Mr Bean Vol.2 (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Hilarious comedy, good viewing
Disadvantages:	only 3 episodes, expensive to buy whole set individually

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Another installement to my DVD collection - the epic and classic comedy hero - Mr Bean. I love Rowan Atkinson, especially in Black Adder and also in the classic Mr Bean episodes. Despite my mood before hand, after watching Mr Bean I always feel much better, he always manages to intrigue my imagination with his biazarre mannerisms and abilty to turn the most straight forward of tasks into complete disaters!
Having not being able to buy the whollebox set I have had to purchase and review each DVD volume one by one.

This DVD contains 3 episodes, each with 3 or 4 sketches in them. All of whihc are brilliant and this DVD includes one of my favourites - the one where he goes to the swimming pool and clings to the diving board. The three episodes are entitled: Episode 1. 'The Curse Of Mr Bean', Episode 2. 'Mr Bean Goes To Town' and Episode 3. 'The Trouble With Mr Bean'.

The first Episode 1.:
Includes the following sketches:

i) Bean visits a local public swimming pool. He is very excited and tries out the super-high diving board. But Mr Bean looses he confidence, changes his mind and chickens out. He ends up clinging to the diving board and peering down into the pool. He is only moved when two impatient young boys decide to push him off and clear the board. Mr Bean then loses his swimming trunks, and tries to get back to the changing room unseen but fails. A classic and one of my favourites, good old Mr Bean.

ii) Mr Bean discovers that he doesn't have enough money to pay the ridiculously high parking price at the swimming pool car park. So he tries to leave through the entrance, this doesn't work. He then eventually escapes by charging towards the exit just as the Reliant was entering the parking area. A frustrating watch - but he manages to leave eventually (for free!).

iii) Lunch time for Mr Bean and he decides to take it in the park. He makes himself a sandwich from scratch and in most ridiculous way possible! Hilarious to watch, I do ask how they thought up these sketches. First he cuts the bread with scissors, spreads the butter with his credit card, he washes the lettuce with a fountain and uses his sock to dry it, he crushes the peppercorns with his shoe, and pretends to kill two dead fish. He even makes tea in a hot water bottle, using his mouth to transfer milk from a baby bottle to the hot water bottle. Eventually, however, the pepper makes him sneeze and he drops the sandwich. The man next to him (Angus Deayton) offers Bean half of his own sandwich, which Bean gratefully accepts. Another funny episode - a laugh a minute. (also another of my favourites:)

iv) In this brief act Bean stops his car at a red light to do a left turn. He then saw a cyclist dismounting while going through the same red light. He then got out of his car and pushed it across the intersection, thinking it was okay.

v)Cinema - Mr Bean goes to see A Nightmare on Elm Street with his girlfriend. He buys himself a giant popcorn tub, and her a small one, even stealing from hers but slapping her hand when she tries to do the same. From there, he scares the daylights out of her, spills popcorn and interrupts the other people there. He then gets scared witless himself by the actual feature. Really what was he thinking, if this was supposed to be a date I'd have walked out ages ago, still hilarious and you begin to see why his life falls apart most the time. He still acts as a child and can't see why grown ups act the way they do.

Episode 2:
i) The first sketch opens with Mr Bean buying a portable T.V. for his flat dull and old fashioned flat. He has much difficulty trying to plug it in after unwrapping it and finds further trouble when he tries to get good reception. Eventually he discovers that the only way to get reception is if he sits in a part of the room where he cannot see the screen. Typical I know but this is Mr Bean.... As a result he is distraught, so In a brain strom, he strips down and assembles his clothes (even his underwear is removed!) and puts them on the chair. So the television thinks it is him and starts working. That is until the power runs out as the meter runs out of money and Mr Bean is left in the dark. Naked. V. funny and I am glad noone comes in to visit him, just lucky and very unique but strange thinking from the grey indidvual.

ii) Mr Bean tries out his new Polaroid camera. He strolls into the park only to have it stolen by a thief and although he chases down and stops the thief (puts a rubbish bin over his head and pokes him with a pencil). The bandit manages to get away again just as he was triying to inform a passing police officer. Later, Bean is at the police station being asked to identify the thief in a police line up. However he only successfully identifies the theif after he's subjected the entire line to a pencil poking test while they're all wearing bins over their heads. Very funny again classic Atkinson style!

Sketch iii) Mr Bean gets an itch in his foot whilst walking through town. So he decides to take off his shoe and sock to scratch it. However he stupidly leaves his shoe on the top of a parked car and when it drives away he has to hop through the town to find it (and eventually does).

iv) Mr Bean attends a magic show and disco with his girlfriend, [again, I know, this poor woman must so desperate]. He manages to not only mess up the magic act but also embarrass his girlfriend so much that she dumps him for another man. Frustrated, Bean leaves the disco, but not before shutting off the power first. On his way home Bean passes window display of television sets which individully lose their picture as he passes them.

Episode 3:
i) This sketch sees Mr Bean oversleeping, making him late for a dentist appointment. In a fluster he decides to make up time by getting dressed and brushing his teeth whilst driving to the dentist. He uses a house brick to hold down the accelerator whilst he changes into his trousers, and shoots windshield wiper fluid into his mouth to rinse it after brushing his teeth. Oh the dentist will be impressed. Not one of my fav's as is a bit silly really. But I'm glad he makes it eventually.

ii) This one sees him actually arriving at the dentist's office. Whilst waiting he sees a Batman comic he wants to read but it's already in the hands of a young boy. He stealthily pours water into the boy's lap to make his mother believe he wet himself, causing her to take him home. After getting the comic, he is immediately called in to see the dentist. While in the chair, he accidentally numbs the dentist's leg with an injection of Novocain, causing him to fall over. Bean, feeling inconvenienced by this decides to drill his own teeth!... by himself. But he can't tell which one needs to be done, so he performs the procedure on all of his teeth. Ekkk, I know! Not good if you hate the dentist. Then, just as the dentist recovers, Bean leaves, content with his work. A cringey episode, and not good for the kids. Argh I hate the noise of dentist drills.

iii) The third sketch is about another trip to the park, Mr Bean sees a young boy having difficulty with his remote control boat. Bean decides to help him by opening the controller and tweaking some circuitry. Amazingly the controller now works, but unknowingly to both Bean and the boy it is now also controlling an electric wheel chair behind him. After hogging the boat for some time, and causing mayhem behind him, Bean finally gives the controller back to the boy and leaving him to a certain watery fate as the wheel chair makes a bee line for him.

iv) Continuing on from the last sketch this scene sees Mr Bean trying to have a picnic.However a passing fly falls desperately in love with Bean's cupcake. After trying to catch the fly by swatting at it, jousting with it, and chasing it around, he traps it in a bottle of juice and drowns it, only to pique the interest of an entire swarm of flies, which attack him. Bean ultimately races away from his picnic site and throws the bun at a car thief (whose thieving attempts Bean managed to foil by removing his steering wheel and bringing it with him on his picnic).

Overall 5 star rating. A super DVD, with excellent graphics and audio play. I just can't get enough - and although it would have bean (been) fantastic if I could get the whole lot in one box set, I have still bought the whole set individually as I love the Beanmeister so much! Highly recommended - a sure hit treat this christmas and a good alternative to the reruns that BBC insist upon showing every year. 5 stars and big grins from me - an expensive but happy purchase.

Thankyou for reading, seasons greetings & best wishes, Mintz x x x