June 3, 2003
Vin WHO?!
The mere idea of 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS doesn't exactly set expectations soaring. In fact, it sets off something akin to a universal gag reflex. "A sequel to THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, of all things?" objects the cinéaste crowd. "A sequel to THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS without Vin Diesel?" scoff that film's fans--and, as the original's shockingly robust box office take suggests, there are a lot of those, for whatever reason. And then there's that little cherry on the top of the sundae of disdain: 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS? The hell?!
While that punny alphanumeric title still clangs to the ears months after its unveiling, it's understandable why Universal opted to go with that once-promotional-only moniker rather than the originally announced THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS 2. Despite the returning presence of the first film's top-billed star (and, for the record, that is Paul Walker, not the Diesel--check the credit line on the poster and DVD) 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS feels less like a true sequel/continuation than a loosely-tied spin-off. As such, the film works all the better for both non-fans and fans of the first film alike; the fresh approach keeps the non-fans from making the negative associations with THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, and those who hold the first film sacred can look at the film as being something completely different.
And, make no mistake, 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS is different. Of course, certain constants remain: Walker as Brian O'Conner; Thom Barry as the background character of Agent Bilkins; and, naturally, lots of tricked-out cars going really, really fast. But the similarities are only surface-deep; take, for instance, the opening scene. It is a street race, and while that description sounds like anything that appeared in the first flick, it certainly doesn't unfold like anything from the first film. Unlike the much-vaunted first race in the first film, which relied a lot on fancy inside-the-car-and-out-again CGI trickery to get the adrenaline pumping, what fuels this chase's rush (and that of all the action sequences in the entire film, for that matter) are the impressive practical stunts done by actual people driving actual cars--and, of course, the fact that the cars and their drivers are pretty damn hot doesn't hurt, either.
That last comment may strike as being superficial, but that's what the film is--and that's not meant as a slam. From the souped-up Universal logo and that turbo-charged opening, director John Singleton wears the project's shallow, unsubtle slickness as a badge of honor, making it crystal clear that this is a film strictly concerned with style, attitude, and having a good time. Unlike THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, which played its cop-in-deep-cover plot all too melodramatically straight and displayed too much misplaced conviction in laughably labored and long-winded soliloquies about street racing being the ultimate spiritual liberator, 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS is simply about the ride--no more, no less; not any buried pretense of actual deep meaning behind the ride. And when the ride looks and feels as smooth as this, it's practically irrelevant to complain about any lack of so-called substance.
Not that there isn't a story at work here; there indeed is, but only just enough to sustain the action. Those looking for updates on the absentee characters from the first film should prepare to be disappointed, as any questions they may have will be met with a stone-faced cinematic silence equivalent to an ear-splitting cry of "Vin WHO?!" Actually, his Dominic Toretto character is referenced--but not by name and only in passing, and that's how it should be, as it is O'Conner's release of him that put him in his present place: without a badge in Miami, earning some bucks and kicks on the street race circuit as "Bullitt." The law eventually, inevitably catches up with him, and so he is given a chance to redeem himself by inflitrating the inner circle of money-laundering import/export businessman Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) as one of his street-race-recruited grunt drivers.
Joining O'Conner in is assignment is his old friend and ex-con Roman Pearce (Tyrese, not billed with the Gibson surname this time), who also gets a clean bill of legal health if the plan succeeds. While this pairing sets up one of the more contrived elements of Michael Brandt and Derek Haas's script (specifically, some half-assed psychological explanation/motivation for O'Conner's fateful decision at the end of the last movie), it is definitely one of the more effective new elements in 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS. The presence of Roman loosens up the bland tight-ass that was the original incarnation of O'Conner; similarly, Walker shows a more relaxed chemistry with Gibson (with whom he reportedly improvised a lot of their amusing banter) than he had with his counterpart in the first movie. That ease extends to Walker's performance and general demeanor in this film, which is livelier and a little edgier, in line with the changes in the O'Conner character. Granted, to state that Walker's work here compares favorably to his in the first movie isn't saying too much, and while he does exhibit a bit more personality this time, he still gets trumped in that department by his lead co-star. After proving his dramatic chops in Singleton's BABY BOY, Tyrese brings his pure movie star charisma to the fore as the fast-talking, perpetually-eating goofball that is Roman. With his formidable screen presence and winning sense of humor, he exudes that indefinable "It" from every pore, and with two solid--and vastly different--turns under his belt in his first two film outings, Tyrese's big screen career should be an exciting one to follow.
Don't go looking too hard for depth in the more background characters, though. Hauser, who previously provided villainy for Singleton in 1995's HIGHER LEARNING, has far less to work with in this film, but he fills the role of psycho heavy effectively for the modest demands of the film; similarly, Ludacris (billed here as Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) perks up his few scenes as mechanic and race ringleader Tej. If there's an area that the first film has over this one, it's in that of the female characters. The two prominent female roles here, undercover agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) and racer Suki (Devon Aoki), aren't as meaty or memorable as Michelle Rodriguez's badass grrl in the first; both characters are tough and strong-willed in their own right, but ultimately the two are called on to not do much more than stand, sit, lounge, and/or drive around and look good (which, needless to say, Mendes and Aoki do quite well).
But, again, the look and the vibe is what 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS is all about--no more than in the film's bread and butter, the race/chase sequences. From the outset, it's obvious that Singleton is having a grand ol' time flouting his image as a "Serious Film"-maker and making a movie where he can let loose other, not typically seen sides of himself. With its larger-than-life stunts, wild angles, kinetic "how did they do that?" camera movements, anime-like speed enhancements, and rat-tat-tat quick-cut comic book panel frames, the curtain-raising race sequence plays like a cinematic crash course in Singleton's fanboy inspirations. That may seem a bit indulgent (and perhaps it is to a certain extent), but there's no use in complaining since the bag o' tricks succeeds in its intent: revving up the audience and laying down the tone for the picture--extreme fun in high style. That attitude is upheld as the film progresses and the stunts build in scale and magnitude--and do they ever (speeding down a highway backward?) . But the crashes, jumps, and all assorted manner of jaw-dropping vehicular insanity that ensue would be chaos if not captured in a coherent, captivating manner, and while he dials down the added flash after the open, Singleton creates some creative and exciting set pieces, aided in no small part by the amazing action shots captured by director of photography Matthew F. Leonetti and the editing by Dallas Puett and longtime Singleton collaborator Bruce Cannon.
Most viewers, I imagine, will likely be too caught up in the ride to really pay too much attention to all those fast and furious little things that add up to the larger experience, and that's just as well. Movies like 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS are all about the bigger picture in every sense: the rocket speed of the cars; the over-the-top stunts; the firepower of the explosions; the glass-shattering decibel level; the uniformly broad strokes in every aspect of the execution; and--last and certainly not least--the size of the box office take. With 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS being just 2 fun 2 deny, success in that last respect should be as effortless as the film's thrills and irresistible style.
An Ideal Summer JOB
Cynics will complain that THE ITALIAN JOB is an assembly line piece of popcorn all too carefully designed for mass mainstream consumption, and the fairly rote plotting of this remake of the 1969 Michael Caine starrer would provide ample support for that case. Team of criminals pull off a daring overseas heist? A rogue team member double-crosses the rest of the group for the loot? The wronged members set out to get revenge--with the help of a new recruit with a personal score to settle? It wouldn't be wrong at all to label the entire basic scenario as Boilerplate Caper Thriller.
But as they say, personality goes a long way, and enlivening the proceedings is the cast--or should I say "supporting cast," as the three stars above the title get upstaged by background players Seth Green (as the computer geek, who claims he's the true creator of Napster), Mos Def (as the explosives expert) and Jason Statham (as the ladies' man driver). This isn't to say that Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Edward Norton aren't adequate as, respectively, the planner, the safe-cracker with the personal vendetta, and the double-crosser, but more is expected from the latter two. (Wahlberg is, historically, never better than adequate, and he doesn't break tradition here.) Chalk up Theron's underachievement to a generally undemanding role and Norton's phoned-in work to his all-too-obvious displeasure with the job (as has been widely reported, he was forced to do the picture due to a contract obligation).
However, this is an action movie after all, and the most infectious personality comes from director F. Gary Gray, who keeps the motor running with such sleek urgency that one barely registers how fairly mechanical the leads and the basic narrative elements are. After the debacle that was the dull Diesel dud A MAN APART, Gray reasserts his chops as a crack action director with the film's showcase bookends: a thrilling speedboat chase in the canals of Venice and a breathless third act involving helicopters, traffic jams, subway tunnels, safecracking, and Mini Coopers. It is in Gray's spirited execution that such by-the-book formula makes for a brisk, slick entertainment hits the summer movie spot.
