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| Special Features: |
Widescreen anamorphic format
Chapter selection
Commentary by director Gary Winick
Sneak peeks |
| Video Format: |
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
[SS-DL]
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| Languages: |
English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
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| Subtitles: |
English for the hearing impared.
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| Captions: |
Yes
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| Casing: |
1-Disc Keep Case
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Gary Winick's "Tadpole" is a wonderful coming of age story about an exceptional teenage boy with a thing for his stepmother. "Tadpole" is unusual in that it is a feature film with name stars, which was shot in 14 days on digital video. Though the video visuals don't have the richness of filmed images, the great story and performances by Sigourney Weaver, John Ritter, Bebe Neuwirth and Aaron Stanford more than make up for the medium's limitations.
EI's Jean Flynn Wyant interviewed director Winick and star Aaron Stanford at the Atlanta Film Festival. CLICK HERE to read Ms. Wyant's interview.
Great movie. Fair picture. Good sound and extra.
Picture Quality: 5/10
 Visually, "Tadpole" leaves a lot to be desired. That is, if you compare the picture to a comparable motion picture. It's hard not to make a comparison like that when you consider the stars involved in this project. For a digital feature, the picture isn't bad. Somewhere between the reality scenes and the musical fantasies in "Dancer in the Dark." The flesh tones suffer quite a bit in many of the softly lit scenes. The characters have an orange hue to them. There are also some major delineation problems. There is a lot of jerkiness to the movie that gets distracting at times. As I said before, the story and performances more than make up for the technical shortcomings. This is a wonderful movie that will make you laugh, cry, think...Gary Winick is a major talent we will hear from again.
Sound Quality: 7/10
The sound is better than the picture. No loss of dialogue. The sound is a bit flat at times, but that seems to be a problem with the source material.
Menu: 6/10
OK design. Easy to navigate. No Easter Eggs found.
 Extra Features: 5/10
The commentary track should be of interest to the multitude of wannabe digital filmmakers out there. Director Winick scored a home run with his digital production. He gives a lot of pointers about working in the medium. Fans of the stars will also enjoy Winick's insights into working with the actors.
Director Winick mentions several scenes, which were cut from the film. He also discusses the evolution of the movie before and after it showed at Sundance. It would have been nice if Miramax included this material on the DVD.
The DVD includes sneak peeks for several other Miramax films.
The Final Word:
Don't let the low overall rating stop you from getting this DVD. If you miss "Tadpole," you'll miss one of the best movies of 2002. A very funny, heartwarming movie.
Rusty White
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