The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002) |
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The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Adventure |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio Featurette-Setting the Scene with a Killer Croc Featurette-Lights, Camera, Croc Attack! Featurette-Dicing with Danger Featurette-Up the Creek with a Croc Featurette-King Brown Snake Shoot Featurette-Snakesational Action Featurette-The Deadliest Snake in the World Active Subtitle Track-Croc Track Gallery-Photo-5 |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
| Running Time | 85:32 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | John Stainton |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Twentieth Century Fox |
Starring |
Steve Irwin Terri Irwin Magda Szubanski David Wenham |
| Case | PUSH-11 | ||
| RPI | $36.95 | Music | Mark McDuff |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Czech Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English for the Hearing Impaired Portuguese Turkish Greek Croatian English Information |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | Yes | ||
The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course is an entertaining family movie starring the very likeable Aussie adventurer, Steve Irvin. Crikey!
According to Steve's official website: "As the son of renowned naturalists, Bob and Lyn Irwin, Steve developed a love for critters from a very young age, helping to feed and care for the animals at the family's Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park . . . This father and son's proud boast is that every crocodile in their park (now numbering some 100 animals) was either caught by their bare hands or bred and raised in their Park . . . Steve is now the director of Australia Zoo in Queensland, Australia, and host of that wild series THE CROCODILE HUNTER." (www.crocodilehunter.com).
I recall when Steve's Crocodile Hunter television program debuted on Australian television a few years ago. I, and I'm sure many other Australians, cringed. The comparisons to Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee were obvious. However, over the years, Steve has grown to be very popular on US television, and at the end of the day, he's a likeable television personality. While I think men like Steve Irwin and Paul Hogan represent what Americans think Australians are like (or should be like), along with his wife and daughter, Steve manages to share his enthusiastic enthusiasm for Australia's fauna and flora with his audience, and spread an important message about conservation.
As for the plot to the movie: A secret, and very valuable, US satellite beacon crashes to Earth, in Far North Queensland, and is promptly swallowed by a large croc. Meanwhile, Steve and Terri Irwin have been asked by local fishermen to relocate the croc to another river system. Two competing, and very nasty, secret US agencies descend on FNQ, to claim the beacon. Steve mistakes them for poachers, and outback adventure and comic hijinks ensues.
Personally, I found the many Crocodile Hunter sequences that are cut into this narrative to be the most enjoyable aspect of the movie.
Overall, the quality of the transfer is very good.
Something that I found very strange is that the 16x9 enhanced transfer is presented in two aspect ratios, 2.35:1 and 1.85:1. While the former adds black bars to the top and bottom of the screen, the latter (Steve and Terri's segments) adds black bars to the top, bottom, left, and right of the screen. I found this presentation quite distracting, and could see no real point to it, other than it giving Steve's Crocodile Hunter sections more of a television-feel.
The sharpness, black level, and shadow detail are all very good. This was particularly evident in the darker night-time croc-catching scenes.
The colour is beautifully saturated, as evidenced by the many beautiful images of the Australian outback, and the accurate skin tones.
There are no major problems with MPEG or film-to-video artefacts. Having said that, there are some moments of graininess and slight pixelization at times. There also appeared to be some mild edge enhancement at times, such as at 17:37.
A few tiny film artefacts appear throughout.
There are 6 sets of subtitles present, and the English subtitles are accurate.
This is a single-sided, single-layered disc.
| Sharpness |   |
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| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
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There are two audio options, English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Czech Dolby Digital 5.1 (both encoded at 384Kb/s).
The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent on the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track.
The musical score is credited to Mark McDuff, and it is well-suited to the movie.
There is a very strong surround presence throughout, with both the score and effects being piped to the rears. The subwoofer is also utilized very effectively, such as for the explosion at 64:42.
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There are a few extras.
An animated menu.
Lights, Croc, Action
Seven behind-the-scenes featurettes about the making of the movie.
Pop-up facts that appear during the movie -- a mixture of interesting information and trivia.
A series of stills which range from marketing material to behind-the-scenes photos.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course was released on DVD in Region 1 in December 2002.
The Region 4 DVD misses out on:
The Region 1 DVD misses out on:
I would have to favour the R1.
The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course was far more entertaining than I had anticipated. If you have any Steve Irwin fans (like my three-year-old son) in your house, they will love it.
The video quality is very good.
The audio quality is excellent.
The extras are reasonable.
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| Audio | |
| Extras | |
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using S-Video output |
| Display | Grundig Elegance 82-2101 (82cm, 16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Sony STR DE-545 |
| Speakers | Sony SS-V315 x5; Sony SA-WMS315 subwoofer |