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Dom Robinson reviews

Evita

Distributed by

Entertainment In Video

Evita is the big-screen adaptation of the popular musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Born the illegitimate daughter of a penniless farmer, Eva (Madonna) hopes to make it big in Buenos Aires, becoming a radio and TV actress and hitching up with rising politician Juan Peron (Jonathan Pryce) after which he is arrested when those high up take a distinct disapproval. After campaigning for his freedom, Peron is released, they marry and he is elected President. Antonio Banderas plays Che, from whose eyes the story of Eva Peron is told, literally from start to finish. This isn't the first film our two leads made together as they both appeared in the quartet of stories, Four Rooms.

For a musical, the film needed a good singer and Madonna needed a good film, so the two make a good pairing. She released three singles from the soundtrack, You Must Love Me which made No.10 in early November 1996, followed by Don't Cry For Me Argentina making No.3 in the Christmas chart of that year, coming just a week before the film's theatrical release in the UK on Friday, January 3rd 1997. Finally Another Suitcase In Another Hall reached No.7 that March and all the promo videos featured scenes from the film in the original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1. The soundtrack album recorded by the cast reached the top slot in February.

This title is one of the first batch of DVD releases from Entertainment in Video, but it suffers the same fate that two other titles do, namely First Strike and I Know What You Did Last Summer, in that while bring presented in their original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1, none of them are anamorphically-enhanced, so even though the encoding is artifact-free, the final image doesn't look any better than a good VHS tape when it could have been so much more. This time round the DVD has been mastered in dual-layer format - something the Americans don't get with this title - usually done so to give a good picture while still packing in plenty of extras. Erm...

The average bitrate is 7.51Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 9Mb/s.

The sound also shares a problem with the other titles in that while being filmed with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, it's merely represented in DD2.0 which translates to Dolby Surround or ProLogic given the particular amplifier in use. However, I have to ask why, since Surround/Prologic-only is nothing but a backward step.

Extras :

Chapters :

There are 30 chapters during the 129-minute film, which covers most of the main scenes, but there's no trailer, unlike the Region 1 release.

Languages & Lyrics :

Just one language: English - in Dolby Surround, not Dolby Digital. Also, the disc has potential to allow you to follow the songs with lyrics...but there are none.

Menu :

An animated, colourful menu highlights with excerpts from each song... is what would be most welcomed. What we actually get is static and silent menu with a picture of Maddie ghost-like in the sky.

On inserting the disc, you see the copyright info and the Entertainment In Video logo and then the film begins without accessing the main menu first. Unlike Boogie Nights and Wag the Dog, you can't fast-forward past them. If you go to the menu, clicking on "Play Movie" brings up the EiV logo and then the film starts. For some reason, whenever I see the EiV logo on this particular DVD or I Know What You Did Last Summer, it shimmers like crazy and gives you a headache if you look at it for its full duration.

While there's no doubting the talent when Webber and Rice get together, which is there to see for everyone when each of Madonna's singles get an airing, plus Antonio Banderas' rendition of "Oh What A Circus", the film doesn't make for easy viewing in one sitting as only a small amount of spoken dialogue makes the barrage of songs rather overpowering. Fans of Webber and Rice should also note that a stage production of Cats is available on DVD too.

It's just a shame that this DVD release has wasted what could have been a golden opportunity in telling us the story behind Evita, how it went from stage to screen, perhaps in a separate commentary track from Webber, Rice and Parker. But no, not even a trailer and in similar fashion to I Know What You Did Last Summer, I could build a better menu selection screen out of building blocks than that presented here, so this disc cannot be recommended as it is such a missed opportunity and why on earth is it £19.99 when the content is on a par with the aforementioned slasher-flick?

Trivia fans: Not only does the then-up-and-coming Corrs lead singer, Andrea Corr appear as Peron's mistress in this film, but she also features in Parker's 1991 music-comedy The Commitments, where she had a cameo as Jimmy's little sister at the tender age of 15. 

FILM	 		: **½
PICTURE QUALITY 	: ***½
SOUND QUALITY		: ***
EXTRAS			: 0
-------------------------------
OVERALL			: **

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.

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