Goal! (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Danny Cannon (Director) Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Behind The Pitch Featurette-The Beautiful Game Trailer-FIFA Promo - World Cup 2006 Featurette-FIFA Golden Moments Theatrical Trailer Featurette-Adidas Munez + 10
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	113:15
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (73:20)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Danny Cannon
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Kuno Becker Alessandro Nivola Marcel Iures Stephen Dillane Anna Friel Kieran O'Brien Sean Pertwee Cassandra Bell Tony Plana Miriam Colon Gary Lewis Frances Barber Emma Field-Rayner
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$39.95	Music	Graeme Revell

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes, but appropriate
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Completely predicable, utterly unoriginal, and soaked with clichés throughout, Goal! is one of this year's crowd-pleasing guilty pleasures. And yes, I'll admit it - I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's a rare film indeed that can have you rolling your eyes, and bring a lump to your throat - all at the same time.

    Despite the fact that (according to FIFA) over one third of the World's population watch football (soccer) every week, due to American Cultural Imperialism big budget football films are few and far between. Indeed, it's been just over 25 years since Sylvester Stallone appeared with his arms crazily flapping as the goalkeeper in John Huston's enjoyable World War II football romp, Victory, about a team of Allied POWs playing the Nazis.

    As a football film Goal! is much better, despite its completely predictable, starry-eyed screenplay by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais that has all the expected elements of a Rocky-style sporting Cinderella rags-to-riches fairy tale.

    The story begins with the Mexican Munez family illegally sneaking across the border into the US. While the disciplinarian Munez Papa (Tony Plana) believes hard work is the key to living the American dream - 'Keep your feet on the ground and not your head in the sky!" - his son just can't help dreaming.

    Santiago (Kuno Becker) helps his father tending to the gardens of the Southern Californian wealthy, and also works in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant, but Santiago's true love is playing football.

    One morning, a former UK-based talent scout, Scotsman Glen Foy (Stephen Dillane) sees the 20-year-old Santiago play in a local LA league and immediately believes that Santiago could be a star (even though technically he's far too old to be recruited). One phone call from Foy to the manager is all it takes to win Santiago a trial with Newcastle United.

    Despite hardships and set-backs, soon Santiago has a plane ticket to London, courtesy of his loving grandma (Miriam Colon).

    Once in Newcastle, Santiago joins his team of stereotypes. Despite failing in both his trials, good natured folk flock to help the young man, and soon he's playing in the Premier league.

    Along for the ride is the gruff but kindly Scottish trainer (Gary Lewis), the humourless but wise German manager, Erik Dornhelm (Marcel Iures), a pretty but man-weary nurse, Roz (Anna Friel), a desperate but lovable fellow rookie (Kevin Knapman), and a very flashy, Shane Warne-like football star with a heart of gold, Gavin Harris (Alessandro Nivola).

    Along the way, there are also a few awkward cameos from soccer stars, including David Beckham, Zinadine Zidane, and Alan Shearer.

    Facing obstacles ranging from the British weather to surly team-mates, Santiago's quest for glory moves forward stoically, with the predictable two steps forward, one step backward rhythm of this genre.

    Of course, once Santiago hits the big time, he is also presented with a series of moral choices: Stay out partying, or go to bed early? Enjoy the delights of all the football-crazed girls, or stay loyal to his loving, demure nurse? Of course we all already know the answers to these, but for the clichés to be played out, the questions must be asked.

    Made as part of a trilogy, in Goal 2 Santiago joins the Real Madrid team and in Goal 3 Santiago plays in the World Cup (segments of the third film are due to be filmed in Germany this June).

    Enjoy Goal! for what it is - an unashamedly sentimental family movie about realising your dreams with the support and love of those around you.

Video

    The movie features some exciting football action, and some great cinematography by Michael Barrett. Overall, the transfer is excellent, and looked wonderful when viewed on a widescreen television, and with a projector.

    The transfer is presented in a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    Despite the source material being occasionally grainy, and the use of some stock footage, the image is usually razor sharp. For example, look at the detail in the aerial shot of the stadium at 53:20. Occasionally the film has a dark and moody appearance in its lighting, and the shadow detail and black level are excellent. For example, consider the detail in the interior hotel night shot at 14:54.

    The lighting and photography in this film are excellent, and the colour is great throughout, with accurate skin tones. A rich palette of hues are used to assist in the story telling. For example, compare the warm yellow glows of the Southern Californian locations with the harsh blue/grey lighting of Newcastle.

    There are no problems with MPEG or film artefacts. Occasionally there appeared to be some slight edge enhancement, but it was never distracting.

   English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are provided, and they are accurate.

    This is an Dual Layer disc, with the layer change placed at 73:20. The feature is divided into 31 chapters.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The film's sound design is excellent, and the DVD's audio is immersive, making good use of a home theatre's capability.

    There are three audio options: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s), and English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s).

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent.

    The film has been scored by Graeme Revell, and the traditional orchestral score does add some emotion to the film, helping to provide some dramatic and tense moments. There is also a lot of contemporary pop-style-music used throughout.

    The surround presence and activity is good throughout, with the rear speakers being used for both the score and for ambience, such as the audience applause at 39:33. There are also some great moments of surround sound, with panning between speakers.

    The DVD also enjoys a great LFE track when required, such as the plane landing at 24.32, or the deep bass of the hip hop club at 49.20.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are a few enjoyable extras. Unless stated otherwise, all are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital stereo audio and letterboxed clips from the film.

Menu

    With animation and audio.

Audio Commentary

    Screen specific audio commentary by director Danny Canon and screenwriters Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. The three discuss everything from the film's casting to its locations. Not overly technical, the commentary tends to focus on the movie's characters and story. There are also a few anecdotes throughout.

Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Behind The Pitch

    Featuring producer Mike Jefferies and director Danny Canon, this is a brief look at how the trilogy came to be made, and how FIFA came on board.

Featurette-The Beautiful Game

    A very quick look at the popularity of the World game.

Trailer-FIFA Promo - World Cup 2006

    A short advert for the coming World Cup.

Featurette-FIFA Golden Moments

    Sadly only running for about three and a half minutes, this extra includes a montage of some of the best goals in World Cup history. It is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital Stereo. This is by far the best of the extras.

Featurette-Adidas Munez + 10

    Here, the movie's star Kuno Becker picks his dream team. This is also presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital Stereo.

Theatrical Trailer

    The movie trailer for Goal!.

    Goal! does not seem to be released on DVD in Region 1 yet.

    Sentimental and endearing, Goal! is a nice Friday night feel-good movie. If you want to see the real harshness of football drama, with all the blood, sweat, and tears . . . well that unfolds on SBS in June - it's called the World Cup.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is also excellent.

    The extras are decent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall