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.
Little Nicky (2000)

Little Nicky (2000)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD
Released 8-Aug-2001
Cover Art

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Introduction Menu Animation & Audio Dolby Digital Trailer-Rain Audio Commentary-Adam Sandler (Act), Steven Brill (Dir) & Tim Herlihy (Wri) Audio Commentary-Cast Commentary Scene Selection Anim & Audio Featurette-Adam Sandler Goes To Hell Featurette-Satan's Top Forty Music Video-School Of Hard Knocks Deleted Scenes-21 Theatrical Trailer-2 Teaser Trailer-2 Filmographies-Cast & Crew Easter Egg
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	86:31
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Steven Brill
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Adam Sandler Patricia Arquette Harvey Keitel Rhys Ifans Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Jr. Rodney Dangerfield
Case	C-Button-Version 2	Starring
RPI	$34.95	Music	Teddy Castellucci

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English dts 5.1 English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/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

Little Nicky is the latest Adam Sandler vehicle. Some of his films have been quite funny, and I for one looked forward to some more humour from the ex Saturday Night Live comedian. What I got was definitely an Adam Sandler type of film, although I can't say that I enjoyed it as much as Happy Gilmore or The Waterboy. Still, there were laughs to be had and a whole heap of famous faces make an appearance in the film.

Adam plays Nicky, one of Satan's three sons. After 10,000 years, Satan (Harvey Keitel) is due to pass on the reigns of power to one of his sons. He decides, however, that none of his sons are yet ready to assume power. Nicky's two scheming older brothers (well played by Rhys Ifans and Tommy Lister) are irate and decide to take matters into their own hands. They leave back through the gates of hell to create mayhem while Satan literally falls apart. Nicky is entrusted with the job of bringing back his brothers and saving his father. To do this, he too must leave hell and adventure out into modern day New York in pursuit of his siblings.

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

Transfer Quality

Video

Little Nicky is a 16x9 enhanced transfer framed at 1.85:1. It is of very high quality.

The darker scenes in hell and the New York daytime scenes are all superb. This picture is of equal quality to the previous DVD I reviewed, The 6th Day. New Line have always made superb transfers and this is no exception. The transfer has no low level noise and is super sharp. There is really nothing worth quibbling about.

Colours are also reproduced extremely well. Again, there were no problems to be found.

Film artefacts were not a problem at all. MPEG artefacts were also not a problem. Only if you looked really hard in the background was there any pixelization and this was only once or twice during the whole film, such as at 26:28. At 63:62 there was some moiré present.

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

Audio

There were no technical faults to be found with the audio tracks on this DVD, with the soundtracks definitely adding enjoyment to the film.

Little Nicky sports both DTS and Dolby Digital soundtracks in 5.1 surround sound. Many times I swapped over from one to another on the fly as this disk allows you to do. Both tracks exhibited tremendous sound quality. Dialogue clarity and naturalness was great.

Good use was made of the surround channels. Whether subtly for background noises, for the frequent slices of music found throughout the film or for the fiery scenes from Hell, the surrounds were being utilized almost all of the time. Surround use always seemed appropriate to the scene. I could detect no difference in the quality of the surrounds between the DTS or Dolby tracks. In fact, I could hear no real difference between the two tracks at all save for the fact that the DTS track was several decibels louder. Still, it is great to see the presence of a DTS track when there is ample space on the disc for one to be included.

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

Extras

There is a very good selection of extras on this disc. Unusually, every menu, deleted scene and documentary is 16x9 enhanced. The one exception is the rock video. The documentaries appear to have been originally made for 4x3 then zoomed so that the whole width of the screen is filled and then 16x9 enhanced.

Main Menu Introduction

Menu Animation & Audio

Dolby Digital Trailer-Rain

Audio Commentary-Adam Sandler (Actor), Steven Brill (Director) & Tim Herlihy (Writer)

The first commentary is by Adam Sandler, the Director and one of the writers. All appear pretty close and chummy as they recite stories related to the production, their thoughts on the actors, various problems they encountered, and so forth.

Audio Commentary-Cast Commentary

The second commentary is by the cast members. Although there are a couple of anchors throughout the length of the feature, the actors come and say their bits while their scenes are occurring then depart. This commentary is a very loose one as the commentators themselves admit. It often bears little relation to the on-screen events as the actors talk about such things as when they were in Vietnam or when they first met Adam Sandler.

Scene Selection Animation & Audio

Featurette-Adam Sandler Goes To Hell

This is a 32 minute standard behind-the-scenes look at the cast and crew and the making of the film.

Featurette-Satan's Top Forty

This is an interesting piece examining the history of heavy metal music, its makers, and the myths that surround the supposedly evil nature of much of the music. Prominent rock historians and musicians are interviewed throughout the 17 minute feature.

Music Video-School Of Hard Knocks

Deleted Scenes-21

This is a big collection of deleted scenes, 21 in all, some of which would have been good in the final film. They were all quite funny. All are in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and are of the same picture quality as the main feature. Sound is in Dolby Digital 2.0. Watched back-to-back as the menu allows you to do, the deleted scenes run for over 16 minutes.

Theatrical Trailer-2

Both in Dolby Digital 5.1 and 16x9 enhanced.

Teaser Trailer-2

Also both in Dolby Digital 5.1 and 16x9 enhanced.

Filmographies-Cast & Crew

Filmographies of Sandler, Patricia Arquette, Harvey Keitel, Rhys Ifans, Tom Lister Jr, Rodney Dangerfield and Steven Brill.

Easter Egg

It's there somewhere - we didn't find it.

R4 vs R1

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

This is a Region 4 PAL DVD. I have not watched the Region 1 disc which according to other sources has an equally fine transfer and near-identical set of features but minus the DTS track. The local version is thus the one of choice.

Summary

Despite being set in Heaven, Hell and New York and containing plenty of special effects (new for a Sandler film), Little Nicky is not Sandler's best. Most of his earlier films were more humorous. It still has a number of funny moments, though, and the acting is of good quality. Those who like the Sandler style of comedy will still enjoy the film. Their enjoyment will be enhanced by the magnificent quality of the transfer to DVD and the healthy quantity of extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Toshiba 2109, using Component output
Display	Toshiba 117cm widescreen rear projection TV. Calibrated with AVIA Guide To Home Theatre. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio Decoder	Rotel RSP-985 THX Ultra certified surround pre-amp.
Amplification	Parasound HCA-2003 3x300w THX certified power amp, NAD 208THX 2x300w power amp.
Speakers	Velodyne FSR-18 1250w 18” servo-driven subwoofer, Celestion A3 front speakers, A2 rear speakers (full range) and A4c center channel speaker.

Other Reviews
DVD Net - Amy F
The DVD Bits - Dean B
DVDownUnder - Matt G
Web Wombat - James A
DVD Plaza - Anthony C (read my bio)
Jeff K's Australian DVD Info Site - Magalie S