Product Description

Ellen Page, Michael Cena, Jennifer Garner, Jason BatemanDirector: Jason Reitman

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21354 in DVD
• Brand: Blu-ray Comedy
• Released on: 2008-06-09
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Spanish, German, Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 92 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Somewhere between the sharp satire of Election and the rich human comedy of You Can Count On Me lies Juno, a sardonic but ultimately compassionate story of a pregnant teenage girl who wants to give her baby up for adoption. Social misfit Juno (Ellen Page, Hard Candy, X-Men: The Last Stand) protects herself with a caustic wit, but when she gets pregnant by her friend Paulie (Michael Cera, Superbad), Juno finds herself unwilling to terminate the pregnancy. When she chooses a couple who place a classified ad looking to adopt, Juno gets drawn further into their lives than she anticipated.

But Juno is much more than its plot; the stylised dialogue (by screenwriter Diablo Cody) seems forced at first, but soon creates a richly textured world, greatly aided by superb performances by Page, Cera, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman as the prospective parents, and J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man) and Allison Janney as Juno's father and stepmother. Director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking) deftly keeps the movie from slipping into easy, shallow sarcasm or foundering in sentimentality. The result is smarter and funnier than you might expect from the subject matter, and warmer and more touching than you might expect from the cocky attitude. Page's performance is deceptively simple; she never asks the audience to love her, yet she effortlessly carries a movie in which she's in almost every scene. That's star power. -- Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

Synopsis
The word 'quirky' has become the quick and easy way to describe films such as Little Miss Sunshine and Lars and the Real Girl that straddle the lines between indie and studio films and comedy and drama. While Juno fits into that same category, this distinctive dramedy is in a class all its own. Ellen Page (Hard Candy) stars as Juno, a witty teenage girl whose boredom doesn't lead her to the mall. Instead, she makes a one-time trip into the arms of her best friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera, Superbad). When Juno discovers that she's pregnant, she's forced to grow up fast as she tries to find adoptive parents for her quickly growing child.
Juno might have a lot of strengths--Page's award-worthy performance, a pitch-perfect soundtrack, excellent direction from Jason Reitman--but it's the screenwriting debut of writer Cody Diablo that makes this such a winning film. Famous for her blog and her book Candy Girl - A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper, Diablo has a unique voice and an incredible ear for dialogue that led to her winning a Bafta and an Academy Award for Juno's script. But even the nearly perfect script wouldn't sound so good if it weren't for the talents of these actors, particularly Page. She won rave reviews for her first major role in Hard Candy, but this performance proves it wasn't a fluke. The rest of the cast, especially J.K. Simmons as Juno's dad, is just as worthy of attention. Juno continues Cera's cinematic ascent after his success with the hit comedy Superbad, and his Arrested Development co-star Jason Bateman uses his dry delivery to great effect as a potential parent for Juno's baby.

---

Customer Reviews

Wonderful!
Thinking about it, I'm not quite sure why I like `Juno'. Nothing really happens, the story is pretty much non-existent and there are no real standout moments, but yet it is still one of the most heart-warming and enjoyable films I've seen for ages.

It's all about a teenage girl named Juno MacGuff who falls pregnant after a night with her friend Paulie Bleeker. Not wanting to keep the baby herself as she feels she is too young, she looks into putting up for adoption with a young and rich couple named Vanessa and Mark.

The film is very well made with some funny moments, some sad, some quite serious. I imagine dealing with teenage pregnancy is a very tough situation so it was nice to see the film makers put a comic spin on various different difficult scenarios. The characters are all fantastic from the rebellious and confused outcast Juno to the loveable and innocent Paulie, to the understanding Dad and step-mom of Juno and the excitable and impressionable best friend. Each part of the film is based in a different season (starting in Spring) and goes through the various stages of the pregnancy.

The Blu Ray transfer is excellent with really impressive picture quality, mainly because a majority of the film is shot in the daytime, so there is plenty of colour and bright, sharp images.

Overall if you enjoy films like Little Miss Sunshine you will love this. I was expecting it to be another American teen movie like Knocked Up or something equally as dull but was pleasantly surprised to see that this was actually something very different which made a refreshing change. Highly recommended to audiences of all ages (over the age of 15, of course!).

Something new
Fantastic movie. Something fresh and unusual. Really worth seeing. Funny and meaning at the same time.
The blu-ray is not bad. Picture quality could be better but it is decent. The special content is interesting and quite rich, although it is mostly standard definition.
I don't know why Amazon is so inaccurate describing the features of the blu ray and DVD discs. They have international audience, so it would be nice to see the full list of available languages and subititles. This disc, for instance, also contains Italian audio (and if I remember correctly Castillan Spanish too), plus a number of subtitles (like Hebrew, some nordic languages, and more).

"It All Started With A Chair"
Isn't it amazing how a movie comes along and captivates your imagination? How a director can really make you think about something without even trying? You sit there and you're taken on a journey you didn't even know you were going on, and all of a sudden, you're in a world you never thought was there.

Welcome to the world of Juno, a 16 year old who's a gore loving heavy metal fan, who just likes to be cheeky and fun - and loves Bleeker, her friend, who loves athletics and, who on a fateful night, decides to take it one step further.

Juno finds out she's pregnant, and decides that the best thing for junior is for him/her to live with parents who will be able to afford, care and give it everything she can't. She finds this couple, Mark, who is a lot like her and Vanessa who's a bit uptight. She decides it's a good idea to give them the baby when she gives birth.

This movie is touching on so many levels and makes you look at your choices and what you would do if you were Juno; and where you'd go next. It's also very well done, with the light acoustic music, bright scenes and beautiful colour. The locations are wonderful too and the fact it's not over-Hollywood with it's over-the-top scenarios makes it a real treat to the ears and eyes. All the actors are amazing in this - especially Juno (Ellen Page - Hard Candy [2006]) who's so upbeat in this movie. I also enjoyed meek Bleeker's role in the movie (excellently executed by Michael Cera (Superbad (2 Disc Extended Edition) [2007])).

This blu-ray is really good too - plenty of extras like commentaries, audio description and heaps of extras like a gag reel, deleted scenes and little featurettes. The video quality is spot on with a full 1080p output running at 24MBs AVC. The audio is TruHD and is in many different languages. There are plenty of subtitles too, glad to see everyone has been catered for. The picture quality is amazing and because of the bright scenes it's never dull or washed out, and it's not overly-processed like a lot of Hollywood stuff. The sound is also very well mixed, though there's not really a moment you can say wow that really did surround me.

This is an excellent movie and is actually a joy to watch on blu-ray because of those extra bits of quality audio-visually.

Get this, worth the wait.