FINDING Fish
FINDING NEMO is, like all of the feature-length efforts by computer animation house Pixar, a visual marvel. In fact, the artists and animators may very well have outdone themselves as far as sheer jaw-dropping grandeur, as the film's deep-sea settings explode with vibrant color and stunning detail from the first frame to the last; even the most random sea anemone, frond of seaweed, and swirl of underwater silt exhibits nearly as much life and personality as the actual characters.
The key word there is "nearly," as NEMO also bears the other hallmark of Pixar features: a fully-drawn (no pun intended) cast of characters in an involving story. Before the audience has a moment to take in the beauty of this world under the sea, the film's opening scene comes to a shockingly dark and poignantly understated conclusion. The main storyline that soon develops, though, proves to be far less sophisticated than previous Pixars, as it can be boiled down to this basic premise: a father searches for his lost son. But to leave it at that is to shortchange all the efforts director Andrew Stanton and his voice cast have made in creating memorable characters. It is initially surprising to find Albert Brooks, who provides the voice of the widowed clown fish Marlin, playing the role more or less completely straight, but it's the right note for the picture; without any earnest emotion behind the quest to find son Nemo (voiced by Alexander Gould), the film falls to pieces. While Brooks does imbue Marlin with some of his characteristic nebbishy neuroses, most of the comedic heavy lifting is done by the character of Dory, a short-term-memory-impaired motormouth of a fish who helps Marlin in his quest. Ellen DeGeneres's absolutely stellar, and perhaps career re-energizing, work as Dory can best be described by this reaction I overheard at the film's work-in-progress screening at the ShoWest convention in March. When Dory first opened her mouth, one of the two women sitting behind me told the other with a great deal of venom behind her voice, "That's that DeGeneres woman, isn't it?" A half hour and many loud, Dory-incited laughs later, the same woman excitedly told the other, "She's good, isn't she?"
Marlin and Dory only make up half of the story, as the film also follows Nemo after he is taken from the ocean and put in the fish tank of a Sydney dentist's office. While Nemo's tankmates are an expectedly colorful sort, led by a battle-scarred older fish (Willem Dafoe) who's never at a loss for an escape plot, this section of the story is far less exciting and funny as Marlin and Dory's journey. After all, Nemo and his friends are stuck in a fairly static setting while Marlin and Dory encounter all sorts of deadly obstacles and unusual characters, from a ravenous lantern fish and stinging hordes of jellyfish to a shark self-improvement group and thrillseeking turtles. The unevenness, paired with the simpler storyline, easily makes NEMO my least favorite of the Pixar oeuvre, but that comment is hardly as dismissive as it may sound, considering what a huge legacy the film follows. Slightly underachieving Pixar is still worlds beyond other so-called family "entertainment" out there (DADDY DAY CARE, I'm looking at you) or even anything the traditional Disney animation house has come up with lately, and the funny, big-hearted FINDING NEMO, like the previous Pixar efforts, is one of those rare films that truly satisfies every conceivable audience demographic.
God ALMIGHTY, This Is Dull
BRUCE ALMIGHTY finds the team of star Jim Carrey and director Tom Shadyac reuniting in search of the almighty comic box office power lost to them in their recent "serious" solo outings. As far as the financial angle is concerned, there's no doubt that this slickly-engineered festival of Carrey-isms--the rubber-faced mugging, the wild body flailing, the shouty line delivery--will hit the spot for an audience as broad as the movie's overall execution. But for all its swings for the fences, the movie never rises above being lightly amusing--a big letdown considering the seemingly can't-miss premise: Carrey as a beaten-down everyman whose luck changes when God (Morgan Freeman, well-cast but wasted) grants him all of his divine power.
The first disappointment comes when the film takes its sweet time to get to the pivotal transformation, before which the film wallows in Bruce Nolan's (Carrey) supposedly demeaning existence: never mind that he has a sweet, beautiful, devoted live-in girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston, stuck with nothing to do) and a successful career as the token wacky reporter at a news station--Bruce wants it all, namely a soon-to-be vacated anchor slot and, most importantly, a dog that won't urinate on the furniture. While the Carrey being put through the wringer of humiliation sounds promising, there's only one big laugh during this section: Bruce's wonderfully cruel on-air breakdown.
