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Travis Willock reviews

The Master of Disguise

Distributed by
Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment


Despite box office revenue, Sony did not have a good 2002.

Not only did they disrespect many fans by releasing some catalogue titles in full frame only and announce that nearly every DVD would later have a special edtion but the bottom line was that their movies were not that great. Spider-Man: Moderately tolerable, Men in Black II: garbage on every level imaginable, xXx: quite possibly the funniest movie that wasn't supposed to be funny at all, Mr. Deeds: don't get me started level of garbage. All those turned big profits, especialy Spider-Man, but they were all machinations of terrible hype. And then this. This THING that somehow was labled as entertainment. And what does it go and do? Suprise everyone by debuting with a $12 million opening. Oh yes folks, it was a sad day indeed.

I know what you're saying. This guy LOVES to make fun of the bad movies doesn't he? I'll admit it, some movies absolutely were tailor made for my sarcastic remarks that I will throw out when I saw an oppurtune time. Let's get a few things straight though,

Master of Disguise tells the story of a Italian servant by the name Pistachio who realizes he is one in the line of master disguisists. When his parents are kidnapped he learns the art of disguise from his grandfather to save the day. Then for no apparent reason he putzes around, auditioning for an assistant. While his father changes into "important figures" like Jesse Ventura and Jessica Simpson to steal timeless objects for a villain played by Brent "should stay as Data only" Spiner. Real Academy Award material here folks.

Dana Carvey's performance is decent, though. A couple of his characters provided a few laughs like Turtle Guy, Terry Suave, and President George W. Bush. That's it for quality. Brent Spiner plays a villian that has to pass gas every time he laughs and only shows the fact that he should stick to playing Data in Star Trek (although his performance in Independence Day is memorable). For 80 minutes we are treated to an abysmal story and an ending that must have been conceived five seconds before shooting. Now, after watching the garbage that was Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever this film is solid gold but tarnished completely. Don't approach without caution.


Warning, Get ready for a rant.

Columbia Tristar has maintained the mentality that "if it's a kids movie it doesn't deserve to be widescreen". They must have thought that kids would have a hard time choosing. At one time this title was to have a widescreen version included on the disc but was for some reason dropped.

Columbia has been doing this for a while now, many catalogue titles like Road to Wellville were given poor full frame transfers for the sake that Joe Six Pack hates the black bars. Educate them for crying out loud! It's not their fault they hate widescreen, mount a campaign, pass out flyers at video stores, do something! EVERY film desrves to be in it's original aspect ratio regardless of quality. And to add insult, the back of the box touts the stars as appearing in several movies that are not for kids like Don't Say a Word and Traffic. This was a widescreen release and Columbia announced it as one but didn't want people to know until it was already purchased (can't imagine who those people would be though).

So, ... If you haven't noticed, the transfer is full frame only. Not only is it FOOL frame but it's a pretty spotty transfer to boot with grain apparent, pixelization evident, and edge enhancement. The score gets a half reduction anyway for being full frame but it's not that great as it is.

Also terrible is the audio. For a 5.1 track there is not much ambience and a sense of dead air could be heard. I know it sounds like I'm just ripping on the disc because it's not widescreen but I'm being serious. The track just isn't that loud.

Columbia has provided some extras for the release which are in widescreen, better watch out because kids apparently can't stand black bars.

The only thing worth watching is the Captain America alternate ending, the featurettes are only for those who like the movie and most will probably not.

Packaging is amaray featuring a decent theatrical poster for its cover. The menus are animated and are anamorphic to add further insult to injury. The film is split into 28 chapters.

The Master of Disguise is a bad movie. Not the worst movie of 2002 (that goes to Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever) but pretty close. Columbia would have provided a decent disk if the feature were in widescreen but to no avail. It would still be a bad movie though.


FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS



OVERALL

Review copyright © Travis Willock, 2003.

Email Travis Willock

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