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Summary: Bruce Willis stars as Russ Duritz, a
successful image consultant who advises his clients in their appearance and
mannerisms. On or off the job, he can be a "pain in the ass"
to just about everyone around him. He has forgotten how to have fun
and how to love another human being. One day, he stumbles across an
eight-year old kid whose mannerisms are uncannily like his. The kid,
Rusty, is actually Russ as a child who comes to the future to remind him of his
childhood goals and dreams. Will Russ come to the realization that he
grew up to be a "real loser" as defined by his eight-year old
self. And how will Russ help his younger version return to the
past? Find out when you watch the heart-felt and adorable comedy
"Disney's The Kid" .
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The Story
Bruce Willis stars as Russ Duritz, a very successful image
consultant, who flies around the country advising his clients in their
appearance and mannerisms. On or off the job, he can be a real
"pain in the ass" to just about everyone around him. The
irony is that though he works with people to improve their images, his own image is
very rough and crude. He can't stand it when other cry in front of
him. And he seems to have forgotten how to have fun and really care
for another person. One day, he stumbles across an eight-year old kid
(Spencer Breslin) whose mannerisms uncannily resembles his own.
Thinking that he is hallucinating the kid, Russ consults with a psychologist
for some quick fix. The kid, Rusty, turns about to be Russ as a child
who has magically come to remind Russ of his childhood goals and dreams,
and to make him realize that his life is really empty and meaningless:
"I am 40, I'm not married, I don't fly jets and I
don't have a dog? I grow up to be a loser"
Emily Mortimer stars as Amy, Russ' assistant and love
interest. She is pleasantly surprised when Russ does something
nice, but immediately fouls it up when he follows it up with
something nasty. Will Rusty help Russ realize that he has grown up to
be a "real loser", by the his own standards set as a child?
He doesn't fly airplanes, he doesn't have a dog, and he doesn't have a
wife. It's amazing how clear the meaning of life seems through the
eyes of a child, don't you agree? I think as we all grow up, we occasionally
lose sight of our real priorities in life. Will Rusty convince his
soon-to-be forty year old adult counterpart what's missing in his adult
life? Will Russ listen to the voice of his youth? Or will he
waste away the rest of his life? And how will Russ get Rusty to return
to his time.
Bruce Willis and Emily Mortimer give solid acting
performances in this movie. Don't you think Emily Mortimer looks so
much like Glenn Close? Real-life eight-year old Spencer Breslin is
perfectly adorable in his role as "The Kid". If you haven't
seen it, don't miss out on this heart-felt and adorable comedy. Now,
if you excuse me, I'll go learn how to fly a plane and get myself a
dog. Hey, one out of three isn't bad. 
The Extras
"Disney's The Kid" contains the following bonus
materials:
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Audio commentary with Jon Turteltaub and Spencer
Breslin give us a hilarious look at the making-of the movie. Jon
is so good and incredibly patient with Spencer, as they both tell the audience how each scene is
made.
Spencer has amazing knowledge and insight to the art of movie making.
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A Kid Becomes "The Kid" featurette: you can watch it in its entirety or
each segment one-at-a-time. There are four segments in all. Spencer Breslin walks us through how a kid like him becomes
a movie star. Jon Turteltaub found Spencer among 4,000 kids who
auditioned for the role. Spencer is a real sweet kid that plays the
dorky, down-to-earth, vulnerable Rusty and has the right face and
emotional expressions. It is basically all about Spencer's background in
advertising and acting, his audition for "The Kid", Jon
Turteltaub's and the producers' impressions of Spencer, his first
meeting with Bruce Willis, and his open and lovable personality. Spencer also
discusses his hard work on the set five days a week to get ready for filming and
keeping up his schoolwork with a tutor. Bruce Willis did a great
job picking up Spencer's mannerism to make it believable. If you
want to be a child movie star, this is the segment not to miss.
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Conversations with director Jon Turteltaub features
actors and actresses (Bruce Willis, Emily Mortimer, Anthony Hopkins,
John Travolta, etc.) describing their working experiences with
Jon. Then, Jon honestly gives credit to the importance of the
whole team in bringing the movie to the finish. He discusses his
preparations for directing a movie, the feedback of the actors,
the flexibility of screen writers, music scoring, and bringing the team
together each day of filming.
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Director Jon Turteltaub biography has a 3-page summary of his
accomplishments.
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Theatrical trailer of "The Kid"
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Sneak Peeks: preview trailers for
"Dinosaur", "Lady and The Tramp II: Scamp's
Adventure", "Toy Story II", and "Fantasia 2000"
There's a pretty decent amount of good bonus materials
here.
Video & Audio
The image quality of this anamorphic
widescreen DVD is very good. The colors are accurate and
saturated, while shadow detail is very good. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 soundtrack is well balanced with good use of the surround channels.
The dialogue comes across crystal clear.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES
STR-V444ES A/V receiver, NHT 2.1 as left/right main speakers, NHT 1.1C center channel speaker, NHT
SuperZero as surround speakers, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable XP speaker
wires, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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