Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild (2005) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Family |
Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Game-Help Stuart Escape, Monty's Monstrous Appetite Read Along-Stuart's Summer Journal Featurette-Learn to Draw Game-PS2 Game Promo |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2005 | ||
Running Time | 72:13 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4,5 | Directed By | Audu Paden |
Studio
Distributor |
Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
E.B. White Geena Davis Michael J. Fox Hugh Laurie |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | $24.95 | Music |
Atli Orvarsson Robert Gordon Bruce King |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Czech Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Romanian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English Czech Hebrew Hindi Romanian English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Two of the best family films of the last few years were Stuart Little and Stuart Little 2. I was very disappointed to see that this third instalment was a direct to DVD effort and that it was computer animated in full rather than being the excellent mix of live action and animation used in the first two films. Accordingly, I (and my fellow reviewers) have allowed this disc to languish unreviewed for some time. I was prompted to review this one when I saw the recently released animated series of Stuart Little which is available on DVD. On the basis of my sons enjoying that one, I decided it might be worth taking a look at this. If you go into this expecting something more akin to a feature length television production rather than a feature film you are less likely to be disappointed. It is certainly nowhere near the quality of the first two movies.
The plot is fairly clichéd, involving the Little family spending summer in a cabin by a lake, something we have certainly seen many times in 'family' films. Stuart wants to join the lake scouts but George is more focused on his video game. A girl they meet tells them a story about 'The Beast' which lives in the woods. George and Stuart join the scouts and Mr Little comes along to help run the troop. Stuart finds it difficult to do the physical tasks involved and then gets lost in the woods. Here he meets Reeko the Skunk and they strike up a friendship, helping each other when 'The Beast' shows itself.
Most of the characters are voiced by the cast from the other movies (excluding Nathan Lane) but the quality of the animation is significantly below that used in the original movies and certainly nowhere near the quality of fully animated features such as Ice Age . There is annoyingly little detail in faces and fur which we have gotten so used to in recent productions.
In summary, this film is decent enough entertainment for the kids but certainly doesn't have the quality writing and animation you expect from a feature film.
The video quality is very good.
The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.
The picture was quite sharp and clear but was somewhat variable with backgrounds in some scenes being a little soft and fast motion being quite blurry. There was no evidence of low level noise.
The colour was excellent throughout.
There were no noticeable artefacts.
There are subtitles in English, English for the hearing impaired and 4 other languages. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read.
There is no layer change.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The audio quality is very good.
This DVD contains three audio options, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 384 Kb/s and the same in Czech and Romanian.
Dialogue was clear and easy to understand. The animated lip movements synched quite badly with the dialogue. The animated characters seemed to say a lot less syllables than the dialogue.
The score of this film by Alti Orvarsson does its job without standing out.
The surround speakers provide some mild atmosphere but certainly nothing overt.
The subwoofer was used occasionally by the music and to provide bass to animal growls.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The menu included an intro, music and motion plus the ability to select scenes, languages and subtitles.
A trivia quiz game with three levels of question, 10 questions per level. Not bad.
Another game which is a little complex for the smaller children. It involves memorizing Monty's signals for food and feeding him the right thing. .
A read-along book version of the same story as the film.
Three instructional sections which teach your children how to draw the characters from Stuart Little. Probably the best of the extras.
Promo for the PS2 game.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This movie has been released in a very similar format in Region 1 except that the PS2 promo on our release is swapped for a music video and some trailers . There are also some minor language and subtitle differences. Region 2 is exactly the same as ours. Draw.
The video quality is very good.
The audio quality is very good.
A decent selection of child focused extras are included.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output |
Display | Sony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC). |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX-511 |
Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Yamaha YST SW90 subwoofer |