Director
Ron Howard

Cast/Voices
Steve Martin,
Mary Steenburgen,
Dianne Weist,
Tom Hulce,
Martha Plimpton
Keanu Reeves

Music
Randy Newman

Gil and Karen Buckman (Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen) are your ordinary struggling family with 3 children. The eldest Kevin is having some problems dealing with his emotions and the youngest is basically the epitome of any active 2-year-old with his antics.

Gil’s sister Helen (Dianne Weist) is a single middle aged woman bringing up two troublesome children on her own. She has to deal with her youngest son Garry growing up and discovering his sexuality without a male influence in the household. Until: her daughter Julie (Martha Plimpton) brings her new husband Todd (Keanu Reeves) home to live with them. Todd seems to be able to communicate with Garry and help him with his Adolescent discoveries.

Then there’s Gil’s other sister Susan (Harley Jane Kozak) who is married to nothing less than a freak. Nathan (Rick Moranis) is determined to have a perfect child who is way ahead in the intelligence stakes. His big goal in life is to teach his 2 year old daughter everything, from rattling off square roots and reading novels while the other terrible two’s in the family are outside playing and making a nuisance of themselves.

The whole family is brought together by their father Larry (Tom Hulce) who has no interest in any of his children except the black sheep Frank who arrives on their doorstep to suck his money and hospitality (gee sounds like many relatives in my family). His bad gambling debts and somewhat surprising announcement of a child just brings the whole story together.

So as Parenthood goes, this is the ultimate creation of almost anything that could be wrong in a family, is. Enjoy the lifestyles of the gang and, gee it’s great to see Keanu Reeves as an annoying teen with not a clue. (Such a perfect role for him)

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

VIDEO
The video quality is a little disappointing. The film is about 11 years old so it’s not surprising it’s a Pan and Scan version. Which is not so disappointing as it seems to cover everything. I felt that the transfer had a softness to it and at times even appeared to be out of focus a little. There were your typical bits and pieces of ailiasing and shimmering in prone scenes but nothing major. Shadow detail seemed to be quite good but I was not happy with the colour level. Colour was very bland and flat needed some contrast and higher hues to really bring it to life. The layer change was great believe it or not. Placed in a really inconspicuous spot and it didn’t lock up the Samsung for a change. Must just be good luck but this is the first RSDL disc that hasn’t locked up my player in many months. (Can’t wait for that upgrade!)

AUDIO
Pretty standard, ho hum, Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack here. I only heard the surrounds kick in a couple of times. There isn’t really a lot of opportunity for meaty surrounds here but it certainly would help with some added ambience. I could find no sync problems and dialogue was clear but lacking in the use of the front sound stage. Seemed to be a bit flat at times too.

Randy Newman’s musical score was nice not something to rave about it didn’t really draw me into the film at all was more like a bland background music.

EXTRAS
Features? Ok well the usual Production notes, cast and crew Bio’s and the trailer. Woopee! Not exactly features really. What happened to all the extras we were promised with DVD? It’s disappointing that we don’t get anything really interesting with these films.

Overall I enjoyed the plot of the film immensely but was disappointed with the audio quality. It really could have been all about my family I’m sure. J

Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Samsung DVD907 (via S-Video)
Receiver/Proc: Sansui A505/Sony Amp & Yamaha DSP-E390
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf

- Reviewed 8th January 2000