Blu-ray: Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life 30th

Blu-ray Release Date: Oct. 8, 2013
Price: Blu-ray $19.98
Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

30 years after the comedy movie was shown in theaters, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life is available on high-definition Blu-ray with a new reunion featurette.

The film is a throwback to the British troupe’s older TV show Monty Python’s Flying Circus. In The Meaning of Life, the players thread together a number of sketches examing… well, life.

John Cleese (Winnie the Pooh), Michael Palin (Arthur Christmas), Terry Gilliam (Brazil), Terry Jones (TV’s The Legend of Dick and Dom), Eric Idle (Shrek the Third) and the late Graham Chapman (Yellowbeard) deal out the laughs in such iconic scenes as “The Miracle of Birth,” “Live Organ Transplants” and “The Autumn Years.”

The Blu-ray contains two new special features:

• “The Meaning of Monty Python: 30th Anniversary Reunion,” an hour-long conversation with the whole team talking about the last movie they made together. They discuss Meaning of Life from the beach in Jamaica where it was written to the ideas that didn’t make the cut, and look at comedy, society, the universe and the biggest myserty of all — why fish are funny.
• sing-along version of the movie.

The Blu-ray also offers these extras, which were on earlier DVD editions:

• 2003 prologue by Eric Idle
• commentary with Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam
• “The Snipped Bits” seven deleted scenes
• “The School of Life” with:
  • “The Meaning of Making of The Meaning of Life“
  • “Educational Tips to Prepare You for Life in the Real World”
  • “Un Film De John Cleese,” a trailer for Cleese’s version of the movie
  • “Remastering a Masterpiece: How to Revive an Old Master”
• “Song and Dance” featurette about two of the film’s musical numbers
• “Songs Unsung,” alternate versions of the original songs
• “Selling The Meaning of Life” promotional material
• “Fish” with “Virtual Reunion: The Pythons Together Again” and “What Fish Think: Go Into the Minds of Fish”
• “Soundtrack for the Lonely” for people watching at home alone.

The Blu-ray isn’t the high-def debut of Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, as the movie was released on HD DVD when that format was still around.

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