Dom Robinson reviews
Lake Placid Part mystery. Part thriller. Parts missing.
Distributed by
Cert: Cat.no: 15019 DVD
Running time: 78 minutes
Year: 1999
Pressing: 2001
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 15 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English for the hearing-impaired
Widescreen: 2.35:1
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: £19.99
Extras: 3 TV Spots, Featurette, Mini Cast Biographies
Director:
(Forever Young, Friday The 13th Parts 2 & 3, Halloween H20, House, Lake Placid, My Father The Hero, Soul Man, Texas Rangers, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, TV: Chicago Hope, Dawson's Creek, Diagnosis Murder, The Wonder Years )
Producer:
David E. Kelley and Michael Pressman
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
Jack Wells: Bill Pullman
I have reservations sometimes over films that are short and Lake Placid Bridget Fonda ) finds that her boss
(Chicago Hope 's Adam Arkin ) has been sleeping with her colleague
and best friend, she wants to get away and where better than to head to Maine
and inspect a pre-historic-like tooth pulled out of the upper half of a deep
sea diver, which was all that was left after he went swimming and was pulled
out by Sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson ).
It's a lightweight film as Fish and Game 's Jack Wells (Bill Pullman ,
sneering at most things in his usual way) leads the investigation, while
Fonda shrieks and gasps at everything like a girlie. There's comic-sparring
between Gleeson and sarcastic eccentric crocodile expert Hector Cyr (Oliver
Platt ) who jets in because he likes to investigate them. And don't forget
Golden Girls ' Betty White as Delores Bickerman, a dotty old woman
who, in one scene, taunts the nasty big croc by feeding one of her cows to it.
If you go down to the woods today...
The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio and
director Steve Miner composes the frame well - I'd hate to see a
fullscreen version of this and I understand the original rental DVD was released
that way. My only gripe is some minor sparklies in a few scenes. Other than
that it looks very good, but then there's no reason why it shouldn't.
The average bitrate is 6.19b/s, closing in on 8Mb/s.
The sound does exactly what you'd expect. Quiet bits are quiet, while the
sound FX kick in whenever there's some action, although it's far from
original and you've heard it all before.
The only extras are 3 TV Spots , each lasting 30 seconds, a bog-standard
5-minute Featurette that tells you nothing once you've watched the film
and a few Mini Cast Biographies .
There are 15 chapters to the film - not generally enough but then it's not a
long film, the subtitles are only in English for the hard of hearing and the
menus are static and silent.
This is a DVD that I'd recommend as a rental because there isn't a great deal
of special FX to it - although what is done is effective, so once you've seen
it it's doubtful you'll return for subsequent viewings and the extras are
very limited.
FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.
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