The Spice Girls were an interesting pop culture phenomenon. I was in high school when they first broke on the scene and by the time I graduated they were gone. They were like one brightly burning comet that just whizzed by and were gone before a lasting impression could really be made. Well, lasting impression may be a bit of a stretch. The fact is, they did leave very large footprints.

After two albums and one feature film and a Playstation game, all five girls (Ginger/Geri, Baby/Emma, Sporty/Mel C, Scary/Mel B and Posh/Victoria) all went on to do solo work, and four of them sans-Geri even released a third album which no one bought. All the Spice seemed to have disappeared until earlier this year when they announced that the original five were reuniting in one last joyous explosion of girl power for a world tour that is amazingly, selling out everywhere. I know, I actually tried to get tickets for their Vegas performance but it was sold out and the scalper’s prices implied he thought that U2 was playing or that John Lennon was coming back from the grave for a one-night-only performance. So apparently, the Spice Giants weren’t dead. They were just sleeping (except for Victoria, who continuously makes public appearances at anywhere there is cameras).

And now that they’ve awoke, and in light of those ridiculous ticket sales, Sony Pictures (now owners of Columbia Tri-Star) decided to take this opportunity to re-release Spice World: The Spice Girls Movie on DVD. In doing so, they’ve set the home entertainment world on fire and it’s currently setting records as Amazon’s 6,284th best seller in DVD.

Alright, I am well aware of the silliness of DVD sales charts and that they truly offer no relevance to the product itself. In fact, Spice World is probably exactly that type of film that records just don’t adhere to. Almost everyone has a preconceived notion as to what the film is and why they wouldn’t want to see it and, in many cases, how much better people think they are for avoiding it. In other words, they’re stupid.

What little plot there is in Spice World goes a little something like this. The Spice Girls are megastars, and while they’ve never ever done a single live gig, they are about to prepare for their first. The girls live on a TARDISian double-decker bus that’s decked out with the Union Jack all over it and is noticeably larger on the inside than it is on the outside. Amidst the stress of the rehersals for their live show, they have a friend that’s nine months pregnant that they’re all going to be Godmothers to, and of course, they’re busy trying to be girls in general dealing with fame and the people who want to make a movie out of their lives. As a film, Spice World is a chaotic mess. It’s not a documentary about being in a girl group – it’s a cartoon about the glossy lipstick fantasy world that the press would make it out to be.

I’ve always been a fan of Spice World since it first came out. Critics have pointed out how it’s a 90’s reimagining of A Hard Day’s Night with the girls replacing the Beatles. There’s nothing wrong with that observation either. But what has always bothered me is how that comparison never seems to work in this film’s favor. Let’s say you weren’t raised up on the belief that the Beatles were the greatest rock/pop band of all time. If you were then showed A Hard Day’s Night, you would probably think of it as a mess of a film that’s loosely plotted and without direction, and if you never heard of the Spice Girls, you would probably think of Spice World as much of the same, only in color. Somehow, people are under the impression that A Hard Day’s Night is some sort of important classic, and it really isn’t unless you can account for the real life experiences to go along with the hijinks on screen. The Spice Girls film is the same thing. You have to have either lived through the hoopla to enjoy it, or just give yourself over to five girls having silly fun. If you can’t do that, then you’re not going to have any fun with this at all.

For the very few that can get past this, you also have to get past just how very British the whole thing is. Sure, there is some comedy that is universal, but some knowledge of the British film and music industry wouldn’t hurt any. Spice World is very cameo heavy and directed by Bob Spiers, well known for his British television comedy output with shows ranging the gamut of Not the 9 O’clock News, to Fawlty Towers and Absolutely Fabulous so pop culture in-jokes are the norm. Roger Moore plays the Chief over the Spice Girls’ manager. When asked if they should start stirring things up a bit with the paparazzi, he replies by shaking a martini mixer and says, “There’s no need for stirring” and Posh Spice tricks Jennifer Saunders into lying about how much she loves a non-existent fashion designer. These are very subtle ‘in’ jokes. Sometimes so “in” that your average young Spice Girls fan might not even get them, they are however cute enough little nods for those of us that recognize them.

But most of the film wisely caters to its audience providing a good female infused good time. Spice World is a place where friendship conquers all, there is nothing more important than loyalty and having fun and the worst backlash comes from simple misunderstandings. So when Geri uses the phrase, “is the Pope Catholic?” the press misconstrues it as the Spice Girls questioning the leader’s religious conviction. Double entendres and word play like this is evident throughout the script. But really, the full film blends together everything in a near anarchic fashion. It can, at any time go off into a million directions at once, and sometimes not even come back to where it was. Still, when a movie offers the chance to see George Wendt as a smarmy film producer of zero ideas it’s worth watching. And when that same film allows Roger Moore to deliver lines like, “When the rabbit of chaos is pursued by the ferret of disorder through the fields of anarchy it is time to hang your pants on the hook of darkness - whether they’re clean or not!” it’s worth owning and rewatching multiple times.

The DVD Presentation
This is the second DVD release (or 3rd maybe, see footnote*) of Spice World. I’m the only male in the world that has both releases, so I feel obligated to give you the pros and cons of the new release. The original DVD was anamorphic, and had a particularly impressive transfer for a 1998 release. The transfer on this new disc is apparently remastered (per the press release – no mention on the packaging) and doing a little side-by-side, the image does look a little sharper on the new release. It’s one of those cases though that you probably wouldn’t have had a problem with the older disc. The audio is great on both DVDs although the musical numbers do have a more studio feeling than the dialogue. This is the nature of all musicals to me though, particularly modern ones. There are 5.1 mixes in both English and French. The new disc drops all the 2.0 mixes. Subtitles are also English and French only, so any Spice Girls fans that only speak Spanish are better off sticking with the original Spice World DVD, or better yet, taking an English course and learning how to fucking integrate with American society. The quality of the new DVD is fantastic, but not much better than we got nine years ago.

*Columbia Tri-Star, releasers of the original DVD pulled it from the market and replaced it with a completely identical release; except that now it only had the P&S version (the original was a flipper). For over a year I was trying to find a widescreen copy, when former DIMP Editor-In-Chief Larry Phillips was superkind enough to donate a copy he found used, allowing me to retire my laserdisc (yes, the review you’re reading marks the 4th home video version I’ve owned). True, the new release makes the old mostly redundant, but in an act of brotherly manlove, I can never get rid of my original Spice World DVD.

And the Extras Are?

Bonus Musical Performance: “Mama” – (3:30)
This live performance was partly used in the Spice World movie even though the song itself was from the debut album Spice. It’s a nice enough song, but it’s not one of my favorites.

Theatrical Trailer – (2:13)
Cute trailer. It starts out as a Bond parody focusing on Roger Moore’s contribution before revealing its pop-musical agenda. Presented in full-frame glory.

That’s the lot. It isn’t much. In fact, it’s the exact same extra content on the original DVD, although points added for whoever decided to axe the horrid menu design and change them to more tastefully done and less psychedelic anamorphic menus. Still, after a nine year gap, I would think that more features could have been done, even if they were actual featurettes circa-1997. I would love to relive my Spice-filled adolescence. The o-card packaging is glitter-tastic and eye-catching, but I’m sad that the fairly awesome and laughable insert isn’t included in this re-release which had “advice” from the girls such as…

“Having an off day? Slap on some lipstick and shades!” – Posh Spice
“Be as outrageous and as mad as you possibly can, even if you are by yourself!” – Scary Spice

I imagine a new insert made in 2007 would say…

“Having an off day? Get some incredibly gross breast augmentation and a ridiculous haircut!” – Plastic Spice
or…
“No means ‘No!’ Even for you, Eddie Murphy!” – Knocked Up Spice

…so maybe that’s not such a good idea.

The Bottom Line
This is just going to be one of those situations where nearly anyone who reads this will laugh at me. But as my man Counselor Tripper says, “It just doesn’t matter!” After a decade I’m used to it. Spice World is a lot of fun. I can and do watch it at almost any time. The barely-there plot and fun music and complete randomness make for excellent replay. It’s a D-movie homage to A Hard Day’s Night that seemingly everyone brought their A-game to. Unfortunately, the 90s aren’t quite to the point of being “kitsch” especially with most of the era’s music being darker in nature for the Spice Girls to warrant much more than a notable footnote in pop music history. The candle burned bright, but not for very long. Mark my words though. In another 20 years or so, Spice World will be that cult classic film that the future generation of film buffs will find irresistible.

So its with some trepidation I refrain from a whole-hearted recommendation and state simply that while I do find Spice World to be a great movie, it may simply be too “Noto” for some.