A plus sized girl auditions for her favorite TV dancing show and becomes an overnight sensation, using her stardom to help break down racial barriers in 1960s Baltimore.

I’ll never forget the day those nightmare-inducing images of John Travolta as Edna Turnblad surfaced on the web and made me tearfully seek shelter in my Happy Place. I also never watched the original John Waters movie or the Broadway musical based on it, and that coupled with Travoltazilla made 2007’s HAIRSPRAY a film I was all too willing to ignore. So I’m a little embarrassed to admit that it actually won me over halfway through.

HAIRPSRAY is just plain upbeat and sickenly sweet, not to mention fun enough in tone and execution to make it infectious to the viewer. Like the original 1988 movie, it’s also very PG in content. It has a solid positive message and not much in the way of swearing or lewdness (save for the occasional double entendre), which I’d say makes it suitable for family viewing. The story of racial segregation and eventual integration is nothing groundbreaking, but works effectively in context; same with the movie’s standard “be yourself” message. It’s definitely a musical through and through as well, so if you don’t like constant singing and dancing, it’s probably not down your alley. A couple of the 60s era tunes were good and worth a laugh or a toe tap, but overall none of them really caught my ear. In fact, overall I found the non-singing parts of the movie to be a lot more interesting, but they were far and few between.

Newcomer Nikki Blonsky does a great job in the main role, giving an energetic and confident performance whether acting or singing. I did feel kind of bad that a lot of the laughs came from seeing a more rotund girl dancing provocatively (the jiggling…oh, the jiggling), but ultimately Tracy Turnblad comes out on top as an optimistic and admirable character. The same can’t be said for a terribly miscast John Travolta. I don’t know who else could’ve played the role, but at no point did he disappear in to his character. That means every time Edna was on screen, all I saw was Vincent Vega in a dress and fat suit doing a bad Dr. Evil impression, which is as bad as it sounds. The rest of cast was good enough to pick up the slack, notably Amanda Bynes (who I would do horrible, sexy things to), Michelle Pfeiffer (ditto) Elijah Kelley and James Marsden. And as great as it was seeing Christopher Walken dancing and singing (and in a dress!), the man didn’t have much to do. His one big musical number was a letdown, mainly because he understandably has no chemistry with Travolta, who plays his character’s wife.

Overall though, I offer congratulations to director Adam Shankman for finally making a movie that didn’t immediately make me want to stick my head in front of oncoming traffic. Let’s keep this track record going.

Video: 2.35:1 widescreen. The flashy visuals of the 1960s were groovy, and captured well without any bleeding colors or noticeable grain.

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital surround. The songs sounded great, which is all you can really ask for.

The best thing about the clear slipcase cover is that you can take it off and not have to see John Travolta’s character anymore! Besides that, this two-disc Shake and Shimmy edition has plenty of extras (and follicle related puns).

Commentary with director Adam Shankman and Nikki Blonsky: The duo is energetic and excited about the movie throughout, especially Blonsky, which makes for a fun listen if you’re a fan of the movie.

Commentary with producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron: Some worthwhile contributions, but there’s no reason this couldn’t have been combined with the above track to kill two birds with one stone.

The Long Journey of HAIRSPRAY (1:18:17): A multipart documentary on the early transition from film to Broadway and back again, casting, recording, choreography (done by director Adam Shankman himself), and production. Pretty much everything you wanted to know about HAIRSPRAY is covered here.

The Roots of HAIRSPRAY (39:34): A look at The Buddy Deane Show (which is the real life inspiration for Corny Collins), John Waters’ original movie and the Broadway musical. The 1988 film version is such a different animal in terms of look and feel, and the interviews with John Waters and Ricki Lake are fun.

HAIRSPRAY Extensions (37:12): Extended versions of some of the dance sequences, as well as rehearsal and recording footage.

Deleted Scenes: A handful of deleted and alternate scenes, as well as one deleted song.

Step by Step: The Dances of HAIRSPRAY (12:42): Dance instructors teach you the moves to two of the big numbers. OMG I’M Zac Efron!~! LOLZ!!1!

You also get Jump to a Song capabilities, Sing-A-Long lyrics, a Theatrical Trailer and assorted Previews. In addition, my review copy ironically came with a coupon for dinner from KFC.

Travolta in terrifying drag aside, HAIRSPRAY ended up being more fun than I anticipated (though I don’t see it becoming a personal favorite anytime soon). If you like show tunes, dancing and all that jazz, you’ll probably enjoy this DVD too.

Extra Tidbit: Nikki Blonsky worked at Coldstone Creamery before being discovered.