Product Description

Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 03/24/2009 Rating: Pg13

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18980 in DVD
• Brand: Ultimate
• Released on: 2009-03-24
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 121 minutes

Customer Reviews

Very Enjoyable Bond
The mention of "Moonraker" usually elicits controversey. Serious Bond fans usually despise it due to its far-out premise of sending Bond into outer space at the conclusion. Yet, if you just want a relaxing and entertaining film, "Moonraker" is wonderful entertainment. This was Roger Moore's 4th Bond film, the Bond film right after his personal triumph in "The Spy Who Loved Me," Moore's best Bond and one of the most lavish and entertaining films in the series. "Moonraker" is nowhere as good as that film, but it is fun nonetheless. If anything, the main problem with "Moonraker" is that it tries to give the audience too much, usually to the detriment of the film. There is a gondola chase scene in Venice that concludes with the gondola driving up into St. Peter's Square and Moore driving through hundreds of tourists that makes me cringe everytime I see it. There is a totally unnecessary scene of Moore being attacked by a large python and dispatching it with a CIA device that he should not logically have. This scene and the previous one should have wound up on the cutting-room floor.
However "Moonraker" does have academy-award nominated special effects, wonderful location work, a beautiful all-American leading lady in Lois Chiles and a wild confrontation between American Marine Astronauts(?) and the villain's stooges in outer space. (Sort of like the underwater fight-scene at the conclusion of "Thunderball" transferred to outer space.) In an attempt to outdo the pre-credits sequence of "The Spy Who Loved Me," "Moonraker" has Bond being pushed out of a plane without a parachute. This is a terrific and exciting sequence. (One thing "Moonraker" has an did not need was the return of Richard Kiel as "Jaws." The attempt to turn him into a good guy at the end was ridiculous.")
"Moonraker" was a smash hit in the summer of 1979 and received mostly positive reviews from the likes of The NY Times and Rex Reed. It played to sell-out crowds.
The picture and sound on this blu-ray are excellent. There is an excellent Roger Moore commentary. Most of the special features have been seen before including a terrific "making of" documentary, another great documentary on the special effects of the Bond films, vintage interviews, etc. The special features are very good.
In conclusion, "Moonraker" may not be the most realistic Bond film, however it is still a marverlously entertaining motion picture.

Hi-def can't save this clunker
Not the worst Bond, but very close. Moonraker looks great in blu-ray, but as the saying goes, you can polish a turd but it'll still be crap.

Having seen every Bond film many times, some of them many dozens, I feel confident in saying, this one sucks. It was great the week it came out and I was a kid in the thrall of all things Star Wars-ish, but that's who this film was made for: pre-teens who have never read a Fleming Bond book and don't understand what this character is meant to be.

Here, Bond is pure cartoon. Other reviewers feel this is better than Live And Let Die and Golden Gun, but I say, not even close. Those two are campy but fun; this one is merely campy and stupid. Terrible script, jokes so bad they're not even wryly funny, and on. I hadn't seen this one since the 80s and realized why: it is indeed not worth watching except for Bond completists. The scenery here is lovely in blu-ray, but I can watch travel shows in HD if that's all I want.

Moore is obviously bored and as bad a Bond here as Brosnan ever was, maybe worse. But what to expect from a film that was, according to the producers (on the decent extras doc, the only worthwhile thing here), a complete Star Wars exploitation flick? Nothing, and that's what we get.

I would watch the first five Bond films a dozen times each before I'd get bored enough to watch ten minutes of this, and then only the first ten, as they're the only remotely decent thing here.

I love Bond films when they're smart and fun; Moonraker is neither, and blu-ray in some ways only highlights how cheesy this movie really is.

A middling Bond movie
Bond in space. With lasers. For me this is lower on my list of favorite Bond movies. The gadgets weren't that great, the music was not the best and the plot was even more over the top than usual. I am also not the biggest fan of Roger Moore's interpretation of Bond and his psyche. He is much more comical and soft than the Bonds before and after him. The Blu-Ray is a nice clean up of the picture, but there is only so much that can be done with the older movies before the special effects work becomes obvious. The soundtrack is probably the most improved aspect of this movie vs. the DVD. The color and contrast of the film is also greatly improved vs the DVD.