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Dom Robinson reviews
Visual Family Learning
- Cat.no: VSLD 10256
- Cert: E
- Running time: 65 minutes
- Year: 1997
- Pressing: 1999
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 30 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-enhanced: No
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £14.99
- Extras : Scene index, “How Did They Do That?” Special Effects, Monster Quiz,What’s on the Web?, 15 Unique ‘Hot Spots’
Director:
- Karen Walsh
Writer:
- Anne MacLeod
Music:
- Guy Dagul
Monsteris one of six BBC Worldwide titles released in the Eyewitness series from DorlingKindersley, following on from their revolutionary book series which has soldin excess of 30 million copies and dominates the children’s factual publishingmarket.
What makes a monster a monster? Fawlty Towers‘ Manuel (Andrew Sachs)narrates the 29-minute film allowing you to call up ferocious crocodilesrearing skywards, pythons crushing their prey or hyenas at their gory meal,leaving them little to laugh at.
You can also see vampire bats licking their victims’ blood and find out who turnsyou to stone, but for my money the worst thing is still those dustmites who hidein the carpet fibres or the quilt on your bed, then enter your body while you’reasleep and go for a wander (!)
Yes, I said above 29 minutes, but the extra running time on the disc can befound with ‘hot spots’ that pop up on occasion in the top-right of the screenwhich lead to more information on your chosen subject, lasting anything from25 seconds to two minutes.
Presented in fullscreen, there are no artifacts to be found onscreen and thequality is mostly excellent, only occasionally let down by the source materialand it’s particularly at its best with the CGI effects that make it look as ifthe film starts within a futuristic museum. The average bitrate is a verygood and steady 7.94Mb/s.
The sound is presented in Dolby Stereo and is very effective. It’s right upthere with most BBC documentaries you’d care to mention.
Extras : Chapters :There are 30 chapters throughout the 29-minute film, plus a separate chapterper ‘hot spot’. The scene index menu tells you there are only 14 chapters butit groups some of the 30 together. Languages & Subtitles :English dialogue only with no subtitles. And there’s more… :How Did They Do That? takes a look behind the special FX such asthe Chinese Vampire, Medusa and Minotaur and, lasting four minutes is as closeto a behind-the-scenes featurette as you’re going to get.
Monster Quiz asks you ten multiple-choice questions to see if you’vebeen paying attention – but can’t tally your scores – and What’s on the Web? supplies you with a listof a few Internet websites to visit for further information.
Menu :The menus are animated, containing clips from the film in the main menu andscene selection screens. The main menu also contains some creepy music.
Overall, this disc makes fascinating viewing but only if you’ve not just haddinner. As I mentioned earlier, my pet hate is those dustmites, but I don’t goa bundle on spiders either. And hold the front page if the scorpion doesn’tfreak me out too: after mother scorpion has given birth she carries her youngon her back for two weeks while they get used to their new life. What does shedo if she’s hungry in the meantime? Oh, just eats a couple of them (!)Bleah! 🙂
The educational value within this package cannot be questioned and for thisprice it’s well worth a look for any member of the family who wants to read upon the subject, especially when it’s so well presented.
Now, can anyone explain why the B.B.F.C. and H.M. Excise and Customs want toban films like Cannibal Ferox when anyone of any age can see a scorpioneating its own children?!
Note that the DVD states “PC Friendly. DVD ROM drive” at the bottom of theback cover, but it doesn’t contain the requisite software.
Also, I was hoping to do a review of Eyewitness: Natural Disasters,but oh, what a disaster. The disc doesn’t work!
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.