My review of The Royal Tenenbaums Criterion Co. DVD

[Oscar Antonio M]

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

FILM: *****
IMAGE:*****
SOUND: DTS (****) DOLBY (***1/2)
FEATURES:****

FILM: I first heard of The Royal Tenenbaums on TV i was watching The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn and Gwyneth Paltrow talked about the film.

So when it came out i decided to watch it, when it first started well i was having very mixed feelings about it.

I was liking it, but it was too weird, too different i almost left the theater, but the film advanced more and more and it began to grow on me.

So, now on its one of my favorite films, it has excellent perfomances all around by (specially) Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Anjelica Houston.

Well, all its players. The script is just plain fantastic, the film is incredibly sharp and witty.
For me its the best black comedy i had ever seen since Dr. Strangelove or Henry Fool.

IMAGE: Criterion has done a stunning transfer, colors are rich and warm, the image is razor sharp, contrast is just plain perfect.
But i did notice some minor flaws, i noticed some edge-ehnancement and also some grain. But nothing else.

SOUND: I listened primarly to the DTS track, for me it was quite loud, specially the part were young Richie lets his eagle Mordecai fly away and you hear the "Na-na-nananana, Hey Jude"
Fidelity was perfect on the DTS track, so was bass, but the problem was that it was way too front heavy.

Fortunaely the front soundstage has great separation.
After the ending of the film i compared DTS and DD tracks.
The DD track was pretty weak compared to the DTS track.
First bass was stronger in the DTS tracks, the separation was much better in the DTS track, i also noticed more detail in the DTS track.
So for me, the winner was the DTS track.

EXTRAS: First there is the audio commentary by Wes Anderson which is very entertaining and informative, he is a very detailed kind of guy and he explains practially everything he did for the film.
On Disc 2 we have a section called SCRAPBOOK.
First there are Production Stills, which are very fun to watch
then we have a radio report by Miguel Calderon and Wes Anderson on those weird paintings that appear in the film.
There is also a collection of murals which are in Richie´s room, which are my favorite and also paintings of Margot.

Also the storyboards are very cool.
There is also a With the Filmaker 25 minute documentary, which takes you into the cinematic process of Tenenbaums.
But i wish it was longer.

There are also The Peter Bradley Show interviews, this is a mockumentary, but its really fun to watch. Here we have various actors from other films by Mr. Anderson.

And there is also some Interviews,this are very informative.W
Wow, i hope i putted everything in here.

OVERALL: Great film, great image, very good sound and free of fluff extras make this a must own. THUMBS UP!