Any Cirque show is best seen live but owning the DVD also shows you more than the show did. The film version was shot over 2 different shows on the same day and all the closeup shots done without an audience to protect both the performers and audience. Because of these shots, the film is able to give more depth to the story and helps to add to the plot itself. The show is in a word "beautiful" (or "heavenly") due to the simply vintage costumes and complicated set which transports you to these different memories and the reality going on stage. Corteo includes all the "normal" Cirque themes about hope, humanity, life, and image juxtaposition. This show is in no way scary for children at all as anything evil, demonic, or even a "freak show" is severly lacking.

The music itself is in it's own category by Cirque standards. It is less operatic (1 male and female singer are seen once in awhile, but rarely) but is more mystical, "Godfather"-esque, classical music, classical guitar, heavenly choir, and an organ help to make up the score. The CD release has been pushed back until later this year. Porque?

The DVD "extras" include an Intimate Theatre piece not included in the edited play run time but is included in the live show, "A Day in the Life of Corteo Artists" follows an acrobatic couple from Corteo on their average show day, "Filming Corteo" includes all of the information included above about filming, and a "Creating Corteo" which resembles an HBO behind the scenes creation process and character explaination in 25 minutes. The only problems that I found with the DVD itself was in the menu run times - they're shorter than 5 seconds of animation and a single sound clip from the music. It can become annoying if you leave the room for a minute. There is also no closed caption or subtitle feature - so you better know your Italian if you want to know what The Dead Clown is saying!

I am a huge Cirque Du Soleil fan. I have seen almost every touring show live with the acception of SALTIMBANCO, and have seen every resident show acept "O" , ZUMANITY, and their newest resident show "The Beatles LOVE". I have just about every CD and DVD, so when I learned that they were coming out with a DVD of their latest touring show CORTEO I bought it right away. The filming itself in HD makes the experience all the more real and like your there seeing it live. Unfortunatlly, I was suprisingly not awed by the show. There are some acts that did amaze me, but the majority of the show didn't have the usual Cirque amazement to it. I was disapointed when I finished watching the DVD, I'm not saying that I disliked it, just that I have seen live (and bought the DVD) of other Cirque shows where I'm left in amazement and not wanting the show to end. For CORTEO it was the oposite, I found myself wondering when it would be over.

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh in my critique, that is probably due to the fact that I am a long time Cirque fan and have seen better. I will admit that I have not seen CORTEO live yet due to the fact that it hasen't come to Boston (but will be towards the end of the summer).

This is a wonderful kids show, I found most of the acts appealing to the "new" Cirque Du Soleil fan. By that I mean, as mentioned before I am a long time Cirque fan and have seen better shows. However, I think that someone just discovering Cirque Du Soleil will enjoy CORTEO, for you new fans I highly and strongly recomend looking at VAREKAI, ALEGRIA, QUIDAM and DRALION.

The music is also unlike any other music from Cirque shows. I did not dislike the music, yet on the other hand I did not enjoy it as much as I have for other Cirque shows.Read more ›

Another one of those Blu presentations that had the customers watching for upwards of 20 minutes in the store. I was worried about how the grain/darklit features would look on the display, which in turn would have people asking that dreaded First Knight question of "are all the BDs that bad?"...but after watching the entire presentation several times on a standard/non-tweaked setting LCD - I was surprised how great it looked.

The colors come thru vibrantly and contrast nicely with all of the dark backgrounds. The horse scenes and golf tee sequence look outstanding for testing line clarity with bright colors. The multi-color light/reflection sequences looked great and people were commenting often on how great the color looked for an indoor presentation.

The sounds were adequate for a compressed channel display - and of course came through beautifully on a 5 channel set I tried later. Even on the plasma display I was pleased with how the darks/grays looked.

The special features are all from the DVD except for the subs (I believe) as they are shown in 12 languages. The BD disclaims that the overall grain structure was retained for this presentation, but I think the whole performance looked great in HD and I am not sure why another reviewer had color problems, they looked perfect across the board.

CORTEO is not greatly related to the other Cirque shows in that the Drama,use of dramatically rich deep tones and the magnificent musical score could (and have done so to me)take you back in time to the richness of past centuries. Corteo involves the complete cast for most of the peformance as they either play instruments or sing in chorus. Yes, there are lovely and clever circus performances by some of the best artistes around, but they seem to me to take second place, although incorporate perfectly,into this magnificent performance.

Not one for the lighthearted La Nouba, Saltimbanco, Varekai lovers, but one which is so far above and beyond all the other Cirques', a treasure, a complete immersion in sound and sight. Such a pity it could not be Rated "OUT OF THIS WORLD" as it certainly deserves, and yes, I will watch it again tomorrow--I'm totally hooked on Corteo.