Monty Python's The Meaning of Life [Blu-ray]

I'm speechless, having the privilege of viewing this film in such an astounding format. It looks so absolutely brilliant in 4K UHD. Rich in both detail, and colour.I was only twelve the year The Meaning of Life was released. I played Vectrex, and had no control of my film intake. Regardless, Monty Python was such a central park of my youth. I was mostly drawn to the animations, but the utter silliness of their sketches delivered what I consider some of the most absolutely magnificent pieces of art, and I can't believe it took this many years for a format suitable of its presentation to come around.This is a time capsule, and one that should not be put aside. It's a big part of my life, and I'll savour every moment of it. Great fun, and quality entertainment.

funny

...a Python fan since about twelve, I vividly remember this film coming out when I was thirteen or so. I loved it. It's great that it has not only held up but, like fine wine, it has gotten better with age. Maybe Terry Gilliam's right when he says, in one of the commentaries, that, today, comedy's standard is so low that "our crap seems good no." But it reveals their genius in so many ways. It reveals a confidence they clearly didn't feel--as tho' they'd gotten their sea legs--in the first two efforts. Though "Brian" is their supreme achievement, I have to say that this film must be placed ahead of "Holy Grail"--which given its budget looks distincly like badly shot TV. Hysterically funny, but the budget limits are are even more glaring in a high res medium like DVD.In "Meaning of Life" the entire cast are masters of the medium (something Cleese proved independently in "A Fish Called Wanda") and they use their skills, rising even to lyrical heights (Eric Idle's paen to the universe in "Live Organ Transplants"). And the effects are more hysterical twenty years later.This movie is also remarkable for the rather bitter satire of American pop culture. Heretofore, the Python's had stayed within the classic tradition of British comedy--filled with whimsy and just plain silliness and the class structure. American humor is generally either observational or political--and these days it almost entirely the latter. Even the masters of observation, Goldberg and Carlin, have abandoned it for bitter political diatribes attacking former fans like myself in the basest terms because out political beliefs differ.And it follows, as it should, that the movie's best skits are the ones true to their tradition. George Harrison once called Python the continuation of the Beatles (to the point of chipping in $8M for distribution and advertising for "Brian"!). And, especially in the all too brief Gilliam animations, this is completely accurate. Without being at all derivative, they capture the whimisical sensibility the Beatles had updated and transformed and ran with it.One draw back is the rather low-rent 5.1 remix. I've other films--e.g. the Godfather films--which are older than have far better jobs. So don't expect much. In fact, you might even consider using the 2CH option as the remixing engineer makes little use of the rear speakers.That gentle bitch aside, the deleted scenes are mixed (why on Earth Jones thought anyone would want to see more of Mr. Creosote is beyond me?) and clearly wisely hit the cutting room floor (especially the horrendously unfunny Martin Luther skit), but some the commentary by Jones and Gilliam--clearly done at different times and mixed--is interesting most especially for the bitterness of Gilliam's attitude. It has been so on the two preceding films, but it's much more intense on this one.The brief interview segments shows the group rivalry is still a hot issue in the guys' psyches, nearly twenty years after Graham Chapman's tragic death ended the group; they are still bickering. Gilliam's comments about Cleese are particularly acid; Cleese does he usual job of insulting nearly everyone. He is returned the favor by the rest of the group, tho' Jones slyly does it with the most class and thus does it the best. Cleese, after all, easily slips into insufferable. Hence his brilliance as Basil Fawlty.A reluctant four star due only to the ****-poor 5.1 remix. The studio, surprise, surprise, didn't want to spend any extra money getting a good one.The movie itself: 5 stars.

This is a series of skits about what life is about. Some of them are very subversive. For instance the movie says it will look at birth in the Third World and goes to a factory town where people sing a song about every sperm being sacred because the Catholic church opposed contraception so a family has over 50 children. That leads into a diatribe by Graham Chapman about how Protestants don’t follow the dictatorship of the Papacy and have the right therefore to wear condoms! The whole thing is completely irreverent which was what Python was known for. Not all the skits are the same quality however which is the main drawback but I can take that since most of the Meaning of Life is quite good.

This movie remains funny no matter how many times you watch it. And that's especially true if you're into British comedy and I definitely am so if you are and haven't seen it by now which I doubt you have and if you are into British comedy then definitely buy the movie you know you want to watch it again it's one of those you're going to keep coming back to because Monty Python is the gold standard. Highly recommend this movie.

Great DVD quality and sound! True to the original movie with no issues. Sound is surround and works well with Smart TVs and Soundbars. Video is crisp and clear. Plus, additional features. Nice!

Aside from being one of the funniest films ever made, the quality of the transfer was awesome. Highly recommended.

Delivered on time and in perfect condition. The last and perhaps the best Monty Python movie. Love the introduction sequence and the musical "Every Life Is Sacred" skit. No holds barred, no quarter given. Probaly would be horribly censored and pc defunded today. How far we have fallen? We should have listened.

I love Monty Python films and although this does not have the reputation that the life of Brian and the holy Grail have, it was funnier than I remembered it with some classic set pieces from the cast. It has some ruder bits than I remembered which caused some wincing on the parts of my children who were, of course, watching it with their parents. I can recommend this as long as the kids are not watching with you if they are young and being introduced to Monty Python.

Film is a 5 star classic, a real favourite from my youth. The Blu Ray is only so-so. The 5.1 audio, at least on a stereo set up is rather strange during the sperm song, sounds out of phase and very thin, you can hear how it is supposed to sound on some of the foreign sound mixes on the disc. The rest of the mix is ok but purists like myself will always appreciate the inclusion of the original sound mix. Also rather typically for Univeral there is a fair amount of edge enhancement applied. None of this detracts too much from the film which is still brilliant after all these years. There are loads of extras most of which are not that great to be honest but its nice to have them there nonetheless.

Ive omly just got to this dvd and so disappointed , where's the quality control!?.... like i said kept freezing all the way through

It is evident that by the time they created 'The Meaning of Life' the Python team were unafraid of offending and confusing their audience as much as they possibly could. Their cult status already established, they could more or less do as they pleased. Abandoning the more conventional narrative of their earlier films, the Pythons return to the surreal sketch format of their TV series, loosely connected by a quest for the meaning of life.Content ranges from the disgusting, crude and unfunny live organ donation, through the disgusting, crude and very funny exploding glutton, Mr Creosote, to satires on corporate repression, catholicism, British imperialism, public schools and middle class consumerism. The film see-saws constantly between the coldly crude and delightfully cerebral, often within the same sketch, and herein lies its attraction. It's a bit of a rocky ride, sometimes uneasy, but compelling to the end. Ultimately this final Python film stands as one of the most subversive British comedies ever made.Terry Gilliam's mock-featurette the 'Crimson Permanent Assurance Co.', which kicks off the film, could stand alone as a masterpiece of comic cinema and is worth the price of the whole DVD. Anybody who has ever suffered the indignity of clerical work for a large company will be carried away by Gilliam's fantasy of middle aged insurance clerks leading a mutiny, forcing their managers to walk the plank, raising anchor and sailing their entire neo-baroque office block off to do battle as pirates on the high-seas of international finance. Absolutely fantastic.