|
 Movie A+ |
Video A | Audio A
| Extras B+ | Recommended!
Geena
Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, and the voice talents of Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane
director Rob Minkoff | Columbia Pictures
2002 | Animation/Live - Comedy - Family | PG | 78 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-14
anamorphic
widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio
& full screen
Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: Few sequels come close to the
success of the first film. Having said that, I think Stuart Little 2
is far better than the original. In this second film, which follows
more closely to E.B. White's book, Stuart Little is trying to grow up and
gain some level of independence in the Little household. Mrs. Little
(Geena Davis) is overly protective, while Mr. Little (Hugh Laurie) tries to teach
young Stuart the
lesson of looking on the bright side (i.e., looking for the silver lining in dark
clouds) when things are down. This is a delightful family film, with
lots of good lessons and wholesome humor for your little one(s).
It's a look good, feel good movie, through and through - what more could
you possibly ask for in a family film?
Unlike the original Stuart
Little film, which we had some issues with the use of
objectionable language, Stuart Little 2 is significantly much cleaner
in dialog. Like the original Stuart
Little movie, the visuals and cinematography are like eye candy,
with the film's use of a bright primary color palette and dazzling
computer generated graphics. The computer animated characters were
extremely well done, and as you watch the bonus materials, you come to
appreciate all the details that were put into the computer generated characters.
Very well done, Sony Pictures ImageWorks!
Special Features: There quite a bit of bonus
materials in this Special Edition. The "Show and Tell!"
feature, in which you watch the film again and icons pop up in the lower
right corner of the screen to prompt you to details is nicely done.
But the DVD should allow users to direct navigate to these featurettes,
without having to sit through most of the film again.
Bonus features: filmmakers' commentary; "Show
and Tell!" mode where you can selectively jump behind the scenes with
Stuart and his friends to learn filmmaking secrets; "A Touch of Evil
- Creating the Perfect Villain" featurette; "Life Through the
Fast Lane" zoom through the filmmaking process featurette; Stuart
Little's Big Adventures" read-along feature; "Stuart's Circle of
Friends" interactive game; Celine Dion's "I'm Alive" music
video; theatrical trailers
DVD-ROM features: Stuart Little 2: Record your own
Stuart Little Read-Along; The PlayStation Game Promo; A playable level
from Infogrames new game for Stuart Little 2; and weblinks to the Stuart
Little 2 web site
DVD released on 12/10/2002 | Reviewed 1/19/2003
List $27.96 | online $19.99 | order from Amazon.com,
Buy.com
Also available as a Stuart Little (Deluxe Ed.) & Stuart
Little 2 (Special Ed.) 2-pack from Amazon.com,
Buy.com
Rent this DVD from NetFlix
- Try the " Unlimited" DVD
rental program absolutely free!
Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Staff@TimeForDVD.com.
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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, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, 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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