There's plenty to like about "Stuart Little 2" as a film, but the DVD release is quite disappointing in what it offers.
TECHNICAL FEATURES
Picture Technically this disc is as good as you'd typically expect from Columbia TriStar. The picture quality is good, with the fairytale styled take on New York transferring to screen with warm glowing tones that offer plenty of detail.
Sound A fun-filled 5.1 sound mix excites the speakers with some great effects, particularly during Stuart's hair-raising plane ride around Central Park.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary Director Rob Minkoff is joined by senior visual effects supervisor Jerome Chen for a somewhat dry chat about the movie. The focus is highly technical and, while Minkoff provided an interesting commentary for the DVD of the first film, this effort is very limited in appeal. Kids will be bored by it and only those interested in animation and special effects may glean something from a movie that Minkoff describes as having "every shot manipulated".
Show and Tell Select this option and whenever an icon appears on screen during the movie you can access a selection of short featurettes (average two minutes in length) on the making of the film. The CGI and other visual effects are explored, as well as the art direction which drew inspiration from the 40s editions of New Yorker magazine and, bizarrely, the Al Pacino cop thriller "Serpico".
A Touch of Evil The introduction of the scary Falcon to Stuart's world is covered in this seven-minute featurette. James Woods pops-up for a short interview and, as always, has slightly different coloured hair than the last time you saw him. He enjoys playing bad guys in animated films and reveals his formula for being scary, without being too scary, where kids are concerned.
Life in the Fast Lane It's the dreaded 'making of' featurette, except this one is kept to only two-minutes long because all the action is speeded up. So you get everything you ever really needed to know in one short blast. Amen to that.
Stuart Little's Big Adventure The movie is condensed into a three-minute read-along adventure which ends with a charming fable about how you can buy more Stuart Little adventures.
Stuart's Circle of Friends Game Stuart won't have any friends if he continues to churn-out interactive games like this. Whoever designed this uninspired riddle quiz should go and check out Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" DVD to see how games on DVD can potentially work.
PlayStation Demo There's an advert around every corner on this DVD and this time it's for the PlayStation game.
Additional Extra Features Also on the DVD is a trailer gallery, a Celine Dion music video, and cast and crew filmographies. Insert the disc into the DVD ROM drive of your computer and you can visit the official website, play the Roof Skate game, use the re-voice studio, and access another read-along adventure.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Region: 2
Chapters: 28
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Audio Tracks: English and French
Subtitles: English and French
Captions: None
Menus: Animated with music
Special Features Subtitles: None of the special features come with subtitles.
This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.
