Shiloh 2: Shiloh Season (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Family	Main Menu Audio Listing-Cast & Crew Interviews-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	92:17
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Sandy Tung
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Zachary Browne Scott Wilson Michael Moriarty Ann Dowd Caitlin Wachs Rachel David Rod Steiger Marissa Leigh Joe Pichler
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Joel Goldsmith

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Dutch Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Dutch English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Shiloh 2: Shiloh Season is the story of a young boy, Marty Preston (Zachary Browne) who owns a strangely-named and previously mistreated beagle; Shiloh (Frannie). There's a brief recap of the first film (which I hadn't seen) explaining how Marty got the dog from his cruel neighbour Judd Travers (Scott Wilson), after doing chores for him to pay for Shiloh. Then we're straight into this instalment, in what is a trilogy of books.

    Marty is an almost unbelievably pure character who doesn't seem capable of wishing evil or harm on anyone else, and his perfect life with his family and beloved dog are only marred by the troublesome alcoholic Judd. Although Marty owns Shiloh now, Judd wants him back and has also started illegally hunting on the Preston's land, making Marty scared that he'll end up shooting his beagle (hence the "Shiloh Season" of the title referring to a hunting season).

    Marty has mentors in his almost painfully slow-speaking father, Ray (Michael Moriarty), and Doc Wallace (Rod Steiger), who are constantly giving him words of wisdom about how to handle the situation with Judd. Although in the end he comes up with his own solution, that isn't really encouraged by either of the two older men.

    Things gradually build up with more and more friction developing between Judd and everyone else in the community, until Judd has a crash and is only saved by Shiloh and Marty. Will his time in convalescence soften him or just make him more bitter and twisted? Marty tries to ensure it's the former.

    As sentimental family films go, with morals being thrown at us left right and centre, this isn't the worst one I've ever seen, and I'd imagine that any parent would be more than happy for their children to watch it. However, the very stiff acting of Browne in the lead part, as well as some pretty bad dialogue, do make it a bit painful at times. I'd say the best performance comes from the dog itself (or b****, to be more accurate), who never misses a beat or fluffs a line.

    Some of the supposed tension that is meant to be building throughout the film is also a little bit ineffective, but then maybe for kids it would be more successful.

    Overall I'd say that, despite its flaws, this isn't a bad little family film, but I think the younger members of the family will enjoy it more than the parents.

Video

    This is a very nice transfer, especially when you consider it's a film that was made for direct-to-video release.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced. This is the original theatrical aspect ratio.

    The image is nice and sharp, with details standing out clearly in daytime as well as the few night-time scenes in the film. Shadow detail is good with no visible low-level noise in the blacks.

    Colours are also good, with skin tones being accurate and other colours being nice and vibrant. The outdoor shots display rich greens in the forest, and the interior shots have solid colours, with no chroma noise visible.

    You'll be pleased to know that there isn't any obvious aliasing or edge enhancement. I didn't see any compression artefacts either, and although there is the odd film artefact (such as at 59:24 and 61:28 ), they are very rare and there is nothing large or ugly.

    There are 4 sets of subtitles on this DVD; English, French, Dutch and English for the Hearing Impaired. I sampled the English ones and although they weren't 100% accurate, found them to be true to the gist of the dialogue.

    This is a single-layered disc with no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Audio, too, was a pleasant surprise, and is as good as some 5.1 tracks I've heard in the past.

    There are 3 audio tracks on the DVD; English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded, French Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded, and Dutch Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded. I listened to the English track only.

    Dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times. I didn't notice any bad ADR work or problems with audio sync.

    The musical score by Joel Goldsmith (son of Jerry Goldsmith) is an orchestral one that suits the film to a tee. It's suitably moving and emotive and adds to the sentiment trying to be conveyed.

    When using Pro Logic II processing there is a lot of surround activity on this track. When the music is playing it is nearly always engulfing the listener in a very effective manner (right from 0:25). There are also birds chirping all around most of the time during outdoor scenes (too many examples to list), and thunder at 87:25. I've heard poor 5.1 tracks with less surround activity than this 2.0 one.

    Subwoofer activity was again a surprise when using Pro Logic II processing. The big American trucks that all the characters seem to drive are constantly rumbling the floor (4:48, 12:06, 58:50, and so on), with guns (19:03), thunder (87:25), and music (36:10) also benefiting from the added bass of your subwoofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The main menu has music from the film looping throughout.

Listing - Cast & Crew

    Just what it says - a list of the cast and crew. Nothing more, nothing less.

Interviews - Cast & Crew (15:28)

    This quarter of an hour is spent talking with most of the people involved with the making of the film. It includes brief interviews with the actors, director, author of the book, dog trainer, producer and so on. All interviews are short and don't give a whole lot away, and it's generally one of those pat-everyone-on-the-back extras. There are, however, a few interesting facts to be gleaned, and I was interested to hear that due to the first movie being quite a hit in the US, it's actually becoming a bit of a franchise (they talk about making the third in the trilogy, but I'm not sure at this stage if it has been made).

    This extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

Theatrical Trailer (1:01)

    This very short trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and hence is not 16x9 enhanced.

    It seems the discs for the two regions are identical, with our PAL transfer and cheaper price making the Region 4 disc the narrow winner.

    This gentle family movie actually has a bit of a moral to it, and although its execution is let down by some below-par acting and dialogue, it's still a worthwhile film to watch with the kids.

    The video is very nice indeed - no complaints there.

    Audio, too, is very good for a 2.0 track.

    The extras are of very limited interest. The interviews are the main extra, and they're not much more than a fluff piece.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall