All Rise...

Judge David Johnson coasted through this review.

The Charge

A mesmerizing journey along Britain's coastline and beyond.

The Case

Mesmerizing? It depends on who you are, I suppose. To siphon much joy from this trek, you better have a deep and abiding love for Britain's coastline and the various attractions housed upon it.

Here's what you're staring at: seven discs and 16 hours of borderline charismatic tour guides hanging out at various locales peppered along England's shores. There's a lot of stuff to do, which I readily confess, because there's a lot of yardage to cover, so filling up the runtime isn't a challenge. What becomes a challenge is maintaining interest in the content.

Coast is essentially a travelogue, an epic video brochure that seems to have been crafted and distributed by the Britain Travel and Tourism Department as a way to drive business towards the seaports.

Excuse my cynicism, but I was bored sideways with this show. While there are bits of history strewn about to keep the show somewhat grounded in the rich past of the region, around every corner was another sweeping overhead shot of a dumpy rollercoaster or a woman painting a picture of a nice view. Looks swell, if I had plenty of disposable income and a poncho.

Speaking of the sweeping overhead shot, that's the bread and butter of Coast. The helicopter footage is copious and even though I was slipping in and out of unconsciousness, I will happily say those views of the white cliffs of Dover are pretty awesome.

Coast is for a very narrow sliver of the viewing pubic with specific tastes. For the other 99 percent, pass. No extras, but solid technical points: 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and 2.0 stereo.

The Verdict

Guilty of putting me under a deep enough sleep you could have performed minimally invasive thoracic surgery.

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