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.
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.
The Game Plan (2007)

The Game Plan (2007)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD

Released 1-Jul-2008

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Family Deleted Scenes
Outtakes
Featurette-The King in Search of a Ring
Featurette-Making Of-Drafting The Game Plan
Main Menu Audio
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 2007
Running Time 105:48
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (58:50) Cast & Crew
Start Up Language Select Then Programme
Region Coding 4 Directed By Andy Fickman
Studio
Distributor

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.
Starring Dwayne Johnson
Madison Pettis
Kyra Sedgwick
Roselyn Sanchez
Morris Chestnut
Hayes MacArthur
Brian J. White
Case ?
RPI ? Music Nathan Wang


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Czech Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement Yes
Action In or After Credits Yes

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

Plot Synopsis

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is the latest in a long line of promising action heroes to sell his career out to laboured family fodder. The Game Plan is the meal ticket that marks the end of his run as a promising action star. Following the same muscly guy plus small children formula as the last one of these things, The Pacifier, which sunk Vin Diesel's career a couple of years ago, The Game Plan mixes a staple diet of mildly amusing situations with lazily written jokes and plot to produce an affable but wholly forgettable romp.

The Rock stars as Joe "The King" Kingman, captain and all-star quarterback for the Boston Rebels American football team, whose assumedly hedonistic lifestyle is brought to a crashing halt when an 8 year old girl named Peyton (Madison Pettis) arrives on his doorstep claiming to be his daughter. The shock hits Joe's manager Stella (Kyra Sedgwick) harder than it does him and she rushes to put a positive spin on the story ahead of Joe's upcoming contract negotiations. Wacky hijinks ensue as Joe struggles to learn to be a single father, learn ballet and win the Superbowl at the same time.

I call Joe's lifestyle "assumedly" hedonistic because we never really get a firm idea that this is the case. The Game Plan is family-friendly to the extreme and anything that isn't squeaky clean has been left on the cutting room floor (the deleted scenes on the disc confirm as much - even general hints that Joe is a bit of a ladies' man have been snipped). As a result the movie fails to give the impression that Peyton has any real impact on Joe's outlook on life simply because he seems to have be squeaky clean to begin with, knocking the wind out of the sails of any message in the movie.

The Rock has had a reasonable degree of success with comedy in the past (let's face it, he was the only funny part of Be Cool), but he really struggles for laughs in The Game Plan. The movie has tried to go for a classic 1960s and 1970s Disney movie style but missed the mark by a long shot, largely thanks to the clumsy script. It certainly has a few good moments, but too often falls back on the perceived absurdity of situations (many of which aren't that absurd) rather than good jokes.

Lower to mid primary kids will probably enjoy The Game Plan but forget it in a hurry. Mum and Dad are probably best off catching up on their chores or having a quick snooze.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

The video is quite sharp and free of grain and low level noise. There is a good level of detail in blacks and shadows.

The colour in the image is a little on the pale side. It certainly isn't as eye-poppingly bold as many comparable recent releases, but is consistent throughout.

No film artefacts of MPEG compression artefacts were noticeable.

English subtitles are present for the feature. Based on the portion I sample they appear to be accurate and well timed.

This is a RSDL disc. The layer break occurs at 58:50 but was not noticeable on my equipment.

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

Audio

A English and Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384 Kbps) audio tracks and Polish, Czech and Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 Kbps) Audio tracks are present for the film.

The dialogue is at a good level in the mix. ADR looping is noticeable on a number of occasions, but the audio seems well synchronised to the video otherwise.

The film's score, by Nathan Wang, is a abrasively peppy affair that fits the film well and sits reasonably well in the mix.

There is moderate surround use throughout the film, most for the score and a handful of effects. The surround field created is a little flat and front heavy, but the kids probably won't notice. The LFE channel has a few good moments, but is mostly inactive.

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

Extras

Each of the extras on this disc feature a variety of subtitles, but not English.

Main Menu Audio

This disc is set up with what Disney are calling "Fastplay", the idea being that the disc automatically plays the feature and extras once the disc is inserted so that kids can stick the disc in and not have to worry about using the remote to start the feature. It is a nice idea, but the disc authors have pretty much missed the point and added a language menu at the start of the disc that requires interaction before playing the feature. A main menu is available by pressing the menu button on the remote.

Drafting The Game Plan Featurette (20:19)

A reasonably colourful "Making Of" featurette. The material is pretty much all gushing self-praise and character motivation guff, but it is pleasant guff that will probably satisfy the young target audience for the movie.

ESPN's SportsCenter: The King in Search of a Ring (5:04)

A mock ESPN SportsCenter report on Joe Kingman. An entertaining supplement to the lead character.

Bloopers With Marv Albert

Presented like a sports wrap up with blow by blow commentary and introductions from sports commentator Marv Albert, this set of bloopers is fairly entertaining largely as a result of their presentation.

Deleted scenes (20:24)

Introduced by director Andy Fickman. These 9 deleted scenes are mostly excised footage that make characters seem ever so slightly less squeaky clean than they are in the movie.

R4 vs R1

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

Region 1 features Spanish and French language tracks in place of the Region 4's Russian, Polish, Czech and Hungarian tracks. Region 1 also includes an additional featurette, The Rock Learns to Play QB, and an interactive home makeover feature entitled Peyton's Makeover Madness. It looks like Region 4 missed out on this content in order to stick such a wide array of languages on the disc. In my playbook that places Region 4 as a loser.

Summary

The Rock sells out to sickly sweet family-fodder, starring as American Football all-star Joe Kingman who discovers he has an 8 year old girl in the lead up to the Superbowl. On the scale of these things, The Game Plan sits just behind Vin Diesel's sellout The Pacifier in terms of entertainment value. At least its miles ahead of Mr. Nanny, Santa With Muscles and Jingle All The Way!

The video is a little on the pale side, but otherwise looks very good. The audio is rather bland, but serviceable, and features no faults.

This disc includes a reasonable array of extras, but misses out on a couple that are found on the Region 1 edition in exchange for a bunch of additional Eastern European language tracks.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Adam Gould (Totally Biolicious!)
Monday, June 30, 2008
Review Equipment
DVDSony Playstation 3, using HDMI output
Display Samsung 116cm LA46M81BD. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL).
Audio DecoderPioneer VSX2016AVS. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials.
AmplificationPioneer VSX2016AVS
Speakers150W DTX front speakers, 100W centre and 4 surround/rear speakers, 12 inch PSB Image 6i powered sub

Other Reviews NONE