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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Welcome to Mooseport (2004)

Welcome to Mooseport (2004)

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Released 23-Aug-2004
Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Deleted Scenes-6, With Optional Director's Commentary Outtakes Featurette-Soova Commercial
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	106:02
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (50:37)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Donald Petrie
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Gene Hackman Ray Romano Marcia Gay Harden Maura Tierney Christine Baranski Fred Savage Rip Torn June Squibb Wayne Robson John Rothman Karl Pruner David Macniven Jackie Richardson
Case	?	Starring
RPI	$39.95	Music	John Debney

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

President Monroe Cole (Gene Hackman) has just retired from office with approval ratings in the 80s, making him the most popular US President in history. With a string of book offers, lecture circuits and the opportunity to sit on the board of numerous companies, he appears to have it all. There is only one small problem: keeping the Former First Lady, Charlotte (Christine Baranski), away from his wealth. Having already lost his Baltimore home to the Former First Lady he is forced to move into his summer residence in the quiet township of Mooseport.

When Mooseport’s longstanding Mayor suddenly dies, the townsfolk are left with the dilemma of finding a suitable replacement and it isn’t long before they hit upon the idea of asking President Cole to run for office. Naturally President Cole is reluctant to accept, but when he weighs up the benefits of the public relations coup and the fact that he would be elected unopposed he finally agrees.

Unaware of the President’s nomination, Harold “Handy” Harrison (Ray Romano), the local hardware store owner, decides to do the right thing by the community and nominate for Mayor. Realising what the risk of defeat could do for his reputation President Cole approaches Handy, asking him to withdraw his nomination. Handy obligingly agrees, but when he realises the President is competing for the affections of his girlfriend, Sally Mannis (Maura Tierney), the deal is off.

Being a huge fan of Everyone Loves Raymond I held high expectations for Welcome to Mooseport. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver the goods. While the overall look and feel of the movie is quite good, as is the acting, there are too few laughs to be found in a 106 minute feature. In short, Welcome to Mooseport feels more like a drawn out sitcom episode than a sharp and witty feature length movie.

For those of you who are wondering, yes, there is a token moose and his name is Bruce.

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Transfer Quality

Video

The video transfer is very good.

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

The image is sharp and the shadow detail is good. There is no low level noise and the blacks appear black.

The colour palette is rich and skin tones look natural.

MPEG artefacts and film-to-video artefacts are non-existent though there is some mild grain present during the darker scenes, such as the darkened room at 48:31. A few minor film artefacts are the only other problem though they are fleeting in nature and not intrusive.

English for the Hearing Impaired is the only subtitle stream provided. The subtitle text is a little small and occasionally moves from the bottom of the screen to the top and back again. The subtitles accurately reflect the spoken word.

This is an RSDL disc with the disc layer change occurring at 50:37. The layer change is well placed and I did not notice it on my equipment.

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

Audio

The audio transfer is very good.

The disc contains a single English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) audio track.

The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand. I did not notice any audio sync problems with this disc.

The movie is well supported by John Debney’s musical score, which provides all the pomp and ceremony necessary to support Gene Hackman’s role as President Cole.

Surround channel use is restricted to supporting the musical score and providing general ambience. This is not an action movie so there isn’t a lot of work for the surround speakers to do.

Like the surround channels, the subwoofer doesn’t have a lot of work to do and merely plays a supporting role.

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

Extras

The few extras that are to be found on this disc are really quite uninspiring, though I guess something is better than nothing.

Deleted Scenes (7:37)

There are 6 deleted scenes with optional director's commentary. The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, though it is not 16x9 enhanced. By-and-large the deleted scenes are fairly ho-hum and it is easy to see why the material was omitted in the first place.

Outtakes (2:28)

Like the Deleted Scenes, the Outtakes are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and they are not 16x9 enhanced. The quality of the transfer is quite poor as it is grainy.

Soova Commercial (1:16)

President Cole appears in the Soova car commercial that is alluded to in the movie. This is a high quality transfer that is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, and can be viewed in either English or Norwegian.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

Full frame version.
French and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (Surround) audio tracks.
Spanish subtitles.
Feature Commentary with director Donald Petrie.
Trailers for Garfield, The Day After Tomorrow, Dodgeball, The Clearing, Cheaper By The Dozen, Stuck On You and The Girl Next Door.

The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

Nothing.

The Region 1 version of this disc is the clear winner in terms of foreign language support and additional extras.

Summary

The high point of Welcome to Mooseport is the quality of the transfers. The movie looks good and sounds good. Where Welcome to Mooseport falls down is the script’s inability to deliver enough laughs over a 106 minute period. Recommended for a rainy Sunday afternoon rental.