Blu-ray Review: The Grand Tour (1992)

Jeff Daniels has had quite a career and made a lot of great movies! At the beginning of his career he was gaining steam with such films as The Butcher's Wife and Arachnophobia. But before he would take the role of Lloyd in the cult classic comedy Dumb and Dumber along side comedy legend Jim Carrey, he would take the lead in a very ambitious 1992 sci-fi film originally entitled Timescape.

The film was also known under the title The Grand Tour and Grand Tour: Disaster In Time. The film flew mostly under the radar. But now thanks to the good folks at  Unearthed Films and MVD Visual a whole new generation of sci-fi fans will be able to discover this 90s film on Blu-ray.

Ben (Jeff Daniels) is a widower haunted by the memory of his wife’s death in a car crash. He lives with his daughter Hillary (Ariana Richards) in the sleepy town of Auburn, where he is renovating an old inn, readying it for a summer opening. But a monkey wrench is thrown into his plans for a new beginning when a group of mysterious tourists arrive and insist on staying at the unfinished inn. Soon it becomes clear that the visitors are not ordinary tourists. After a series of events he is convinced they are time travelers from the future on a historical disaster tour. But what have come to witness? Well, you'll have to see the film to find out!

Grand Tour is a fun sci-fi adventure film with a great story adapted from the 1946 novella Vintage Session by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore. Jeff Daniels really puts his all into this role and Ariana Richards is great! It is cool seeing her in the role just before she would be in the biggest summer blockbuster's of 1993 Jurassic Park.

The film is director David Twohy first film. It is interesting to note he would later go on to direct The Arrival and Chronicles of Riddick. He also penned such film scripts as The Fugitive and Waterworld.  Also for classic TV fans look for a cameo appearance by Robert Colbert, who co-starred in the Irwin Allen time travel series The Time Tunnel. 

MVD Visual transfers this film on Blu-ray for the first time ever, from a new 4k scan of the original camera negative and is presented in 1080p in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The audio is a 2.0 PCM with English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. Now admittedly I don't own a copy of the earlier DVD release of this films so I can't compare it! But I can tell you that this transfer to Blu-ray looks amazing! There is no signs of damage to  the print.  But a beautiful looking transfer is not all that is in this release. Not by a longshot. Take a look at the bonuses added on this Blu-ray.

* Timescape Title Sequence
* Lost in Time: Cannes Promo
* Production Stills
* Poster Mockup and Artwork Gallery
* Trailers
* Slipcover and reversible artwork on the Blu-ray insert

It is so cool to check out a sci-fi film from the 90s that you never seen before. They feel so retro and yet this one feels so real as well! I have gotten so used to seeing Jeff Daniels and thinking Lloyd that sometimes it's hard to step back from that. But I really got invested into this one. Grand Tour is a great film escape. Though it shouldn't be considered a family film as there is some adult language and themes. This is a great film for adult audiences.

So if you love time travel films, the 90s sci-fi or Jeff Daniels this new release of The Grand Tour is one you are going to need for your collection. Head over to Amazon and pre-order your copy today. 

Out of Four Film Reels Sets (Four Being the Best) Unearthed Films/MVD Visual Blu-ray release The Grand Tour receives...