Hey folks, Harry here with a fella with a look at the SHREK dvd... sounds like a damn fine disc! Let's get onto it!
Hey Harry,
I was lucky enough to get my hands on the Shrek DVD, over a week before it's release. I have yet to see a review on the net, so i thought i'd send it to you guys first. Anyhow, I just finished viewing most of the material on the disc... it's a nice disc, but the advertised 11 hours is a bit of a stretch. As maybe the extra material adds up to 11 hours for someone with some sort of learning disability, who doesn't know how to work the dvd remote...anyhow,
Disc 1: The Full frame version of the film, why bother? Full Frame is poo, so i'll move on to the extras. The Dreamworks Kids Center is an area that has 2 Music Videos (the entertaining "i'm a believer" by smash mouth and the Baha "goddamn, aren't there 15 minutes up yet" Men video for some annoying song, as well as a making of this annoying video).
Then there is a games section. This section has 5 set top games. Apparently if on a dvd-rom there are 15 games! Well, I don't have a rom, so i'll tell yo about the set top games. The first is a "Rescue Princess Fiona" game where you make choices randonly guessing which door to open etc. and get a quick video clip based on your selection. Not bad, but once you rescue her, there is no real payoff, so that's kind of lame. There is a "Shrektacular Trivia" which is ridiculously easy but fun, being treated to some very amusing scene from the film while you answer the questions. There is a "Character Morph" game(??) where you can mix and match characters head/torso/bottom around... what a dumb feature! If you've been dying to see Shrek's head, on Fiona's tits, with Donkey's legs, then i guess this is your wetdream, but the image quality looks like they cut the images out of a magazine and pasted ! them together... I guess kids like this stuff. There is a "Ask the Mirror" feature, which is the magic mirror dvd equivalent of a Magic 8 ball, and it's amusing enough ("Will I ever Get a Girlfriend?" "NO!") and lastly there is a "Dress up the Gingerbread Man" feature, where you can pick to see the Gingerbread man dressed up in different outfits. I loved this part. Seeing the Gingerbread man in a Tuxedo, or dressed up like a sailor was hilarious...he also sings a line from classic songs/rhymes on these screens...very stupid, but very very funny. Next up in the Kids section is a jazzed up scene selection menu (where you can pick to watch the "action" or "funny" scenes, so basically a kid-ified scene selection menu of sorts)...
On the dvd-rom side (which I don't have) there is a rerecording studio that you can do some recording of your own dialogue or something... seems kind of dumb to me... anyways
There is an HBO making of featurette, which is good but your standard run of the mill making of, which many people may have already seen. There are some very funny character interviews along with cast and filmmaker bios. (the character interviews are quite funny, if too short... MC lil' ass!)
There is a sneak peek of the dreamworks upcoming traditionally animated film SPIRIT, which looks pretty good. Never thought i'd be intrigued by a animated flick about horses...can't wait to see this though.
Now onto the GOLD of this set.
Disc two has the WIDESCREEN version of the film, and also includes a DTS track (which disc 1 does not) as well as an audio commentary by the filmmakers.
THE TRANSFER IS AMAZING. Absolutely stunning video, coming straight from the digital source to this disc, it matches disney's pixar works, and maybe even exceeds them... SHREK has never looked so good, and trust me, it looks good... i was blown away, as I was full well expecting to be. Get ready to cream your jeans.
The audio is also very good, with the mix being quite pleasing and with all the audio options, any system will be able to take advantage of what is best for it... The soundtrack to this film has some interesting effects, dialogue is very clear and crisp and the music comes through to enhance the scenes...Really impressed with the audio and video on this disc... way to go Dreamworks, another winner.
The extas on disc 2 include the aforementioned commentary and a few featurettes. The Tech of Shrek goes through the computer process, fairly interesting enough, but if you know anything about the computer animation process, not much here you haven't seen before.
There are some painfully boring and unfunny technical goofs (well, the fuzzy donkey one is really funny), a short featurette on the international dubbing of the flick, (which is pretty funny... the mexican guy who plays donkey had me cracking up) There is a multi angle feature where you can watch the pitching of storyboards for 3 deleted sequences (good thing they were deleted, not very good) and there is a gallery of conceptual drawings for the characters and locations. Some of these characters started off looking terrible... Shrek would make a warty dick look cute in some of his early drawings... This section is short but sweet, and I think dreamworks made great choices in the character design.
There is a hints section for the upcoming Shrek X-Box game (big deal!) as well as the trailer, production notes, cast and crew bios (same as disc 1).
Both discs also feature the NEW Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party sequence, which is the added ending (seperate from the film) that is advertised. It's basically the characters singing some classic songs, so basically a redone extension of the end to the film. This sequence is quite hilarious, nothing like Donkey singing "Baby Got Back" by sir mix a lot... or Robin Hood and his Merry Men singing "YMCA"...highly entertaining... I was just glad it wasn't incorporated into the actual film, cause while it's fun, it wouldn't fit in the film right.
Overall, a very solid release, especially in terms of audio/video quality. As far as extras go, it's great, but not as good as Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace, which is still in my opinion, the best DVD release yet.
Highly Recommended though.
MDC3000
