Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 10th, 2003
Synopsis
Trouble looms for the Power Rangers when Dustin starts hanging out with some mysteriousnew friends. Are they up to no good? The answers to this and other questions will naturallyinvolve a great many martial arts sequences and cheesy special effects. If you're not alreadyfamiliar with the Power Rangers storylines and characters, this will be pretty hard to follow.
Audio
A decent but unimpressive. 2.0. The bass could be heavier, given all the hard rock ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2003
Dragon Tales is a kids television show from the Sesame Workshop and Sony Pictures Television. Kids learn important lessons from the dragon’s and kids about getting along in the following five episodes; Cassie, The Green-eyed Dragon, So Long Solo, Breaking up is Hard To Do, The Grudge won’t Budge and Remember the Pillow Fort.
Audio
Included on this disc is a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track that is not really needed. The audio rarely leaves the center channel never mind the front soundstage. Ot...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 30th, 2003
Synopsis
Not unlike the New Mutants comic book, these are episodes which feature the heroes in thethroes of adolescence. Unlike the New Mutants, however, these are the X-Men themselves intheir youth: Jean Grey, Cyclops and so on. So in between fighting the Brotherhood of EvilMutants, they also have to worry about dating and homework and the whole bit. At least this discdoesn’t try to pretend it’s a feature film.
Audio
The sound is about par for TV cartoon tr...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Welcome to the Tarrytown aerodrome, where Jay Jay The Jet Plane and his friends hang outand learn life lessons. These lessons (the importance of friendship, of overcoming your fears, andso forth) are presented in a clear, gentle way. The animation in these 5 stories is a bit on theeconomical side.
Audio
The audio is 2.0, but you wouldn’t know it in the first story. Here the result is effectivelymono, even when it comes to the music. The subsequent episodes ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 24th, 2003
Synopsis
Four episodes (two of which are a two-part story) make up this offering, which, what withMagneto and the X-Men joining forces and Wolverine learning about his past, will bear someresemblance, presumably, to some of the action in the new movie. This is just Saturday morningcartoon fare, however, no more, no less. So be sure you like the TV show before you pick up theDVD.
Audio
Not too much to report on the audio. The 2.0 mix is certainly clear enough...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 8th, 2003
Synopsis
Five Power Rangers adventures, three of which are two-parters, add up to almost three hours-worth of material. The cheerful super-powered teens go up against the regular batch of rubber-suited bad guys. If you want your kids to develop an early appreciation of camp, this is just theticket. If you’re not already familiar with the basic premise of the series, the plot lines could be alittle confusing.
Audio
Ouch. The 2.0 surround is a very harsh mix. ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 8th, 2003
Synopsis
Nothing really to summarize here: 13 clips of musical numbers from everything from TheLion King to Pinocchio to Aladdin. Captions encourage viewers to sing along. There are severalnew songs from recent direct-to-video movies too.
Audio
This isn’t a sound effects disc, so what is of interest is the music, and the 5.1 mix is verysolid: distortion free but not too deafening.
Video
Strong and sharp, with the colours generally vi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 8th, 2003
Synopsis
A synopsis is beside the point here. The main feature is song clips from various Winnie ThePooh cartoons with animated captions encouraging the kids to sing along. I do wonder about theaudience for such bits as the Tigger song: this piece moves so fast that you need to be a speedreader to keep up, and so probably too old for the DVD.
Audio
No sound effects to speak of, naturally, since music is the whole point of the DVD. Themusic sounds fine. It is...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 6th, 2003
Synopsis
By this time, you either like this guy or you don’t. There is a lot of fun goofiness here, butthere are also some ill-advised live-action additions (such as in “House Party” and “I Had anAccident”), which are just plain painful.
Audio
The 2.0 sound is crisp, clear, distortion-free and fun. The surround effect is pretty muchlimited to the music, but it’s pretty constant.
Video
As with the other SpongeBob DVDs, the picture is ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 4th, 2002
Synopsis
SpongeBob tries to make Gary the snail take a bath. SpongeBob tries out an extreme sport(“riding the hooks”). And so on. More good-natured goofiness, and I have to confess this guy isbeginning to grow on me.
Audio
The 2.0 sound is very crisp and clear, completely distortion-free. The surround effect,however, is minimal. Even the music barely registers.
Video
No disappointment with the picture, however. Many TV shows, for som...
