Winner of six Academy Awards including Best Picture, Chicago makes it's way to home video on August 19, and what a great DVD it is. This visual cupcake was a blast on the big screen, but I enjoyed it again -- and wholeheartedly. 

The story of Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger, Best Actress nominee) and Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones, winner Best Supporting Actress), two show girls accused of murdering their men, has a long entertainment history. Maurine Watkins, a Chicago court reporter penned the first play, The Brave Little Woman, in 1926. The silent film Chicago followed in 1927, and Roxie Hart sprang forth in 1942. Chicago was adapted as a Broadway musical in 1975 and then optioned for film in 1994.

Screenwriter Bill Condon, Oscar winner for his adaptation of Gods and Monsters, was also nominated for Chicago. Carrying out Best Director nominee Rob Marshall's vision, Condon developed a script allowing the film to exist on two planes: the reality of Prohibition-era Chicago, and what Marshall calls the "surreality" of Roxie Hart's interpretation of that world. Condon and Marshall do a brilliant job of mixing the surreal saga with the dancing and singing numbers. Everything happens right before your eyes in a titillating salute to the musical genre.

"The script is what hooked all of us," enthused Richard Gere. "Although the music obviously is wonderful, you see the stage piece alone, and to sustain that for two hours?"

Roxie wants more than anything to dance and sing on the stage. She risks everything, including her marriage to Amos (John C. Reilly, Best Supporting Actor nominee), by sleeping with a producer who promises her the moon and then shuns her. Repaying him with a spray of bullets, she goes to jail.  Roxie's dreams of following in the footsteps of the famous Velma go down in flames, until Velma, too, ends up in jail for murder -- and they both land the audacious and slick Billy Flynn (Gere) as their attorney. When Flynn turns the legal system on its ear, the girls are given a second chance at fame.

Chicago, a witty and nostalgic story, clearly satirizes the perversity of celebrity and who we choose to celebrate. But it's the eye-candy production and terrific casting that makes the film pop.

With their equally enjoyable acting, singing and dancing skills, Zellweger, Zeta-Jones and Gere are all sensational. After enduring long days of song and dance instruction, it paid off. Zeta-Jones's energy and enthusiasm in the dance sequences fills the stage like an electric neon light. Zellweger more than meets her obligations in the musical numbers. Gere, apparently no stranger to song and dance (he once played Danny Zuko in Grease) surprised me and made me smile with his musical talents. And Queen Latifah (Best Supporting Actress nominee) is a hoot as the prison guard.

Outstanding direction/choreography by Rob Marshall and catchy music by John Kander and Fred Ebb emerge as additional impressive elements here. Lyrics to "He Had It Coming" and "All That Jazz" will replay in your head days after watching this DVD. And those spectacular costumes by Colleen Atwood (Best Costume winner)?  I couldn't take my eyes off them. Finally, Dion Beebe (Best Cinematography nominee) brings all these ingredients together like a master chef serving up a yummy dessert.  

DVD extras include: Catherine Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah performing "Class," a musical number deleted from the film; commentaries by Rob Marshall and Bill Condon; and a special behind-the-scenes-featurette.

(Released by Miramax Home Entertainment and rated "PG-13" for sexual content and dialogue, violence and thematic elements. Bonus features not rated.)