Search - Madonna: Music in Review on DVD

Overpriced considering quality of content

Kasey G | 11/11/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Those looking for an incisive, exhaustive chronicle of Madonna's work so far will be sorely disappointed with this release.

The DVD consists of a bunch of (mostly) British journalists and critics commenting on Madge's evolution since the early 80s. Their comments really add nothing new to what the devoted fan already knows.

The interviews of Madonna herself are mostly from the 1990-2003 period but are nothing spectacular. The video quality of these is what you would expect from old, dubbed VHS tapes.

The performance footage, however, is appalling. The clips from the Virgin Tour are so bad at times it is hard to tell Madonna from the two male dancers on stage. The MTV Video Awards appearances from 1984 and 1990 fare somewhat better, but the quality (especially the audio on Like a Virgin, which is garbled) is still atrocious for a release with a price tag as steep as this.

I should mention that copyright text appears onscreen during every interview and performance clip on this DVD which can be distracting.

The book, however, is what elevates this release to two stars. It is professionally done (though I did note several typographical errors) and one of the pages was out of sequence.

The reviews of most all the tracks on Madonna's albums were interesting although a little brief.

The photos in the book are of nice quality and printed on glossy paper, so it does make a nice keepsake or coffee table piece.

In conclusion, you will probably watch this once and keep the book around to glance at now and again, but if you're looking for rare performance footage or interviews, you're better off searching Youtube."