Major League Baseball and Lionsgate released The 2015 World Series Film on Dec 1, alongside a full 8-Disc 2015 World Series Collection of the entire series broadcast.
Major League Baseball continues in its annual tradition of offering home video releases of its Best-Of-Seven championship event, the World Series, in two forms: a full series broadcast set including every game, and a 90-minute “Film” version that summarizes the highlights as a 90-minute documentary. The latter is the subject of this review.
As a Kansas City resident it behooves me to represent my Kansas City Royals, who defeated the New York Mets to take this year’s crown. The 2015 World Series film, narrated by hometown hero (and New York resident) Paul Rudd, is interesting in that, for fans, it’s both absolutely essential and frustratingly lacking.
The film does an admirable job of summarizing the Series — not only the games but the human drama going on behind the scenes — and would make any Royals fan beam with pride. Baseball lovers in general will dig it too (except Mets fans — these films are pretty one-sided in focusing on the winner). It’s tremendously exciting and packed with not only with game footage, but narration, interviews, and behind-the-scenes details that simply aren’t a part of the original broadcast experience. While having the entire World Series box set might seem the obviously better and more complete choice, I can absolutely see fans returning to this film to relive the glorious highlights in one sitting, whereas repeatedly rewatching the entire Series — or even one specific game — seems more of a stretch for all but the most hardcore fans.
The film picks up with Game 1, and therein lies its biggest problem. Everyone knows that the story of the World Series — any World Series — begins long before the first pitch is thrown. For the 2015 Royals, I’d say that it begins with their stunning 2014 Cinderella season, scratching and clawing their way into the playoffs and shocking the entire world of baseball by going all the way, only to be just barely defeated by the San Francisco Giants in an incredibly close seven game World Series. For the Royals, 2015 was clearly about returning to the Series to win this time, and this is the compelling drama that made the season so exciting. It’s basically Rocky II. But the film is fiercely myopic, content to stick to recapping the Series without telling its story, and that’s truly a shame.
By stark contrast, I’ve also watched The 2011 World Series Film which features my other favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals. That film did a much better job of bringing viewers up to speed and actually telling the phenomenal comeback story behind the Series, spending a full 16 minutes on the regular season and post-season before launching into the actual World Series. For this reason it was a much more informative and satisfying film, and I can’t fathom why MLB unlearned that clearly superior approach.
The Package
The disc comes with several bonus features which do somewhat help patch some of the holes of the main film’s narrative. It’s a pretty strong lineup, though no full games are included (in contrast to some previous years which have included a full LDS or LCS playoff game as a generous bonus feature).
For reasons I frankly don’t really grasp, like most HD sports content it is presented in 1080i and combing may be evident, depending on your equipment’s ability to deinterlace the picture correctly. Aside from the 1080i presentation, everything looks and sounds pretty great.
Please note that the screenshots pulled for this review were captured with deinterlacing enabled, and therefore do not necessarily represent 100% true-to-source images, but rather an approximation of how it should appear on your screen.
Special Features and Extras
Upon starting, the disc plays 2 items before the main menu: an ad for the World Series film and collection (0:33), and short World Series historical highlights intro (1:02).
Mission: October — Royals Clubhouse (2:23)
A peek at the Royals’ prep and training
World Series Highlights (7:21)
Unlike the game footage from the film which is often in slow-motion and set to narration, these are straightforward broadcast clips of major plays, with replays. Note that only Royals’ highlights are included. Sorry, Mets fans.
Clinching Moments (5:40)
A celebratory look at the final plays and clinching moments of the Royals’ postseason. Get ready for jubilant dogpiles and champagne popping.
Intentional Talk: Salvador Perez (9:21)
Royals’ Catcher Salvador Perez (who ended up taking the Series MVP) pops into MLB Network’s Intentional Talk show to crack jokes and talk baseball with the hosts.
MLB Tonight: Championship Interviews (9:47)
Royals players and manager Ned Yost chat with MLB commentators right after their big World Series win.
MLB Inside The Show (5:57)
A pair of fluff vignettes profiling pitcher Ryan Madson and Royals Fever.
National Baseball Hall Of Fame and Museum: 2015 World Series (1:15)
Details the Royals’ gear which will be immortalized at Cooperstown (specific players’ bats, jerseys, cleats, etc).
World Series Parade (2:29)
The Royals’ victory parade is the largest gathering the Kansas City has ever seen, and this is a great look at it. The intimacy of the camera work makes this more immersive and exciting than any other footage of the parade that you’re likely to have seen before.
“MLB DVDs” (Ads)
Previews of The Official World Series Film Collection and Baseball’s Greatest Games DVDs
Verdict
For Royals lovers, this is a must-buy. Despite its shortfalls in the storytelling department — which are considerable — every fan should have a copy of this in their collection to relive and enjoy the glory of winning the Championship. The same probably goes for hardcore baseball fans in general. Both groups of fans should consider whether they might be better served by the much bigger (and moderately pricier) full World Series Collection (or to purchase both). For more casual viewers, however, the absence of a proper narrative makes this tougher to recommend. It’s a well-edited recap of a very exciting Series, but that’s about the sum of it.
A/V Out.
Get it at Amazon:
2015 World Series Film — [Blu-ray] | [DVD]
2015 World Series Collection — [Blu-ray] | [DVD]