling over and bouncing off things comically. In fact, in one scene he bounces rather hard off a... nah, I won’t say what. I’ll let you see it for yourself. Trust me, it’s funny, and a bit unexpected.

Bubble Boy plays for the lowest common denominator in comedy, and many times hits it fair and square in the nuts. A few times I nearly snorted a booger across the room from laughing suddenly out loud. Overall, that’s what I liked most about this childish, comic-like, idiotic film.

I call it “The Booger Factor�.

Now, how about we move on to the transfer?

There’s a catchy song in this film, called Bright and Shiny. It goes “BRIGHT!... and shiiineee... ...BRIGHT!... and shiiineee..." Well, you’ll just have to take my word for it. Anyway, what I’m trying to get at is that BRIGHT!... and shiiineee... is a good way to describe the quality of the picture. Maybe not so much ‘shiny’ as that would probably be a bad thing, I think, but you know what I mean. The picture is in the theatrically correct 2.35:1 ratio and comes with the obligatory 16:9 enhancement. It’s nigh on flawless, with copious detail (‘copious’ is another cool word, isn’t it?) and nice clarity ranging from the daylight scenes through to the shots taking places at night which also exhibit good detail levels.

I’m betting that you’re sick of me writing BRIGHT!... and shiiineee... by now, but that would also be a good way to describe the audio. Again, it’s probably not so much ‘shiny’ as I can’t imagine how sound could possibly reflect light per se, but again I’m sure you know what I mean. Man, I’ve really got to learn how to communicate my thoughts better. So-diddly-o, the audio is in DD5.1 (at 384kbps) with crystal clear dialogue, a punchy pop soundtrack and some light but good use of surrounds. There aren’t any real KAPOW-WHAP-ZINGZINGZING! moments with things flying around the room and whatnot, but what’s there is clear and well, I just have to say it... BRIGHT!... and shiiineee... . Sorry :)

Into the home strait now, let's get through this bit quickly...
The Audio Commentary from director Blair Hayes and Bubble Boy Jake Gyllenhaal is pretty chummy and a fair listen. They just waffle on and on about things happening in scenes, and what they thought, with Jake often telling Hayes things he didn’t like in the film and such, and I suppose my life will be no better or worse for having listened to it.

Who would have thought that the story behind creating the bubble outfit would be interesting? The Featurette – Building a Better Bubble Suit is about how much trouble went into creating the plastic bubble, with all its variations and incarnations and what not and so on and so forth. I need a life.

Storyboards: Niagara Falls are just that. Storyboards. Of the Niagara Falls bit. Follow?

Production Design Gallery is a short animated clip of various production design drawings.

Director's Diary is a collection of video segments supposedly shot by the director on the set of the production. Watch them. Learn stuff. Or not.

Funny film, nice picture, good sound, reasonable extras package. What more could you wish for?

And I promise I’ll never use the words ‘bubble’ and BRIGHT!... and shiiineee... again. Honest.

BRIGHT!... and shiiineee... ...BRIGHT!... and shiiineee...