听 Director Wes Anderson recently mused on whether most of the audience that went to see "The Royal Tenenbaums" actually understood it. Certainly the two-disc DVD release matches the mood of the film.
TECHNICAL FEATURES
Picture The unusual colour palette (as discussed on disc two - not just trying to sound clever here!) transfers into a warm picture that's rich with detail.
Sound Mark Mothersbaugh's music is the main beneficiary of the 5.1 mix, which for the most part is quite subtle.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Interviews There's around half an hour of interviews with the members of the cast here. Most concentrate on discussing their character motivation, although whether you'll glean much in terms of film clarification is another matter.
Gene Hackman comments on disliking films written specifically for him, and on telling Wes so, only for him to go and do it anyway. Gwyneth Paltrow chats about her rewarding work on the movie as Wes is so specific in his direction. Owen Wilson admits to preferring humour with a tinge of sadness behind it, and Bill Murray reckons that Wes is an expert in finding horrible places to shoot.
More worthiness is to be found in Ben Stiller discussing his emotional connection with the movie; Anjelica Huston admitting to being a bit vague over her character details; and Danny Glover being intrigued by the work of Wes Anderson. This interview block really is best taken in small doses, unless you have a high 'thespians-wittering' tolerance threshold.
Cut Scenes There's barely two minutes of cut material here, so presumably the shoot was an efficient one.
With the Filmmaker Produced by the Independent Film Channel, this behind-the-scenes documentary is rather more abstract than most you'd find on DVDs, but otherwise it's fairly flimsy stuff. There's plenty of footage of the art design work on the Tenenbaum house, and Wes planning how to use the space.
The Peter Bradley Show If you thought the movie was strange, this 14-minute send-up of The Charlie Rose Show (a dry as dust movie interview show) will really perplex you. It's quite amusing as Bradley blusters through a series of terrible interviews with minor cast members.
Scrapbook Visitors to this part of disc two will be greeted with a wall of pictures, behind which lie a variety of extra features. These include a variety of stills galleries, a spinning plates demonstration, Bill Murray talking nonsense, storyboards, Anjelica Huston's hair catching fire (not planned!), and a radio segment on artist Miguel Calderon.
Additional Extra Features Also on the DVD are two trailers.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Region: 2
Chapters: 12
Ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Audio Tracks: Multiple languages
Subtitles: English and multiple languages
Captions: English
Menus: Static
Special Features Subtitles: None of the special features come with subtitles.
This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.
