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Dom Robinson reviews
The little family just got bigger.Distributed by
Columbia TriStar
- Cert:
- Cat.no: CDR 28809
- Running time: 81 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, 4, PAL
- Chapters: 28 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English, Dutch, Flemish
- Subtitles: English, Dutch, Hindi
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Visual Effects Interactive Featurette, “Making itBig” HBO Special Featurette, Two Feature Length Commentaries, Six DeletedScenes with Director’s Commentary, Outtakes, Boat Race: Early Concept Reelwith Director’s Commentary, Book reading with optional reading by MichaelJ Fox, Stuart’s Central Park Adventure Game, Weblinks, ‘Race with Stuart’Hasbro Interactive Game, Roadster Interactive Game, Music Videos, Trailer
Director:
- Rob Minkoff
(The Lion King, Stuart Little)
Producer:
- Douglas Wick
Screenplay:
- M. Night Shyamalan
Music:
- Alan Silvestri
Cast:
- Mrs Little: Geena Davis
Mr Little: Hugh Laurie
George Little: Jonathan Lipnicki
Stuart Little: Michael J. Fox
Snowbell: Nathan Lane
Smokey: Chazz Palminteri
Stuart Littleis one of the year’s most well-received films by children although havingbeen released in the USA last year it’s taken until this summer for it to seethe light of day.
At the time of writing (early October), the film, based on the children’sbook by E.B. White (author of Charlotte’s Web), has taken around $300mworldwide (£16 in the UK box office alone) topping the cinema chartsand continuing to grace the silver screen a few months after release.
It has a plot too, albeit a simple one. George Little (Jonathan Lipnicki,who hasn’t aged a day since his appearance in 1996’sJerry Maguire asthe son of Renee Zellweger) is an only child and wants a brother and throughthe strange quirk of fate that is Hollywood, the chosen one comes in theform of a tiny very well-computer-generated mouse, Stuart Little (voiced byMichael J. Fox).
“You and whose army?”The cast isn’t short on big names either given that George’s parents – hereonly known as Mr and Mrs Little – are played by Geena Davis andour very own Hugh Laurie, who sadly sports a diabolical American accent,probably to wreak revenge on the English accent foistered upon the world byDick Van Dyke.
The humans are added to in number by Dabney Coleman, Golden GirlEstelle Getty, Jon Polito, while animal voices – feline and otherwise -also come from Nathan Lane, Jennifer Tilly, Bruno Kirby andChazz Palminteri.
There’s few surprises to be found in the plot but then you’re unlikely toexpect something of a JFK-style conspiracy standard, although the script comesfrom M. Night Shyamalan, writer/director of the suspenseful (if youdon’t know the ending before you see it!)The Sixth Sense.It’s a film for young kids and they’ll probably enjoy it a lot more thanany adult while their view of the world hasn’t yet been coloured by prejudice,doubt and mortgages.
Life on the ocean wave…The film is presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen ratio, thus replicatingwhat you saw in the cinema and with no need to crop the image and destroy thecarefully CGI’d scenes. The print isn’t perfect, with artifacts occasionallynoticed along with other scenes that aren’t quite all they could be, althoughmost of these won’t be noticed by the vast majority of the public who don’thave their nose pressed to the TV screen like me.I was unable to determine the average bitrate.
Dolby Digital 5.1 is the order of the day, in English, Dutch and (somehow)Flemish. The sound quality is basically perfect, mostly used best in termsof the occasional directional sound effect and the typical over-use of a musicscore to get the point across in a kids film. That’s as strong as it getsthough, so it won’t be the greatest test of your speakers.
Extras : Chapters :The usual 28 chapters for a Columbia film, which is great for an 81-minutemovie. Languages/Subtitles :Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, Dutch and Flemish, with subtitles inthe first two plus Hindi. And there’s more… :Plenty more in fact. Columbia have really gone to town on this day-and-daterelease.
- Stuart’s Central Park Adventure Game: Several multiple choicequestions testing you on your knowledge of the film. Correct answers allow youto proceed through the park while wrong ones obviously don’t.
- Visual Effects Interactive Featurette: Six moments from thefilm, such as ‘How a mouse brushes his teeth’ and ‘Stuart steers the wasp’,each broken down into four stages of animation creation with commentary fromthe various crew members.
- Book reading with optional reading by Michael J Fox (4 mins):Imagine a ‘Janet and John’ book with pictures, with an option to read toyourself or with your family, or having the voice of Stuart speak the lines.
- Music Videos:
- The Brian Setzer Orchestra – If You Can’t Rock Me
- Trisha Yearwood – You’re Where I Belong
- R Angels – I Need To Know
- Basement Treasures (20 mins):
- Animators’ Screen Tests: Scenes created by animators auditioning to work onthe film
- Six Deleted Scenes with Director’s Commentary: exactly what it says onthe tin, each presented in a non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen ratio
- Visual Effects Gag Reel: a couple of scenes that began as simple dialoguecock-ups and were then turned into CGI
- Production Gag Reel: many more scenes but with humans this time
- Boat Race: Early Concept Reel with Director’s Commentary: storyboardedsketches of the scene
- U.S. TheCATrical Trailer (3 mins): Just what you expectand in Dolby Digital 5.1.
- Scrapbook: Storyboards of Stuart, various concepts in the filmand the cars and boats depicted.
- “Making It Big” HBO Special Featurette (22 mins): The usualmix of clips with cast-and-crew interviews, plus the revelation that StuartLittle had a small, uncredited cameo in A League of Their Own,alongside Geena Davis, as a hotdog vendor. Sadly his scene ended up on thecutting room floor.
- Scrapbook: Storyboards of Stuart, various concepts in the filmand the cars and boats depicted.
- Talent Profiles: Filmographies for all the main actors plusdirector Rob Minkoff.
- DVD-ROM Content: Weblinks, a ‘Race with Stuart’ HasbroInteractive Game (which I couldn’t get to work properly) and the PR mentionsa Roadster Interactive Game, although I presume that’s the name of thecompany who wrote a game which allows an interactive and intensive lookaround Stuart’s house.
- Two Audio Commentaries: One from the Director and AnimationSupervisor, with the second from the Visual Effects Supervisors.
Menu :Animated and scored with – plus the occasional chip-in from Stuart – andsmaller sub-menus seemingly accessed by ‘visiting’ various rooms in StuartLittle’s house (well, he didn’t sign the lease but you get the idea).
“So, what’s for dinner?”Overall, you’ve read the above, it’s out on November 27th as a rental/retailVHS release simultaneous with this DVD. Given that the DVD only costs £4more than the video, it’d be foolish not to make the DVD the purchase ofchoice.
The only thing that appears to be missing, compared to the Region 1 DVD,is an isolated music score, plus that disc is already out now, but you’rethe one who votes with their credit card so make your choice.
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.