HTF REVIEW: "Amelie" (Highly Recommended) (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Juan C Toro]

Ron:

Paul Reiser wants his DNA back!!!

What makes the TVA French version of Amelie much better that the regular Norht American version?

DTS
CD soundtrack for the movie
A photo album that would be at least $20 by itself, with the cover of the movie poster.
Photos of the movie
Polaroids in an envelpe of the garden dwarf
A rock (skipping rocks at the Seine... remember?
A beutiful 24 pages booklet with an interview with JPJ plus cast and crew filmographies.
French subtitles that are colour coded (narrator, characters on and off camera, sounds...)
A beautiful packaging for the whole enchilada
and last but not least,
The package with the full title of the movie..
Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain...

Worth every penny.

I bought this version, plus the Miramax 2 disc special edition... The Canadian edition seems to have the same features as the US one, but the cover is different: is has the picture of Amelie as a little girl, rather that the photo of Audrey Tautou.

Get it if you can.

Juan Carlos

 

[Mario Bartel]

>>The Canadian edition seems to have the same features as the US one, but the cover is different: is has the picture of Amelie as a little girl, rather that the photo of Audrey Tautou.

Alliance/Atlantis messing around for the sake of messing around, I guess.

Flip the inside box around, though, and the wonderful photo of Audrey Tautou appears in the round window!

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

The subtitles are removable. I found it easier to watch with the English commentary with the film's subtitles turned off.

 

[Cliff C]

I can't seem to turn off the subtitles.
Am I missing something here?

 

[Rain]

I rented this DVD last night.

I also could not turn off the subs. Though they were player generated subs, it seems you are forced to either have English or Spanish subs.

When I chose "none" under Captions on the main menu, it gave me Spanish anyway.

I have another question about this movie, having just seen it on DVD. Is the greenish tint throughout intentional? Seems I've been seeing alot of greenish movies lately, so I just want to make sure it's not my hardware.

 

[Marc Colella]

Looks like the subtitle on/off issue is with the Alliance version of Amelie.
I'll check it out when I get home.
It doesn't bother me since I don't speak French, and I'll need English subtitles anyways.
I find it strange that the TVA/Quebec Amelie DVDs lack any English subtitles, while the Alliance DVD (for the rest of Canada) forces the English subtitles. Almost as if Alliance is trying to discourage purchases of this DVD in Quebec.
Maybe I'm being paranoid.

 

[Derek Miner]

Rain, the green throughout the film is definitely intentional. There was a nice piece added to the US edition called "The Look of Amélie" which talked about adding green to some scenes as well as punching in other colors, such as blue, in a few places.

 

[Rain]

Thanks for the info.

I'm not sure yet if I like this film enough to buy it, but if I do, it sounds like I'll have to order it from the US, as I refuse to buy anything with forced translation-only subtitles.

 

[Cliff C]

I think it has to do with rights issues in Canada. Since TVA got to distribute the all french version and Alliance got the english subtitled version, Alliance can't disable subtitles because it would infringe on TVA's distribution rights.
Just a guess though...

 

[Chris M]

BTW, I got tha Alliance version and NO DTS Soundtrack! WTF? Also, they packaged it so that you see a circle with a girl in the front, but you can turn it around to see Amelie's face... confused me. I was very disapointed by the no DTS soundtrack! :frowning:
Chris.
Edit - I checked out Link Removed again, and it appears that Universal was supposed to release it... they don't advertise the CA release there at all.

 

[Joshua Moran]

You know I really enjoy art type films. I think I will give this one a shot on DVD since I missed it in the theater.

 

[Scott Simonian]

Man, my local rental shop only carries 1 (!) copy of Amelie.

I really want to check this movie out.

 

[Derek Miner]

One copy! Are they nuts?

Most rental places seem to stock one copy of the most putrid direct to video crap, and at least two copies of the more recognized bombs. But Amélie is one of the highest-grossing foreign films ever released in the States and a multiple Academy Award nominee!

 

[Stephen Orr]

My Apex 3201 kept defaulting to the commentary, with no way to remove it. Fortunately, I could just hop upstairs and watch it on my Sony.

Cute movie.

 

[AdamZ]

Is this movie worth the blind purchase? I might rent it before hand though.

 

[Cary T]

Adam, you will find love and thy name is Amelie. Go out to your local store and purchase it now.

 

[CameronS]

I'll have to totally agree with Cary. Go get it.

 

[Mikal Haydn]

A question for owners of the Canadian/Alliance edition - do the subtitles intrude upon the image?

 

[Cliff C]

The subtitles are in the frame only if viewed on a widescreen tv.
If on a 4:3, they are in the black area.

 

[JohnS]

Has anybody noticed the over use of the "L" in all of the words of the subtitles??

Even for words that don't need a capital L.-WEIRD!