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The Incredible Mr. Limpet
Studio: Warner Brothers
Year: 1963
Rated: G
Film Length: 99 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16X9 Enhanced Widescreen (1.85:1)
and Standard (1.33:1) Transfers
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Many of us have been waiting a long time for
some Don Knotts comedies to be released to DVD.
Finally, one of his most remembered adventures,
The Incredible Mr. Limpet makes its way to
the format.
Mixing live action with animation, the film tells
the story of Henry Limpet (Don Knotts), a real
likeable whimp of a guy who has had his shares of
hard knocks in life. He'd like to join the Navy
and help the allies beat the Nazi's in WWII. He
chose the Navy above all other services because of
his love for fish. However, since he was unable to
pass the physical, he was labeled as a classified 4-F.
Despondent over failing his physical, he goes to
the docks to look at the ocean and think about
his life. Looking into the deep blue water, he
makes a wish that he could live the carefree life
of a fish and magically, he becomes one.
Suddenly the film turns into an animated undersea
world where Henry finds that wearing fins is pretty
darn cool, though he still needs his glasses to
properly see in the sea. He makes some new friends
including crusty the crab (voiced by Paul Frees) and
Ladyfish (voiced by Elizabeth MacRae). Henry also
finds that has a talent for making incredible sonic
noises and quickly contacts his old Navy friend,
George (Jack Weston) to offer his help in hunting
down German submarines. Soon enough, Limpet
becomes a TOP SECRET weapon as he safely escorts
Allied ships anywhere they want to go.
This movie will take you back to simpler times
when animation and live action weren't as seamless
as they are today. Still, there's a certain bit of
allurement for a film as sweet and innocent as this
one.
How is the transfer?
Filmed in beautiful Technicolor, the transfer looks
vivid, bright and colorful. It's exactly what you
would expect from a Technicolor film -- a crisp,
detailed picture. Fortunately, for the live action
sequences, the picture remains free of any blemishes.
The problems with this DVD are with the animated
sequences. The animation looks rather faded, with
none of the beautiful technicolor images you would
expect. There's also a noticeable amount of film
dirt scattered throughout these sequences. Overall,
I would sum up the animation as looking rather dull
on this DVD.
The mono soundtrack is nothing spectacular, but
it serves its purpose. Just don't look for any
sort of dynamic range here, though thankfully there
is no presence of underlying hiss.
Special Features
Warner Brothers has done a nice job of putting
together some extras for this DVD set. I suppose
right off the bat I should congratulate the studio
for releasing a family title in a 2-sided WIDESCREEN
and FULL FRAME edition.
Introduction by Don Knotts has the aged
actor talking a little bit about his experiences
of making the film, and telling a story about how
badly it was first received. The film actually did
better in re-releases.
(length: approx. 2.44 minutes)
Weekend at Weeki Wachee is one of those
wonderful studio press junket films that show
how a film is promoted. The press was invited
out for a fishing spree and the opportunity to
hob-knob with actor Don Knotts before attending
the premiere of The Incredible Mr. Limpet.
Great to see this kind of stuff included on DVD.
(length: approx. 10 minutes)
While a cast and crew page is included
here, you cannot access any individual actor or
filmmaker information.
Rounding out the extras is Henry Limpet's
Fishtank where you click on various points
in the menu (such as crusty's shell or George's
hat) to access Don Knotts talking about his
co-stars. There is also a rather lame game
called Get In The Swim with Henry Game
that essentially shows you a fishy dance move
that you have to duplicate.
The film's original theatrical trailer is
extremely fun to watch. Hosted by Arthur Godfrey,
it's an interesting look back at how studios
promoted their films with more than just film clips.
DVD-ROM content includes a handful of
games like Limpet Scrimmage and Submarine
and torpedoes away!. There are also the usual
website links to more promotional material.
Final Thoughts
If you put The Incredible Mr. Limpet up
against today's computerized animation standards,
the film would fall short. However, after nearly
40 years the film has lost none of its charm. It
is my hope that the younger generation will enjoy
it as much as we elders do.
Release Date: October 1, 2002
