The Rookie (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Menu Animation & Audio Audio Commentary-John Lee Hancock (Director) & Dennis Quaid Featurette-The Inspirational Story Deleted Scenes-with Director intros
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	122:47
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (77:20)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	John Lee Hancock
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Dennis Quaid Rachel Grifiths Brian Cox
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.90	Music	Carter Burwell

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Spanish Swedish Norwegian Danish Finnish Portuguese Icelandic Spanish Audio Commentary Swedish Audio Commentary Norwegian Audio Commentary Danish Audio Commentary Finnish Audio Commentary Portuguese Audio Commentary Spanish Titling Portuguese Titling	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

   The Rookie is the true life story of Jimmy Morris, a school teacher and junior baseball coach who once played in the Minor Leagues, but failed to make the big time due to a shoulder injury. At the age of 35, Morris did the unthinkable and tried out for the majors at the behest of his young team. He was successful and enjoyed 2 years as a top class Pitcher, throwing speeds of up to 98 miles per hour.

    The film is fairly accurate in its portrayal of real life events, which is unusual for a Hollywood production, and is thankfully devoid of over-sentimentality. Dennis Quaid is outstanding as Jimmy Morris and it is good to see this underrated actor finally get the respect he deserves. The rest of the cast perform their minor roles well, but it is Quaid's film. The direction is workmanlike at best and occasionally resembles a `T.V. of the week production', but this does not distract from the enjoyment of the story. Where the Director has strived to liven up proceedings is in the filming of the actual games - these scenes are full of energy and jump off the screen.

    The Rookie is a well told tale that showcases the excellent acting ability of Dennis Quaid. It is rated G so the whole family can enjoy it.

Video

    The Rookie is presented in the original film's aspect ratio of 2:35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness levels are faultless, with excellent shadow detail. There are no grain or noise problems. In fact, this is a stunning picture.

    Colours are natural and vibrant. The colour scheme really enhances the look of the film, especially the deep reds of the Texas location.

    There are no artefacts in any shape or form in this transfer- Buena Vista should be proud, as this is a beautiful looking transfer.

    The RSDL layer change occurs at 77:20.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are four audio tracks available on this DVD. They are: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese 2.0 surround and an Audio Commentary in 2.0 surround.

    Dialogue is always clear and there are no audio sync problems.

    The musical score by Carter Burwell is fairly unobtrusive and serves the film well.

    Surround channel usage is adequate for this type of film. There are only a small number of directional sound effects that show up throughout the movie, but as this is not a special effects driven feature a more lively track is not required.

    The subwoofer adds the appropriate amount of depth to the sound field.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu Animation & Audio

    This nicely ties in with the theme of the film.

Audio Commentary

    This commentary is by Dennis Quaid and Director John Lee Hancock. Not a bad effort, but a little subdued with large amounts of dead air time.

Featurette - Inspirational Story

    A reasonable 23 minute making of feature that includes interviews with the real Jim Morris.

Deleted Scenes

    4 deleted scenes with an introduction by Hancock.

    The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on a 15 minute feature called `Spring Training'.

    The Region 1 version does not miss a thing, making the Region 1 version the best choice if you like extras.

    The Rookie is a decent Disney film, similar in nature to Cool Runnings, with a good performance by Dennis Quaid. The disc has a nice array of extras and is presented with a great transfer and a good 5.1 mix.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall