|
 Movie
B- |
Video A- | Audio B+
| Extras B
Alexis Bledel, Ben Kingsley, Sissy Spacek, Amy
Irving, Victor Garber, Jonathan Jackson, Scott Bairstow, and William Hurt
director Jay Russell | Walt Disney Pictures (Disney DVD)
2002 | Romance - Adventure | PG | 90 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio
|
Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: Winnie Foster (Alexis Bledel) is a 15 year-old daughter of a rich family, who owns a lot of land including the
forest that surrounds her family's home. Her upbringing is very
proper and strict. She feels particularly stifled by her parents,
especially when they let her in on their plans to send her far away to
boarding school. One day, she dares to leave
the safety of the fenced-in grounds of her country home to explore the
neighboring wild forest, something she has yearned to do for some time. She gets lost but soon discovers
the irresistable charm of a mysterious young man, Jesse Tuck (Jonathan
Jackson). But as they run into Jesse's
older brother, he forces Winnie back to the
secret Tuck family residence, located deep in the forest. A family secret
forces them to keep her from going back to her family. In the
meantime, Winnie makes the most of things, as she enjoys the company of
Jesse
and his family.
I didn't think the acting performances were
consistent. While there are valuable lessons about living one's
life, the choices that we make, and issues about immortality embedded in Tuck
Everlasting, I didn't think the screenplay was very well
written. I found myself falling out of "suspended
disbelief" a number of times during the movie. As a result, I
think the DVD may
be worth a rental, but I wouldn't recommend a permanent place for it on a
collector's shelf. There are far too many better movies and DVDs for
that distinction.
Finally, as a note for those of you who have been
following our DVD coverage of Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Disney
DVD releases:
there's no disc mastering defects in this DVD! (Quite a few of BVHE
DVD releases in the recent past were plagued with numerous defects that cause playback
to momentarily freeze.) How refreshing, now that BVHE's quality control
has finally caught up to a level that all consumers would expect.
Special Features: audio commentary with director
Jay Russell and cast members; aduio commentary with director Jay Russell and
screenwriter James Hart; "Lessons of Tuck" viewing mode that
allows opportunities to explore the film's themes and issues with Jonathan
Jackson, other cast members, and everyday kids (this is an interesting
feature); "A Visit With
Natalie Babbitt" featurette with the novel's author
DVD released on 2/25/2003 | Reviewed 3/17/2003
List $29.99 | online $22.49 | order from Amazon.com,
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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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