I myself would never have thought to combine such
talents of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman and I expected their acting to styles to clash
considerably.
They do however compliment the characters and really compliment each other’s very
different approach to the characters.
Nicole Kidman plays Gillian Owen and Sandra bullock is her sister Sally. The two girls
live on a small-secluded island with their crafty and mischievous aunts Frances (Stockard
Channing) and Jet (Dianne Weist). Both the girls and their family for many years have been
basically banished to the island after some troublesome family history of witchcraft.
Sally and Gillian and their aunts also have the gift of the craft but they generally
only use this gift for small spells and good (white) witchcraft.
As Sally and Gillian grow up they learn of a family spell which befalls all the Owens
women. A spell that sees any man who falls in love with an Owens woman come to a fast and
fatal ending. Consequently sally casts a spell that determined characteristics in a Man
which she would never find so as to prevent her from ever falling in love.
It becomes apparent very early that Sally is the sensible and cautious sister while
Gillian who sets off to explore the world is the rebellious and passionate other.
After sally has married and had two children of her own her husband befalls the fatal
spell and is killed. While the same cannot be said for the man that Gillian becomes
attached too.
The bulk of the rest of the film tells of the unfortunate death bestowed on
Gillian’s new mate and his less than orthodox return to the living with a little help
from the craft.
VIDEO
The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is very nice indeed. I
wouldn’t class it as reference quality but it’s pretty close.
The entire transfer is relatively sharp and clear. There appears to be an intended
softness to the transfer, which suits the mood of the film quite well. I found the outdoor
scenes and in particular scenes shot in the main street of the town were the softest. I
don’t fell that this is a problem with the transfer though rather an intended effect
to the film.
Shadow detail is great and only on rare occasions does it fall below perfect. Generally
there are some nice deep blacks and brilliant bright whites with a fabulous tonal range in
between. The tone of the film is complimented perfectly by a warm and rich colour palette,
which gives a calm and homely feeling for the entire film.
There are no MPEG artefacts, very little in the way of film artefacts, and very little
shimmering and ailiasing.
 ... |
AUDIO
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is equally as good as the video
transfer.
While there is nothing overly spectacular to speak of in
the audio track it did hold its place well. The surrounds are used quite frequently in the
score and to support on screen action with sound effects. The bass channel doesn’t
get a lot of use but is used appropriately and does certainly kick in when required.
The score from Alan Silvestri is spectacular and I would
expect nothing less from my favourite film composer. This is not his best work by any
means but is by far and away superior to a lot of soundtracks I’ve heard lately. The
score seems to carry most of the emotion in the film and will hold you in a scene for much
longer than your attention span would expect.
.. . |
EXTRAS
Theatrical Trailer
Dolby Digital Rain Trailer: Speaks for itself really
Featurette: Making Magic: An extended promotional piece for
the film, not much in the behind the scene’s department, and nothing really as far as
insight into the making of the film goes.
Featurette: Casting the Spell: an even further extended
promotional piece which is really just annoying rather than insightful in any way.
Audio Commentary: Griffin Dune, Denise Di Novi, Sandra
Bullock, and Alan Silvestri: I have to ask if anyone actually listened to the concoction
before it was given approval. It is rare that I actually like audio commentaries but this
was a certainty for the stop button.
The entire audio commentary is disjointed and has no flow
whatsoever with different peoples views pasted all over each other it was difficult to
keep track of what was going on.
Cast and crew credits: Take the film credits and view them
in a different format and this is what you get.
OVERALL
I would highly recommend this film for its capacity to entertain and a better than good
transfer. I wouldn’t even waste my time on the extras though
| PICTURE
QUALITY |
8/10 very nice |
SOUND
- Quality
- 5.1 WOW Factor |
8/10 also very nice
7/10 not that much chance to wow anyone |
| EXTRAS |
5/10 quality not quantity
is required here |
| OVERALL |
8/10 more so for being a
good story! |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Samsung DVD909 (via S-Video)
Receiver: Yamaha DTS RX-V595a (Sweeeeet)
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf
- Reviewed 13th January 2001
*Practical Magic jpeg files for
internet promotion use only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by Roadshow
... 