The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration Set [Blu-ray]

Reviewed by:
Gene Newman and Eric Alt

The Skinny: Every time we feel like we already own the definitive Godfather set, they keep pulling us back in! The Corleones are back in such striking crystal-clear clarity that you can practically smell the sweet Italian sausage emanating from your HDTV. (Wait, that didn't sound right…) While you may already own this classic trilogy on DVD, this is worth the upgrade.

Godfather Recap (which you shouldn't even need): The first one is a masterpiece, the second one is a greater masterpiece, and the third one isn't as horrible as people say (Andy Garcia and Joe Mantegna are awesome).

Does Restoration Mean Director's Cut? No! These are the same movies you know and worship. In the years before the digital age movies were shot on film stock, which degrades over time. When studios want to fix classics they have to go through this painstaking process to recapture the original quality and even make some improvements. They detail all of this in the special feature "Emulsional Rescue Revealing The Godfather."

The Good: We already jizzed over the quality, but we can't stress it enough. Coppola really went out of his way to make sure these were restored to perfection. (Possibly making amends for adding 400 hours to Apocalypse Now.) There's also a bunch of new special features specifically made for this release, which you can read about below.

The Bad: Nada. Unless the Blu-ray format is wiped off the face of the earth, this version is vital to any collection.

What If You Don't Own a Blu-ray Player? Fear not, technology noob, The Coppola Restoration set is also available on regular DVD. It looks much better than the original Godfather DVD Collection, and has all the same additional special features included on the Blu-ray set.

Best Extra: Since there are over four hours of special features, many of which were created for the 2001 Godfather Collection, we'll just point out the handful of new documentaries (standouts: "The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't" and "When the Shooting Stopped"). Basically, this is an offer you can't refuse. Bada-bing!

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