Michael Osadciw
Screenwriter
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- Michael Osadciw
THE SANDLOT 2
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Film Year: 2005
U.S. Rating: PG
Canadian Rating: PG
Film Length: 96 minutes
Genre: Comedy
Aspect Ratio:[*] Side A: 1.33:1 fullscreen[*] Side B: 1.78:1 widescreen enhanced
Colour/B&W: Colour
Audio:[*] English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround[*] Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Closed Captioned: Yes
SLP: US $15.98
SLP: CDN $25.98
Release Date: NOW
Film Rating: :star: :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Starring: Max Lloyd-Jones (David), Samantha Burton (Hayley), James Earl Jones (Mr. Mertle), Cole Evan Weiss (Saul), James Willson (Johnnie Smalls)
Directed by: David M. Evans
Written by: David M. Evans
Ten years after the original Sandlot film comes the long awaited sequel to DVD. This movie shows a new generation of kids playing in their favourite sport in their local dirt field. For the boys, it's going to be a summer of great fun...
...until there are three girls who won't leave the sandlot. Uuugggh...girls (the boys are thinking), and who wants to play baseball with them? It seems that after a challenge the boys have some heavy hitters they should take on their side, and one of them even has an eye for the leader of the boys, David.
But this movie isn't about baseball. It's about these kids’ adventures on this field. We find out about these adventures by a subplot that takes over almost the whole movie (or a plot that makes it known very late into the movie). The adventures begin when one of the little guys, Johnny Smalls, looses an irreplaceable NASA rocket on the other side of the Sandlot fence into the yard of a very mean, growling, and slobbering dog. Legend says the dog will eat you alive! But the kids have to be brave and use teamwork and try to get it back; the United States of America is counting on them!
This movie is fun in every sense that kids will get kicks out of it (I did). From a critical standpoint, the movie bounces around between subplots making the direction of the movie unclear only until the latter half. But still, the acting by all of the kids is outstanding and they portray their characters without fault. Well done boys and girls.
VIDEO QUALITY :star: :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
The image takes on a 1970's feel in terms of looking gritty and having a dated colour palette. This is not a problem with the DVD but rather the intention of the filmmaker in order to date this movie visually. Since this is a memory back to the '70s, the image is purposely desaturated. I am also assuming some tweaking has been done to the contrast as well. Black levels are o.k. but not the best because they can be a little high sometimes. There is enough white in the picture to capture the nice, bright, sunny days. My only problems with this DVD are the presence of compression artefacts as well as a consistent softness to the image. The aspect ratio of this direct to DVD release is 1.78:1 and is probably taken from HD Cam.
AUDIO QUALITY :star: :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
This is a mildly used 5.1 surround soundtrack because it is heavy on center channel use. Dialogue occasionally peaks giving the nasty sound of distortion although the rock music soundtrack (mostly an original score) comes out nice and clean (except for the "pop songs" that we are familiar with - they sound brittle and right off of a CD - which they probably are). Most of the scenes do have very quiet ambience in all channels; birds and crickets chirping and other miscellaneous noise. The only really aggressive part of the soundtrack is during chapter 18 when we are sitting in the point of the view of the dog. All five channels are used aggressively for this scene. Bass throughout the movie is ample.
SPECIAL FEATURES :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
The special features are divided among both sides of the DVD. They were somewhat entertaining for me but probably more entertaining for children.
SIDE A:
[*] Back to the Lot features interviews and behind the scenes footage of the young actors and actresses who made this movie come alive. It¡¦s cute, a little silly, but fun for kids to watch.
[*] Our Sandlot Days is interesting for you baseball fans. It features a live discussion between two retired baseball players; Dave Winfield (Pirates/Yankees) and Mark Gubicza (Royals). They talk about their days as young boys playing ball up to their careers as professional baseball players.
SIDE B:
[*] The Sandlot Kids: Then and Now is about a 10 minute collage of interviews of the actors who appeared in the 1993 movie The Sandlot. They talk about their fun as actors in that film, but do not give any insight to the new movie. This feature is widescreen enhanced 1.78:1 and very blurry looking.
[*] Backyard Baseball Demo is a DVD-ROM feature that I did not review. I'm assuming it is self-explanatory.
IN THE END...
Entertaining for children and even for me, I found The Sandlot 2 to be good fun. With friendship, courage, and young love being the major themes in this movie, The Sandlot 2 puts your 90 minutes to good use.
Michael Osadciw
05.05.17
