The town of Nebelsbad, in the former Republic of Zubrowka on the Easternmost boundary of Europe is home to The Grand Budapest Hotel. In 1933, war was imminent, but that didn’t stop the hotel’s legendary concierge, M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) from running things in a proper, dignified manner. It was the heyday of The Grand Budapest, and many rich, older female clientele found their way to the hotel for M. Gustave’s “exceptional service”, which always kept them satisfied.

When M. Gustave’s learns that one of his long-time clients, Madame D. (Tilda Swinton), has died under suspicious circumstances, he travels with his loyal lobby boy Zero (Tony Revolori) to her estate for the reading of the will. Madame D.’s son Dmitri (Adrien Brody) is livid when he learns that his mother has left her most valuable painting to M. Gustave in her will and seeks to discredit the validity of the will, and frame M. Gustave for the murder.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is wrapped in three layers of story-telling, and each of these is presented in a different aspect ratio in order to identify itself. As the film opens, we are in 1985, when the Author (Tom Wilkinson) starts to recount his story of a visit to hotel in 1968. This is presented in a window-paned 1.85:1 aspect ratio. As we are transported back to 1968, the Young Writer (Jude Law) takes over the narration, and the film switches to a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio. The writer speaks with the current owner of the hotel, Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham), who tells the story of M. Gustave and his lobby boy Zero in 1933, and the film switches to a 1.33:1 ratio. This final ratio is used for almost the entire film—until we reverse back through the layers of narration at the end of the film.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is also a mix of many film styles—from screwball comedy to caper to chase to romance and adventure. And the comedy style is equally as varied, including sight gags, slapstick, and fast-paced witty repartee. The comical adventures of M. Gustave and Zero take viewers through an art heist, a prison break, a seemingly never-ending chase, a shootout and more.

Wes Anderson has assembled his usual stable of talented actors to make appearances in the film. The ensemble also includes Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban, Fisher Stevens and more. While it’s fun to see an amazing array of actors, I actually found that this often took me out of the moment for the second as I found myself thinking “wow, they got him, too!” as each actor appeared for the first time.

I’m not generally a fan of Wes Anderson’s work—usually I find his films too artsy and pretentious. However, this was the first one of his films that I actually enjoyed. While it was a bit slow-going at first, the second two-thirds of the film were really fun with a lot of hilarious moments. The characters are well-developed, and I particularly enjoyed the relationship between M. Gustave and Zero. I can’t imagine any other actors playing these main roles.

The film looks stunning, from the beautiful, hyper-realistic, vibrant landscapes and scenery, to the majestic hotel itself. You really feel like you have been transported to this amazingly-detailed world. All of this is captured beautifully on the Blu-ray. However, I found the audio track less impressive—the majority of the sound comes solely from the center channel. As for bonus features, the Blu-ray contains a DigitalHD copy of the film, along with around 40 minutes of promotional behind-the-scenes featurettes and cast Q&As.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:39:55)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / 1.33:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French DTS 5.1, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, Russian DTS 5.1, Czech Dolby Digital 5.1, Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1, Polish Dolby Digital 5.1, Turkish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish, Ukranian

Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 6/17/2017):

• UltraViolet DigitalHD Copy redeemable via Flixster, Google Play or Vudu

Extras:

• Bill Murray Tours The Town (4:17)
  Actor Bill Murray (“M. Ivan”) has fun while walking around the town where they are shooting. He stops into the hotel where the cast and crew are staying and visits the hair and makeup department.
• Vignettes (9:00)
  Play All or select from:
  • “Kunstmuseum Zubrowka Lecture” (2:52)
    The author of The Grand Budapest Hotel (Tom Wilkinson) talks about the story of his life.
  • “The Society of the Crossed Keys” (2:56)
    An investigative reporter questions Bill Murray about The Society of the Crossed Keys on the streets of New York. This is followed by a rapid synopsis of the history of the secret society.
  • “Mendl’s Secret Recipe” (3:23)
    Recipe and instructions on how to make Mendl’s Courtesan Au Chocolat.
• Promotional Featurettes
  • “The Making of the Grand Budapest Hotel” (18:08)
    Take a look behind-the-scenes with the cast and creators of the film. Play All or select from:
    • Part 1 – The Story (4:37)
      A discussion about the plot and characters of the film.
    • Part 2 – The Society of the Crossed Keys (4:03)
      A discussion about the various concierge characters, and how the ensemble cast came together like this secret society in the film.
    • Part 3 – Creating The Hotel (4:29)
      Takes a look at how they turned an empty shopping center into the hotel, and brought it to life in both its disrepair and its heyday.
    • Part 4 – Creating A World (4:58)
      Takes a look at all of the tiniest details that were added to bring the world of Zubrowka to life, including the various aspect ratios used for different time periods.

    These include interviews with writer/director Wes Anderson, producer Jeremy Dawson, director of photography Robert Yeoman, production designer Adam Stockhausen, property manager Robin L. Miller, and stars Edward Norton (“Henckels”), Owen Wilson (“M. Chuck”), Ralph Fiennes (“M. Gustave”), Tony Revolori (“Zero”), Jeff Goldblum (“Deputy Kovacs”), Tilda Swinton (“Madame D.”), Saorse Ronan (“Agatha”), F. Murray Abraham (“Mr. Moustafa”), Bob Balaban (“M. Martin”), Bill Murray (“M. Ivan”), Willem Defoe (“Jopling”), Jason Schwartzman (“M. Jean”) and Jude Law (“Young Writer”).

  • “Cast” (3:24)
    Writer/Director Wes Anderson, Producer Jeremy Dawson and stars Ralph Fiennes, Saorse Ronan, Tony Revolori, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton, Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray talk about the amazing ensemble cast of the film and the wacky characters they play.
  • “Wes Anderson” (3:46)
    The cast and the writer/director himself talk about the crazy world and characters that make up a Wes Anderson film. Includes interviews with Wes Anderson, and stars Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Schwartzman , Jude Law, Saorse Ronan, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, and Willem Dafoe.
• Stills Gallery (3:25)
  Manually advance through the production stills gallery, or let it auto-advance through the photos every five seconds.
• Theatrical Trailer (2:26)
• Sneak Peek (9:01)
  Play All or select from trailers for “Discover Digital HD”, “Dom Hemingway”, “Searchlight 20th Anniversary”, “MGM 90th Anniversary”,and “3 Days to Kill”.

Final Thoughts:

The Grand Budapest Hotel is the first Wes Anderson film that I can actually say I enjoyed. It was a little slow at first, but once it picked up, the film was a lot of fun. I was fully entertained by this amazingly-detailed world filled with zany characters and their wacky adventures. The two main characters are well-defined and are perfectly portrayed by Ralph Fiennes and Tony Revolori, who have great chemistry. The film itself looks stunning on this Blu-ray, and the disc contains some interesting bonus material.