Lizzie McGuire-Volume 1: When Mom Attacks (2001)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio Biographies-Cast Gallery-Photo DVD-ROM Extras-Screensaver
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	132
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jace Alexander Timothy Busfield David Carradine Robert Carradine
Studio Distributor	Disney Magna Home Entertainment	Starring	Hilary Duff Adam Lamberg Lalaine Jake Thomas Hallie Todd Robert Carradine Ashlie Brillault Clayton Snyder Christian Copelin Carly Schroeder Kyle Downes Arvie Lowe Jr. Chelsea J. Wilson
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Hilary Duff Marco Marinangeli Sam Winans

  Lizzie McGuire (Hilary Duff) chronicles the life of a ‘typical’ Junior High School student in the United States . Lizzie is not one of the cool girls in her year, nor is she one of the geeks. Her group of friends, consisting of Miranda (Lalaine) and Gordo (Adam Lamberg) fall somewhere in between the social cliques of Junior High.

   Although the show is set in the early years of what would be High School in Australia, this show is aimed at the tween market. It seems girls between 6 and 12 cannot get enough of Hilary Duff. My daughter is one of them and she has assisted in this review to get the views of someone in the demographic that the show is targeted at.  

   Lizzie McGuire ran between 2001-2004 in the US and is a regular fixture on The Disney Channel here. This disc, Lizzie McGuire-When Mom Attacks, includes the first six episodes of the Disney series that launched Duff’s career.  

  Episodes:

1. Pool Party: The episode that started it all. It briefly introduces the main characters that appear regularly in the show; her above-mentioned friends, her parents and my personal favourite, her brother Matt. Played brilliantly by Jake Thomas, he steals almost every scene he is in. Good episode, but not great. It introduces the 'every episode has a moral to the story' theme well though.
2. Picture Day: The day that most teenagers dread. Lizzie gets forced to wear the jumper her Grandmother made. Has some good moments, especially the moment Lizzie acts as Miranda’s bodyguard.
3. Rumours: Shows the consequences of gossip when Lizzie accidentally starts a rumour.
4. I’ve Got Rythmic: Lizzie discovers a hidden talent, Rhythmic Gymnastics.  One of the funnier episodes. My daughter’s favourite on this disc.
5. When Mom Attacks: A school camping trip turns into a potential problem for Lizzie.
6. Jack of All Trades: The M-Dogg steals the show again here. Lizzie is concerned about the job aptitude test she took.

    The acting performances are all solid,  which considering the young age of most of the cast members is a surprise. Being a parent, I often find myself laughing at Lizzie’s ‘Mom’ and Dad (Hallie Todd and Robert Carradine, brother of Keith and David), who often outshine their on-screen daughter’s friends. I also like the bloopers that are shown at the end of each episode.

    Lizzie McGuire is one of those shows most people either love or hate. Personally, I don’t love it, but my daughter does and as a parent it definitely fits into the kind of show I would rather have her watch. It’s a family friendly show with enough moments for parents to get a laugh out of as well as being ‘must-see TV’ for a lot of kids.

Video

    The video transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame, which I believe is the original aspect ratio.

    Watching the first episode or two I was reasonably impressed with the picture quality, but wondered why there was a bit of graininess here and there. In the closing credits of the second episode I noticed that it said it was filmed on Kodak Film. I had assumed it was captured on video, so that answered that.
The grain did not detract from the viewing experience and was generally only more noticeable when the camera moved.

    Being a show aimed at girls there are a lot of bright and vibrant colours used which come out looking very good. The Lizzie animations and cut scenes also look good and add a lot to the character of the show.

    There is some minor aliasing, but nothing too distracting.

    Overall, good enough picture quality for the kind of show it is. It will keep the kids more than happy.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) soundtrack was certainly ample for the show.

    The dialogue is clear and easy to listen to - nothing to knock your socks off, but it is a sitcom after all. There were no problems with the audio sync.

    The show has a lot of sound effects, whether it be in one of the animation cut scenes or when something is exaggerated for comedic effect. These come off sounding good and add a lot to the enjoyment of the show. There is no surround nor subwoofer usage though.

    There is a lot of recent music used, too. It all sounds good, but not great.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    Pretty ordinary.

Cast Biographies

    Gives a bit of background info on the younger cast members. Nothing exciting though.

Photo Gallery

    Again, nothing much.

DVD-ROM

    A screensaver that will appeal only to the most diehard fans

    This show deserves a bit more depth in the extras department.

    Although Lizzie has been released in the US on DVD it seems that this standalone disc has not. There is, however, a Season 1 box set that includes these episodes plus the other 16 that were in the debut season.

    This is a disc that would please most tweens (that is if they haven’t already seen all of these episodes over and over again on Foxtel).

    My daughter was of the opinion that “It's a good disc to watch ….if you like Lizzie McGuire.” So there you go, if you like Lizzie then at the RRP of $24.95 it's a reasonable deal (although a season box set would undoubtedly be better). If you are unsure of who Lizzie is, rent before you buy!

    The video quality is good enough for a kid's show.

    The audio quality is sufficient too.

    The extras are weak.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall