DVD Review Round-Up

More DVDs are coming our way this Spring than ever so we're passing on our take on these fun new home entertainment experiences to you! This time we've got a romantic classic, a fun adventure romp and an award-winning top movie musical!

From 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Night at the Museum: 2-Disc Special Edition

Ben Stiller, a wacky monkey, a mini Owen Wilson and a T-Rex! This is fun already. Ben plays a sweet, unlucky fellow who takes a graveyard shift job as a museum guard where every exhibit comes to life at night. Enlisting the aid of President Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Ben deals with history come alive, foils an evil plot and impresses his young son in the process.

Video and Audio: We got a preliminary copy of the DVD but the picture transfer from the recent film was bright and colorful. Sound was okay too if not as much "surround" as you might expect. Even with all the chaos in the museum, dialogue and T-Rex roars came through loud and clear in Dolby Digital.

Special Features: Two commentaries: Writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon provide one of the two commentaries. These guys are kinda funny. They don't say much about the production but give comments on what they are seeing. Not very informative but fun. Commentary by director Shawn Levy is more behind the scenes stuff with details on production of the movie and a lot of praise for cast and crew.

On DVD2 you get 17 minutes of deleted scenes with optional comments by director Levy. You can see why a lot of these were cut to just get going at the museum but Ben is funny in one especially.

There is a Blooper Reel with a few minutes of blown lines and boo boos. These were very funny. Short but cute.

In "Bringing the Museum to Life" you get the low down on the special visual effects work that brought the T-Rex and other stuff to life. Very informative if short.

"Directing 101" is pretty funny. At a press junket for the film, we learned from Stiller that Levy would just pretend to be the T-Rex and act out stuff off camera for the actors. This is a prime example of that and it's silly but funny.

"Monkey Business" shows you what it was like to work with the cute but feisty monkey in the film; a star in her own right. (I think it was a girl monkey).

"Comedy Central: Reel Comedy" is a longer piece on making the film. Very promotional but more how they did that and actor stuff.

I liked "Building the Museum", which is about the production design done for the movie. This museum looked real and impressive.

"Historical Threads" is a short rundown of all the costumes done for the historical characters. Especially nice if you are into film costuming. There is a 10-minute storyboard made into film feature with talk from Levy and a "Making Of" featurette with the usual stuff and, if you luv that friendly T-Rex, catch the "Fox Movie Channel Presents" piece on how those scenes were done.

Another Fox Movie Channel offering shows Levy telling film students how the business goes in "Life After Film School"; very informative.

You also get teaser and trailers for this film and a couple more.

Wrapping Up: I found this film to be charming, warm-hearted and a lot of fun for all. "Old" museum guards headed by Dick Van Dyke are feisty and a kick, Ben is more charming than usual and the special effects with the T-Rex and tiny Owen Wilson are very cute. The extras are more informative than usual on this DVD. If you are a big fan of Ben or Owen you might want to buy the DVD but at least rent it for a fun romp that your small bros and sisters can also enjoy.

From Paramount Home Entertainment

Dreamgirls 2-Disc Showstopper Edition

Dreamgirls is based on the real story of the famous Supremes headed by Diana Ross. In Detroit in the early 1960's, we meet the Dreamettes; Effie White (Oscar-winning Jennifer Hudson) who is really the best singer, backed by Deena Jones (Beyonce Knowles) and Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose). Local Cadillac dealer/wanna-be music agent Curtis Taylor (Jamie Foxx) wants to sign the girls and head for the bigtime. The girls become back-up singers for bigtime act James "Thunder" Early (Eddie Murphy) and get their start. They are re-named The Dreams and go solo. When Curtis makes pretty Deena the lead singer, all hell breaks loose, Effie is out, a new girl is in and everybody's relationships fall apart only to reunite many years later.

Video and Audio: This film looks really great! All the great colors and flesh tones are bright and accurate. Both on stage and behind-the-scenes shots look really good. All the warm colors looked great on the actors and are transferred well here. The soundtrack is awesome! All the songs are balanced and hit all your speakers. From the noise of the crowd to the dialogue.. nothing to complain about here.

Special Features: a lot! For this two-disc "Showstopper Edition" of Dreamgirls, we get "12 Never Before Seen Extended Musical Numbers" over 36 minutes long. These are all more performance numbers with a few cuts to other story elements. You get more songs or hear all of the song. Very cool.. like a mini-concert.

You get a music video for "Listen" by Beyonce Knowles which is the extended song with shots from the film. Beyonce looks awesome and, if you like the song and her, you'll love it.

On the second disc there is a big documentary called "Building the Dream" and it's really complete. You get movie clips, behind the scenes stuff and interviews. Chatting are Beyonce, director Bill Condon, the producers, composer, casting director, production designer, cool choreographer Aakomon "AJ" Jones and assistant, the D.P., music supervisors and composers, the costume designer, hair stylist, make up person and also Jennifer, Jamie, Eddie, Anika, Danny Glover, Sharon Leal and Hinton Battle etc. Everybody tells you all about the ups and downs of bringing this film to audiences and making the stage play into a film. This is a total package on making the film and it's Really good and entertaining in itself!

There isn't an audio commentary over the movie but with all the cool info and interviews in this "Dream" doc, you really don't need one.

In "Dream Logic" you hear about the big task of editing down the tons of footage shot for the movie.. why stuff was in and stuff was left out. Interesting. For "Dressing the Dreams" you hear all about the costumes, the influences, the colors, the style. I loved this one.

"Center Stage: Theatrical Lighting" has the director and tech people talking about the challenges they faced lighting the picture to fit the era, the stage stuff etc. Pretty interesting too.

A real hoot is "Auditions and Screen Tests" where we see Beyonce's screentest (kinda weird and different from what ends up in the movie), Anika Noni Rose's audition and a choreography audition. You get clips of these in the big "Dream" doc but fun here too.

You get seven "Previsualization" sequences which is musical test footage of many of the big songs in the film mixing with storyboards and audio.. nice way to see how the numbers started out and evolved.

The Image Gallery includes storyboards, costumes, production designs and an art department archive. Wow.. tons, and tons of hard work and very beautiful... you see posters and album covers of the era created for the movie too. Enjoyable to flip through.

Wrapping Up: This was a very entertaining film with some great performances. All the songs aren't showstoppers but all are certainly listenable and this DVD is the best you'll see and hear them. The extras, especially the "Dream" documentary, is a show in itself and well worth the price of the DVD. You can also get a single disc version but I'd go for the extra feature 2-disc set to add to your collection alongside Chicago and other great movie musicals.

An Officer and a Gentleman: Special Collector's Edition

This was an '80's date night film and a prototype for a lot of romantic movies that followed. Ever root for the small-town, lower class girl to get the handsome hero? Then this movie is for you! '80's poster girl Debra Winger is Paula, a factory worker who crushes on gorgeous young Richard Gere as Zack, a rebellious guy who is in her town at Navy Officer Candidate School to become a jet fighter pilot. In a nutshell, he almost gets kicked out, she is labeled a gold-digger (the other local girls will do anything to land a pilot husband) and it's a long road to a Cinderella story for this couple. Louis Gossett Jr. took home an Academy Award for his role as tough Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the movie.

Video and Audio: This is an older film and the transfer to DVD was pretty good. The picture is clear and quite clean and colors were bright enough. Sound is a new Dolby Digital remix which gives better speaker separation and both background sound and dialogue are solid and the rockin' '80's soundtrack music comes through with some bass and verve.

Special Features: Director Taylor Hackford's commentary is always interesting as he chats about cast and characters, actors' performances, his locations music, sets, editing and other on set stuff. Interesting and quite honest for a change. Hackford doesn't pull any punches. A refreshing change from the "everything was wonderful" commentaries on a lot of DVDs.

The "An Officer and a Gentleman: 25 Years Later" featurette is over 20 minutes and has clips from the film and interesting chatter from the director, a writer, actors Richard Gere, Louis Gossett Jr., David Caruso, Lisa Eilbacher, Tony Plana, Harold Sylvester and David Keith (guess who is missing? Debra Winger but she and Gere were supposed to get along like oil and water on the set). You get a breakdown of script to screen including casting, performance, dealing with the great ending etc. Very interesting.

"Return to Port Townsend" has Lou Gossett taking us on a tour of the movie locations with comments from some of the actors and residents of the real town and what it is like today. Again, interesting.

"True Stories of Military Romance" features two real military couples and is a real life look at their trials and tribulations. Kind of a fun reality piece to support the romance in the film. Very different.

"The Music of An Officer and a Gentleman" is music execs, the director and the composer's son and lyricist for the film. This talks about the big hit song "Up Where We Belong" that you still hear today and other music challenges. Also interesting.

"Gere and Gossett: Hand to Hand Combat" is a short piece with the two actors talking about their big fight scene and the scenes in general. Kinda too short but cool.

You also get a Photo Gallery with movie clip shots and behind-the-scenes photos that are fun.

Wrapping Up: I remember this film and how girls cried for joy at the end when the good gal got her man. Some of it is a teeny bit dated but you and your pals can still relate to the story. The acting is really good. This was a date flick with elements that appeal to both guys and girls. This is the best the film will ever look and the extras are quite good. You really should rent it and then decide if you want it in your library. I'm glad I have it.

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.