Recess-School's Out (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Menu Animation & Audio Game-Recess: The Schoolyard Challenge Featurette-Animation Camp (8) Featurette-Recess Digital Comic Book - The Trouble With Shorts Music Video-Green Tambourine Featurette-10 Secrets Of Recess Music Video-Dancing In The Street
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	80:01 (Case: 83)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (55:52)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Chuck Sheetz
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Andy Lawrence Ricky D'shon Collins Ashley Johnson Jason Davis Dabney Coleman James Woods Courtland Mead Melissa Joan Hart
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$34.95	Music	Denis M. Hannigan

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.70:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French German Croatian Slovenian	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, Green Tambourine Music Video

    Recess: School's Out is based on the Disney TV show Recess. As far as I am aware, this has not been shown on Australian television, however, since this type of program is not targeted at my particular age group, it's just possible that I've missed seeing it. So, if I'm wrong on this point please forgive me.

    It's the last day of school before the summer vacation starts and TJ (voiced by Andy Lawrence) finds out that his friends are all going away to various camps leaving him to spend the Summer in town alone. While riding his bike past the now-deserted school he sees some shady characters hanging about and a strange green glow emanating from the school's windows. When neither his parents nor the Police believe his story, he approaches Principal Prickly (Dabney Coleman) who agrees to investigate. When the Principal tries to enter the school, he is vaporised in front of TJ's eyes. TJ is determined to investigate further. He enlists his sister, Becky (Melissa Joan Hart), to drive him to the various camps that his friends are attending in order to bring them back to town to help with the investigation.

Video

    This is a very good transfer - sharp, and with bright fully saturated colours and almost artefact free. There's just a hint of edge enhancement.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.70:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This is close to, but not quite the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

    This is a very sharp transfer with good shadow detail. There isn't any low level noise.

    As you might expect from an animated feature, the colours are very vivid and bright.

    I didn't spot any MPEG artefacts in the main feature but there were some occasionally evident in the extras. There's some aliasing, but it's very mild and not that frequent. I didn't notice a single film artefact.

    There are 5 subtitles options available. I watched 20 mins of the English subtitles and found them to be easy to read and completely accurate.

    This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed during Chapter 17, at 55:52. It is very good, so good in fact I almost missed it and had to go back to verify the time.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio transfer is very good with no problems to speak of.

    There are two audio tracks available: English, which I listened to, and German. Both are Dolby Digital 5.1 encoded.

    There were no problems with the dialogue which was always clear and easy to understand.

    Audio sync isn't really a big issue with animated features: suffice it to say that the characters' lips moved more or less in time with their voices.

    The music was an interesting mix of mostly well-known tunes that were picked to enhance the on-screen action including: One, Born To Be Wild, Colonel Bogey (better known as the theme from Bridge On The River Kwai) and Nessun Dorma.

    The sound was mostly limited to the front soundstage with the rear channels only used very subtly. For the most part, if you didn't have rear channels you wouldn't miss them when watching this feature. However, they did come alive quite noticeably a couple of times such as at 62:35 when one of the characters goes crashing down a staircase.

    The subwoofer was only used occasionally, but when it was, it was used to good effect, for example, in support of explosions.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    This DVD has a nice selection of quite reasonable extras.

Menu

    The menu is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. It features both animation and audio.

Featurette - Animation Camp (10:05)

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, without 16x9 enhancement and with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, this feature, which is broken up into 8 chapters, explains in simple terms how an animated film is made. The presentation is made by some of the voice actors, animators and technical people who made the movie. Subtitles are provided but only in German.

Featurette - Recess Digital Comic Book - The Trouble With Shorts (3:02)

    This is just what the name implies. You can choose to read it yourself just like a paper comic book or have it read to you. If you read it yourself you get to navigate the pages using the cursor buttons. This is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 without 16x9 enhancement. Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded if you choose to have the comic read to you, otherwise there is no audio.

Featurette - 10 Secrets of Recess

    Also just like the name implies - learn 10 facts about Recess as presented by the two creators of the show. This is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded. There are no subtitles.

Game - Recess: The School Yard Challenge (As long as it takes....)

    This has several levels, requiring a number of different skills including memory, knowledge of the film and the ability to recognise the characters' voices even when they are disguised.

Music Video - Green Tambourine (1:30)

    Features the Mickey character, who is voiced by Robert Goulet, performing this song which is also included in the end credits of the movie. This is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0. No subtitles are provided.

Music Video - Dancing In The Street (3:44)

    Features Myra performing this number which is also included in the end credits of the movie. This is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.55:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. The audio track is Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded. There are no subtitles.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on:

• Theatrical Trailer
• DVD ROM Links

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on:

• Nothing

    Recess: School's Out has been very nicely transferred to DVD. I'm in the wrong age group to have fully appreciated the story, but I think the kiddies will like it!

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is very good.

    There's a nice selection of very good extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall