Review of Honey

Introduction

Fame, Flashdance and Save the Last Dance are just a trio of popular films which had contemporary dance and music at its core. Here comes the urbanised Honey with its R&B vibes and slick choreography to look for a place in the collections of those enjoy slick choreography.

Starring Jessica Alba in the title lead as Honey Daniels, she`s a dancer who wants to make the big time as a choreographer. Is this a DVD worthy of a place in your collection?

Video

The video transfer for Honey is very good. The minimal grain on show is kept firmly in place, which is surprising considering that there`s a DTS, DD5.1 and audio commentary, all taking up space. All the scenes are well lit which leads to very good colour and detail throughout. It`s all very well balanced and there are no visible signs of compression, dirt or other problem.

Audio

Honey has a DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack with both sounding about the same. With a film featuring as much music in it as this you`d think sound design would play a part in enhancing the film but it falls a little short. Bass is well represented without going overboard and the surrounds work well in the club scenes, but that`s your lot; no more creative use of the surround speakers. There`s a good wide spread of sound from the front throughout the film however and dialogue remains clear from the centre channel. I couldn`t hear any audio problems.

Features

Easy to navigate menus with a fair selection of extras:

• Audio Commentary (subtitled) - The commentary with Director Bille Woodruff and lead actor, Jessica Alba, imparts some interesting, though seemingly superficial comment, about the production. It`s mildly more interesting than the film and sometimes sounds a bit too sugary for my liking.

• Behind the Groove: The Making of Honey (10:57) - A by-the-book PR featurette which imparts very little. Watch it once all the way through and you`re a better man/woman/child than me.

• Deleted Scenes (subtitled) (33:17) - 16 deleted scenes. With the exception of perhaps one or two, the rest are forgettable affairs.

• Outtakes (subtitled) (4:08) - Standard fare.

• Make Your Move: Dance like Honey! (subtitled) (9:06) - If you really insist on replicating some of the dance moves from the film, then this is a taste of that with the film`s choreographer, Laurie Ann Gibson. One routine from the film is broken down and you can practise to your hearts content. This is pretty basic stuff and admittedly it`s nothing exciting.

• Exclusive Music Videos - There are two complete videos here from the film. Jadakiss and Sheek`s "J-A-D-A" (2:17) and Shawn Desmond`s "Sexy" (2:20).

• In the mix with Blaque (subtitled) (6:36) - Meet the band and watch the behind the scenes and making of the video. Pretty standard featurette stuff.

• Blaque: I`m Good music video (4:43) - Three temperature raising young women and a cool sounding tune which I haven`t stopped humming for days.

The film has clear English subtitles.

Conclusion

Honey is without doubt one of the dullest films I`ve seen this year. It`s all bling-bling and no story; it looks great, it sounds good, but if you`re looking for a story, you won`t find it here.

The film loses its focus and is a bit mess in terms of storytelling. It can`t decide if the needy kids in the neighbourhood are the reasons why the lead characters are driven to promoting a benefit concert, or if the central character is someone we should be following as she strives to break free of her job and make it to the big time. This film tries to straddle both but can`t do either. This lack of focus in the narrative shows off its weak characters, weak plotting and weak conflict.

The lack of character confrontation means there`s little actual drama between the characters and they all just plod along without life. The love interest subplot with Mekhi Phifer seems to just happen and is unconvincing, as is the drama between Honey (Jessica Alba) and the Bentley driving drug dealer, B.B. (Wes Williams). Turning the tables on her boss when he tries it on creates a little drama, but not enough for me to care about the obstacles she has to then overcome when she`s blackballed in the music video world.

There`s potential in the basic story concept with the self-belief and hope theme, but it`s not tended to and is underdeveloped. The kids dealing in drugs, lacking parental guidance and positive models, doesn`t feel like a part of the story. Let`s not mention the lack of support from friends in the story as they`re not integrated either, but come and go as they please. It alls adds up to a contrived film. The film features music as well as cameos from Missy Elliot, Ginuwine, 3rd Storee, Shawn Desman, Tweet, Jadakiss & Sheek and coupled with the dancing makes the film feel like a long music video. This is no surprise since this is the directorial debut of Bille Woodruff who`s made lots of music videos prior. I loved the dancing, the music and the visual style as these aspects are accomplished, but that`s as far as my liking for Honey will stretch; it`s crying out for a half-way decent story.

The pace and timing is poor and at a mere 90-minutes, it feels so much longer; it really does drag on. Taking this film in the context of a piece of entertainment, it fails miserably and doesn`t satisfy. Good video transfer, decent sound, and okay extras are not enough to drag this film up to an average level. Only the gratuitous showing off of Jessica Alba`s lovely midriff distracted me to the end of the film. I`d buy the soundtrack, but I wouldn`t touch this film.