Review of Celine Dion: All The Way

Introduction

Did you know that Celine was a Eurovision Song Contest winner? She won in 1988. The first time I heard of Celine was the duet she sang with Peabo Bryson for Disney`s `Beauty and the Beast` and since then she`s had a string of hit songs including "My Heart Will Go On" for the film Titanic and "I`ll Be Your Angel" with R. Kelly. Along the way she`s won countless awards and honours plus two of her songs have won Oscar`s (Titanic and Beauty and the Beast). She has also teamed with Streisand, Pavarotti and the Bee Gees amongst many others proving her popularity. Here is a wide range of songs from over the years and makes quite a comprehensive collection.

Video

The videos are filmed in a variety of aspect ratios with the majority being 4:3 fullframe. As far as quality goes I couldn`t see many problems with the transfer at all. All seem quite clean and blemish free. There`s a mixture of live performances as well as the promos themselves and this is a good balance. Some videos have a narrative while others don`t and rely more on the artists` performance. I quite liked the dramatic video for Jim Steinman`s "It`s All Coming Back To Me Now".

Audio

There`s a choice here of a 2 channel PCM or DD 5.1 sound mix. The PCM track sounds okay and is the original sound mix while the 5.1 track sounds clearer, more defined and is the preferred sound option. Celine`s singing sounds dynamic and crystal clear and is most notable in her live performances.

Features

There are some bonus features here, but all in all it`s not a great bunch. The Biography is very harsh on the eyes since all this is is black text on a white background which I find difficult to read on a TV. Discography shows album/video sleeves of her previous releases but doesn`t tell you the year of release which is odd. The Gallery consists of just 13 pictures which I thought was a serious lack of pics. Where`s the slideshow to music? A wasted opportunity I think. There`s the Bonus Video which is an extended version of the song "It`s All Coming Back To Me Now" and plays with a stereo mix only. The one thing I do like about music promos is the subtitling, I do like a bit of karaoke style singing at home and this DVD is no exception.

Conclusion

I`ve enjoyed listening to a few of Celine`s albums over the years, particularly her French ones. She`s been around for a long time and this DVD collection of 17 videos and live performances is a good collection. Some more thought could have gone into the presentation of the biography which I think is harsh on the eyes, and I found one or two minor bugs so the QA could have been better too.

You either like Celine`s brand of pop music or you don`t. If you can`t imagine leaving this running in the background then steer clear. This disc is for the fans of her music. Even as an admirer of Ms Dion I`d find it hard to part with £19.99 for this DVD and would urge you to hunt around for a better price if you really want it.