Stuart Little (1999)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker, based on the novel by E.B. White
Directed by Rob Minkoff
Starring Michael J. Fox, Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, Nathan Lane

Features:

• Exclusive Look at Stuart Little 2
  
• A Little Look with Stuart Game
  
• Stuart's Central Park Adventure Game
  
• Bloopers and Gag Reel
  
• Visual Effects Gag Reel
  
• Making It Big HBO Special
  
• Race with Stuart: Hasbro Interactive ROM Game
  
• Audio commentary with director Minkoff and animation supervisor Henry Anderson
  
• Audio commentary with senior visual effects supervisor John Dykstra and visual effects supervisor Jerome Chen
  
• Visual Effects Interactive Featurette
  
• Read-Along with Stuart
  
• Artists' Screen Tests
  
• DVD-ROM & Weblinks
  
• Boat Race: Early Concept Reel with commentary by Minkoff
  
• Deleted Scenes with commentary by Minkoff
  
• Art Galleries
  
• Talent Files
  
• Theatrical Trailers
  

George Little (Lipnicki) wants a little brother, so his parents (Davis and Laurie) adopt a new member of the family: Stuart (Fox). He's three inches tall and weighs about six ounces. Well...he's a mouse, you see. The Littles have adopted George a little mouse for his brother, and with a few exceptions, he fits into the family quite nicely. To be fair, it took some getting used to on everybody's part. After all, Mom didn't mean to accidentally throw him into the washing machine--and how were they to know that Snowbell, the family cat (Lane) wouldn't get along with little Stuart? They didn't really understand how much Snowball didn't like having Stuart around, and that's where Stuart's adventures will truly begin.

Regardless of how closely it stayed to E.B. White's original story, this adaptation works. Yes, it is targeted at a younger audience, but it is rock solid. Minkoff took Shyamalan's screenplay and created a wonderful world where mice and humans can live together as one. There is an old-fashioned feel to the production that really helps that part of the story along, and the use of primary colors also helps to create a world that really does work on that simple of a level. The cast is absolutely perfect. Michael J. Fox's interpretation of the character has just the perfect amount of little boy blended with the worldly-wisdom that comes with someone who's lived for years in an orphanage. Hugh Laurie and Geena Davis bring just the right amount of Ozzie and Harriet to their characters to make it work, without going overboard. And Nathan Lane is absolutely perfect as Snowbell.

The DVD presentation is nearly perfect. In fact, I'll state what I think it is lacking so I can get on to the good stuff. The only thing that kept me from giving this DVD five solid cups of joe is the fact that it's not anamorphic widescreen.

The main commentary track features director Rob Minkoff and animation supervisor Henry Anderson and they go over a lot of interesting facts about how Stuart the movie finally got brought to life. There is also a separate commentary with visual effects supervisors John Dykstra and Jerome Chen and they go into great detail about how they actually brought Stuart the mouse himself to life. Both of the commentary tracks are outstanding. There is never a boring moment and they don't spend time giving you useless information.

Stuart's Central Park Adventure Game is a trivia game that works a lot like a board game. There is a map that you follow and if you get answers right you advance, but if you get them wrong you get sent back a little bit. It's pretty fun, and they give you three difficulty levels at which to play: the harder the level, the harder the questions. Stuart's Read-Along is a storybook that children get to...well, read along with. They can either choose to read it themselves or hear Michael J. Fox read it for them. There is also a series of interactive visual featurettes where you get to look at every aspect of creating Stuart and some of his scenes using digital effects; each one takes you through the various stages of putting a scene together. There are twelve scenes that make up this featurette, so it's pretty extensive.

The collection of deleted scenes is pretty much like any other: it's fairly obvious why they left them out of the final release, but it's really nice to have them for posterity. The only storyboards that you get on this DVD are the ones for the boat race scene. I'm not really a big fan of storyboards, but these are nice because they are narrated by Minkoff. The HBO special is hosted by Stuart himself and the rest of the people involved in the making of the first movie talking about Stuart as thought he were a live person, which is kinda cute and great for the kiddies. Other than the typical filmographies and various theatrical trailers (although these are all targeted toward the Stuart Little demographic), that's really about all there is to talk about on the DVD.

The DVD-ROM content has some weblinks to games and trailers. Some of the games that you can access through the Interactual Player would be quite fun for younger children, but for the most part, you get most of the same trailers on the DVD.

To sum up, though, this is a DVD worth adding to the shelves for those who have children. Those people who never want to grow up will be asking themselves why the release was only in full screen, though.