One would expect the film to finally kick into gear once Bruce becomes almighty, but it becomes clear rather quickly that most of the more interesting tricks--boosting his girlfriend's bust, toilet training the dog--have been divulged by the trailers and TV spots. But even if one hasn't seen those, the gags on the whole would seem not only familiar but as tired as Carrey's rather disturbingly aged face. That perhaps the film's funniest bit rests not on the shoulders of Carrey but Steven Carell as Bruce's workplace rival speaks of how little spark is left in the traditional Carrey-Shadyac formula, not to mention the general lack of inspiration the screenplay (credited to Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and frequent Carrey collaborator Steve Oedekerk), which ultimately plays like a pale rehash of the far more amusing LIAR LIAR, right down to the forced sentimentality.
Up with LOVE
Watch out, Meg and Sandy--is there a more charming and incredibly adorable actress working the comedy route these days than Renée Zellweger? From the edgy whimsy of her Golden Globe-winning turn in Neil LaBute's NURSE BETTY to the Oscar-nominated double-whammy of BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY and CHICAGO, Zellweger has consistently impressed by making some challenging comic roles look deceptively effortless. Never is that more the case than in DOWN WITH LOVE, where director Peyton Reed takes what under most circumstances would be a very risky proposition: hinge one key third-act development--and, hence, the entire film itself--on a lengthy monologue delivered by his leading lady in one single, uninterrupted take. With Zellweger filling the role, not only does the moment work, it's more than assured a place on the list of 2003's great movie moments.
But there's more to this winning throwback to bawdy screwball romps of the early 1960s than Zellweger and that ready-made Oscar (or, more realistically, Golden Globe) clip. Reed, whom I thought did an amiable-at-best job with his one previous feature, the sleeper summer success BRING IT ON, went all out in creating (or, rather, re-creating) a truly unified vision for this picture. While the movie definitely has tongue lodged firmly in its postmodern cheek, every detail looks and feels authentic: the soundstagey "New York City" exteriors, the ridiculously ample square footage of each and every character's apartment, the obvious back projection in the car scenes, the generous use of split screens, the candy color scheme of the locations and costumes (the latter often showcased in fashion show-style entrances by the ladies). The spot-on approach goes beyond the surface visuals and down to Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake's script. Zellweger is liberated woman/relationship "expert" Barbara Novak, whose radical tome DOWN WITH LOVE espouses that very message, encouraging women to engage in sex without love and be as career-minded and -driven as men. Needless to say doesn't sit well with suave playboy journalist Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor), who starts a one man crusade to prove that deep inside Barbara is just like any other love-minded woman.
Thus begins a teasingly tawdry tug-of-war in the classic Doris Day/Rock Hudson mold, and the ever-likable, disgustingly attractive pair of Zellweger and McGregor are up to the formidable challenge, tossing off double entendres with aplomb and nimbly handling Ahler and Drake's more complex passages of witty wordplay. Equally adept are David Hyde Pierce and Sarah Paulson, who may play the designated second bananas to Zellweger and McGregor, but their byplay and unusual "courtship" (if it can be called that) is just as entertaining and involving as the main attraction--that is, save for one overly slapsticky sequence that is just plain silly. Then again, it could be argued that silliness ultimately takes over the entire Both couplings do get bogged down in some silly slapstick, and however self-aware such gags are, over-the-top is still over-the-top. Even so, however outlandishly the plot machine spins in its final stretch, everything is in keeping with the frothy, frivolous fun, and by the end of the film, only the most curmudgeonly viewer wouldn't echo the sentiments of the title of McGregor and Zellweger's closing credits musical number: "Here's to LOVE."
At the Video Store
'Tis the season for all the major contenders of the 2002 awards season to hit video store shelves, and leading the charge is Roman Polanski's THE PIANIST (Universal Studios Home Video), which surprised many by taking three statuettes. There's no denying that Ronald Harwood's Original Screenplay win was unexpected, and Polanski's win was as big an awards jaw-dropper (not to say he wasn't worthy) as any, but anyone who's seen the film could tell you that Adrien Brody's Best Actor victory was one that could have been realistically predicted. Not to mention that his performance was more than worthy--while his character, the titular Jewish pianist who somehow manages to survive under the Nazi's noses in WWII-ravaged Poland, remains a bit of a cipher throughout the film's running time, Brody imbues him which such emotion and humanity that it's impossible to not be moved. It's a truly bravura piece of acting, and if nothing else his work makes the film a rewarding sit. The DVD includes production notes and a making-of documentary.
Pedro Almodóvar's TALK TO HER (Hable con Ella) (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment) may not have been Spain's official Academy entry, but that didn't prevent the film from getting its Oscar due, as Almodóvar won the Original Screenplay trophy. And, indeed, the film's script is one of its strong suits, detailing the friendship that develops between two very different men, both in love with comatose women: one (Darío Grandinetti), the boyfriend of a bullfighter (Rosario Flores); the other (Javier Cámara), a nurse who has grown attached to a patient (Leonor Watling) whom he had never met when she was conscious. Much talk has centered around the black-and-white, silent film-style sequence that occurs about midway through, and while that section is quite stunning in its audacity and even more shocking emotional purity, what lends the film its staying power are the more understated issues brought up by the characters and scenes such as that one: some intriguing, genuinely thought-provoking questions about the nature of love without ever once casting a judgmental eye on the people and actions involved. The DVD includes commentary by Almodóvar and Geraldine Chaplin, who has a small supporting role.
Chris Cooper's Supporting Actor statuette may have been the only Oscar won by ADAPTATION. (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment), but that's quite the accomplishment considering the (to put it mildly) unusual nature of this reunion of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman. Nicolas Cage, in an excellent, also-nominated performance, plays the screenwriter and his fictional twin brother Donald in this hilarious head trip loosely based on Kaufman's own real-life troubles with trying to write a script from Susan Orlean's (played here with gusto by Meryl Streep) bestseller THE ORCHID THIEF. Although released under Columbia's supplement-free SuperBit banner, the DVD does include some extras: namely, the theatrical trailer and cast and crew filmographies.
Nominated for a handful of Oscars but coming out empty-handed was FAR FROM HEAVEN (Universal Studios Home Video), Todd Haynes's gorgeous and poignant recreation of 1950s-era Technicolor melodramas à la Douglas Sirk. Multiple critics group award winner but Oscar bridesmaid Julianne Moore is beautifully understated and heartbreaking as a housewife whose seemingly ideal existence goes to pieces when she discovers her husband's (Dennis Quaid) homosexuality. The Academy's snub of Quaid in the nominations list was indeed the glaring oversight that much of the media made it out to be, but just as impressive is Dennis Haysbert as the African-American gardener with whom Moore strikes a close friendship. The DVD includes commentary by Haynes, a making-of featurette, a Sundance Channel "Anatomy of a Scene" special, and footage from a live Q&A with Haynes and Moore.
Despite the presence of Steven Spielberg at the helm and the names of Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks above the title, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (DreamWorks Home Entertainment) was only able to eke out two nods, one for John Williams's snappy, jazzy score and a Supporting Actor nod for Christopher Walken. But the fairly weak awards showing wasn't terribly surprising; despite the weighty pedigree of the participants, the film is at its best when the simply taken as a breezy caper in which a young master con (DiCaprio) is chased across the country and the globe by a determined fed (Hanks) and the half-hearted attempts at psychological depth (namely, the "motivation" for DiCaprio's character) are kindly ignored. The two-disc DVD special edition does not feature commentary per the Spielberg norm, but there are still a number of other extras, including behind-the-scenes featurettes and background on the real-life Frank Abagnale, Jr. (DiCaprio's character).
Denzel Washington's directorial debut, ANTWONE FISHER (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), was positioned as being a major Oscar contender, but the once-anticipated accolades never materialized, save for a Writers Guild nomination for its scripter, the man on whose real life story the film is based. Ironically enough, the script is the weakest link in this solid inspirational drama, in which the eponymous young sailor (Derek Luke, in an electrifying debut) comes to grips with his troubled past with the help of a Navy psychiatrist (Washington). Fisher's script sometimes falls into the obvious and overly sentimental, but the performances and Washington's sensitive, understated direction don't fail in making the material touch the heartstrings. The DVD includes commentary by Washington and producer Todd Black, and much like the virtually nonexistent role Fox Searchlight gave him during the promotion of the film (big mistake), the real-life Fisher is treated as more or less a footnote here, giving what little say is allowed in a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Also a nonfactor in the Oscar race, but less surprisingly so, was Spike Lee's 25th HOUR (Touchstone Home Entertainment). That's no statement on the quality of the film, for this adaptation of David Benioff's novel is an intriguing character study of a drug dealer's (Edward Norton, definitely on his game here) final 24 hours of freedom before serving a prison sentence. Lee dials down his usually brash style for a more subdued approach befitting the mournful material, but his typically sure hand with actors is in evidence here, eliciting some strong, if not exactly horizon-expanding, turns by the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Anna Paquin. The DVD includes separate commentary tracks by Lee and Benioff; a featurette on Lee's career; deleted scenes; and a montage of footage from post-9/11 Ground Zero, whose ominous presence hangs over the film.
Speaking of Hoffman, the venerable character actor had the stage all to himself in the little-seen LOVE LIZA (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment), in which he plays a typically pathetic sort, a recent widower who turns to radio-controlled vehicle racing and smelling gasoline fumes as a way of coping with his wife's suicide. Todd Louiso's film is slow and relentlessly downbeat, but Hoffman's eloquent, virtually silent performance keeps the film oddly watchable. The DVD includes commentary by Louiso, Hoffman and screenwriter Gordy Hoffman.
Of all the box office underachievers of late 2002, perhaps the most noteworthy was the bellyflop of STAR TREK: NEMESIS (Paramount Home Entertainment), which not only broke the series' traditional even-good/odd-bad number pattern (this was the tenth installment) but may have very well have buried the long-running sci-fi screen franchise for good. Upon a second glance on the home screen, it's no surprise why the film tanked; while the requisite space battles, heavily made-up aliens, phaser action and shots of the Enterprise crew being tossed are all here, without an intriguing adversary for Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (the ever-authoritative Patrick Stewart) and crew, it's all for naught--and Picard clone Shinzon (Tom Hardy) most certainly doesn't fit the bill. Nonetheless, devoted Trekkers will more than likely devour every last detail of this DVD, which includes some rather sleep-inducing commentary by director Stuart Baird (that he speaks in soft, British-accented tones doesn't help); various making-of featurettes and a 20-minute reel of deleted scenes, some of which are given context by introductions by Baird and producer Rick Berman. For the non-Trekker audience, the DVD has one film-geeky use: the ability to freeze-frame X-director Bryan Singer's blink-and-you-miss-it cameo, occurring at roughly the 1:23 mark.
The other notorious flop of last winter was TREASURE PLANET (Walt Disney Home Entertainment), which further proved that the Disney animation division has ventured far, far astray from its recent early-to-mid-'90s heyday. It's hard to believe that John Musker and Ron Clements, the very duo responsible for ushering in the Disney renaissance with 1989's THE LITTLE MERMAID, were at the helm of this thoroughly dull "adventure" that bizarrely mixed interstellar travel, anthropomorphic animals, robots, cyborgs, creatures that speak in flatulent noises (!) and elements of Robert Louis Stevenson's TREASURE ISLAND. Then again, come to think of it, it's hard to believe anyone thought such a film would work. Unlike most non-Platinum Edition discs of Disney animated features, the DVD does feature a number of supplements of some interest, including deleted scenes and a "visual commentary" where making-of segments can be accessed while watching the feature film. In addition to those, there are, of course, the fluff features that typically litter kiddie discs, such as "RLS Legacy: An Exploration Adventure Game."
Given how big of a financial bust TREASURE PLANET was, I would say to not expect a sequel spin-off of any kind. But given that the Mouse has just released ATLANTIS: MILO'S RETURN (Walt Disney Home Entertainment), I know better than to speak such nonsense. This direct-to-video sequel no one asked for is actually a repackaging of three episodes of TEAM ATLANTIS, the scrapped-before-it-aired television series spinoff of Disney's 2001 boondoggle ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE--but, of course, leave it to Disney to cash in on the heretofore unused work. I have no clue if other episodes were completed, but if they were, you can bet on seeing further ATLANTIS "sequels" on store shelves in the months to come.
Looking Ahead to Next Time...
...more reviews. As usual, check out my home site, the soon-to-be revamped Mr. Brown's Movie Site, for my longer takes on older releases.
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