..Gary
Dretzka
..Noah
Forrest
..Leonard
Klady
..R.J.
Matson
..David
Poland
..Douglas
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
..Michael
Wilmington
The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl
The latest dazzling 3-D DVD from Robert Rodriguez, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3D, has been released by Dimension Home Video (40977, $30). The film is presented on the DVD in both a 3-D format (four pairs of red/blue glasses are included) and a 2-D format. Because everything in the movie except the actors, a few props, and a couple of sets were created by computer animation, the 2-D version, which has candy-colored designs, is almost as visually captivating as the 3-D version, where the film's colors are naturally subdued (though not eliminated) by the glasses in exchange for the rousing 3-D effects. The movie works quite well, one way or the other. It has a reasonably simple though abstract story, about a young boy who is battling the forces of darkness within his imagination, aided by a pair of teen superheroes. Older viewers may feel a bit restless during the last act of the 93-minute show, as the resolution is being worked out, but you never have to wait too long for the next object to come bouncing out of the screen and into your popcorn.
Most of the movie is in 3-D, although there are a few 2-D sequences to give your eyes a break or something. Whether it is objects bounding out of the confines of the screen, the enhanced juxtaposition of objects within the screen, or the magnificent landscapes that are created by the illusion of depth, the 3-D effects never become tiring or redundant. The film is playful even without the effects, but with the effects it is sort of turned into the ultimate toy you can almost touch.
The DVD has a great deal more to offer than just sensory stimulation, however. Rodriguez can always be depended upon to provide worthwhile supplementary materials that aggressively share his knowledge of the filmmaking process, and he does so again, with a surprising twist. His six-year old son, with prompting, came up with the film's story (known as Racer Max Rodriguez, he becomes the youngest person ever to potentially qualify for an Oscar screenwriting nomination, though Paul Haggis need not worry), and Rodriguez captured that creative process on video, which is excerpted in an excellent 8-minute production featurette. The boy's 'production design' drawings can also be seen on the DVD's various menu pages. If nothing else, the featurette demonstrates what an awesome future the art of motion picture making holds, if someday anybody with talent can compose and even execute fantasy entertainment by enlisting the help of a few computers, some of Harvey Weinstein's money and a lot of imagination. The possibilities are as endless as a CG horizon.
The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sound has some moments of high separation and is almost as much fun as the movie's visual component. There are optional English and Spanish subtitles.
Finally, Rodriguez supplies one of his enlightening commentary tracks (Razor Max joins him for a while), talking about how the film was made, about the 3-D process (he explains that when the 3-D effects are presented digitally, as they will be in the inevitable future, the colors are uncompromised and fabulous), and how specific sequences were executed. He also delves into the nature of the creative process and other wide-ranging topics that will be of great value to those who wish to follow his path. "I used to draw on a comic strip, and I used to try to think of the comic strip before I started drawing. I'd go lay down and say, 'Let me see if I can just imagine the whole comic strip just by laying here. That'd be a great way to just come up with things.' But it doesn't work that way, just like when you write, you can't write in your head, you have to sit down and actually hit keys or put pen to paper. Same with drawing, you have to sit there and actually draw out concepts, and then as you draw, you see ideas and kind of link them together, and then you make your comic strip based on that, and you do that same approach here to make a movie."
October 10 , 2005DVD Roundup: This Week's DVD Releases
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