The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Featurette-Buster Reynolds Remembers Jamie Uys Trailer-Born Free, Living Free, Running Free
Rating
Year Of Production	1989
Running Time	93:30
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Jamie Uys
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	N!xau Lena Farugia Hans Strydom Nadies Eiros Richard Loring Paddy O'Byrne
Case	?
RPI	Box	Music	Charles Fox

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French German Italian Spanish Dutch Arabic Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Swedish Turkish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     The opening to The Gods Must Be Crazy II is almost a replica of the first film, with our same dulcet narrator giving his anthropological insights into the idyll of the Kalahari lifestyle. Our same hero, Xixo (N!xau) is present, still hunting and enjoying his peaceful existence. His two young children, Xisa (Nadies) and Xiri (Eiros) beg him to take them hunting with him. Their curiosity gets the better of them, and they find themselves in the back of a poacher's van, which speeds them ever further away from their desperate father.

      In the meantime, New York Doctor of Law, Ann Taylor (Lena Farugia), has been whisked to South Africa to deliver a conference at a seminar. She is charmed by bush pilot Jack (Richard Loring) to take a brisk aerial safari in a dinky little two seater plane. Their destination is to meet up with veterinary doctor, Stephen Marshall (Hans Strydom), and provide him with some supplies. However, when they catch up with the doctor, he is informed that his ministry of a sick animal is required at base, so the 2 doctors take to the skies. Bad weather and lack of whiskey (I'll leave you to see the film for an explanation of that) see their plane land in the crest of a baobab tree and the New York Doctor gets an up close and personal introduction to African landscapes and wildlife.

      Meanwhile, a soldier and a Cuban rebel find themselves in an arresting stalemate - although what a Cuban rebel is doing in South Africa is anyone's guess. In the style of version one, these disparate groups are all on a collision course with each other in another slapstick feast.

      The joys of the film are revisiting N!xau again, and hearing that wonderful click language again, which I've since learned is called !Kung. The problem with the film is that it uses almost exactly the same formula as the first film, with very strong plot parallels and the same old jokes and techniques reapplied. Its increased sophistry removes all the charm of the original, and it seems a somewhat superfluous effort.

      It's pleasant, but not a patch on the original.

Video

     The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced.

     This is slightly better in quality than the original version, with quite acceptable brightness range and little low level noise. Contrast is reasonable.

     Occasionally the transfer looks a little washed out, but in most instances, the colour range is quite good.

     The blue screen chroma key effects with the kids on the back of the truck are a little clumsy and ordinary, but this is more to do with the available technology available at the time of filming. There is a little telecine wobble and significant amounts of film to video artefacts present throughout. Aliasing is only a minor issue.

    Subtitles are clear, timely and accurate, and audio sync is quite acceptable.

     This disc is a single sided, single layered disc, with no layer change present.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     There are five audio tracks on this DVD: English Dolby Digital 2.0, French Dolby Digital 2.0, German Dolby Digital 2.0, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0, and Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0. I listened to the English version.

     The dialogue quality was better than the original version, although it still has distortions present, such that it feels sometimes like listening under water.

    The music was light, bright and cheesy - and that was perfect for this kind of handmade film.

     There was absolutely no surround or subwoofer activity.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

     The menu design is themed around the movie. It is 16x9 enhanced. The main menu features an animated clip from the movie and an audio background.

Buster Reynolds Remembers Jamie Uys (06:47):

    The cinematographer recalls the architect of the Gods projects. His memories recount an early conservationist whose vintage showed he was likely influenced by the slapstick comedy of Keystone Kops and Buster Keaton. His reveries are warm, respectful and insightful.

Trailers

     Born Free (3:19), Living Free (2:58) and Running Free (2:06)

     This seems to come directly from the North American stock, so ladies and gentlemen, choose your Region.

     The problem this film suffers is comparison to its original. Although charming enough in its own right, it explores really nothing that hadn't been done already in the first.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall