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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Full Frame
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital Surround
  • French: Dolby Digital Surround
  • Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround
  Subtitles
    English, French, Spanish
  Extras
  • Teaser trailer - Mary-Kate and Ashley U.S. Videocassette / DVD Collection Trailer
  • Cast/crew biographies - Cast and Crew Information
  • Filmographies - Mary-Kate and Ashley Video Highlights

Billboard Dad

Warner Bros./Warner Home Video . R4 . COLOR . 87 mins . PG . NTSC

  Feature
Contract

It stared on Friday nights back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was a show called Full House where every evening at 7:30 we would sit down and join this family in their perfect world on television, and watch young Michelle Tanner (played by the Olsen twins) grow up from a babe into a young lady. Ah, the good old days! After Full House’s 192nd episode in 1995, the show came to a close, but the Olsen twins had their sights set on acting. They have since come up with fashion labels, makeup tips, brand lines, plus a whole heap of direct-to-video releases, including this one. One interesting point though, should girls this young really be behaving like this – boys, sex, makeup - when they haven’t even formed much to show off?

"My sister and I are a lot alike. Some people can't tell us apart. But we are really very different. Tess is better at most sports but I surf better. My sister's left-handed and I'm right handed. Tess likes boys... and I like boys."

The last part of that quote really takes you off guard, wondering what she will say – all the rest were opposites... But anyway, admittedly this film does deliver some witty laughs along the way, but generally speaking it is a kids film, and a kids film only. Everything feels very rehearsed and somewhat “blocked”, and it is very obvious to see this on screen.

The story focuses on Emily and Tess (the Olsen twins) and their father who is still grieving two years later over his wife’s death. The twins do as much as they can to help their father, but they think he needs a woman in his life. So they go and find a blank billboard, and paint a personal ad above Sunset Strip for their father, much to his embarrassment. Believe it or not, love can be found through personals, but in this case, the evil agent Nigel is up to no good and selfishly has ulterior motives. This feels more like a romantic comedy than a kids film, and is still a good watch for 80-odd minutes of fluff.

  Video
Contract

Right from the very start there are two major things wrong with this transfer. Number one, it's NTSC (need we say more?). And number two, it's a 1.33:1 transfer. It doesn’t matter if it is originally filmed like that, they crop widescreen and Cinemascope pictures to pan and scan, why not make something like this widescreen and add that lovely 16x9 enhancement? (Editor's note: we may not all agree with this...) Anyway, enough bitching… oh wait, this is the beginning of the review.

The picture suffers from the usual NTSC colour (or should that be 'color' for NTSC?) related problems. Reds are a little over-saturated and tend to lose edge definition at times, as is often the case with these Not The Same Colour (NTSC) transfers. Naturally that isn’t the real meaning of the letters - just this reviewer’s whinge at this inferior-to-PAL television system. Blacks are reasonably solid, yet not always black, with one scene suffering from a lovely green wash. MMMmmm, green shadows! Shadow detail is reasonable, yet not terribly pleasant to watch at times. You never know what (or who) may be hiding in these deep, messy, murky shadows such as ex-Full House-ers...

Film artefacts would be the second killer of this transfer, after the obvious NTSC issues. At times the artefacts go beyond a joke. There would be more hair, dirt and dust in this picture than on the floor of a busy hairdresser.

OK, lets see what else we have that is enough to annoy the hell out of ya... OK, we have aliasing. At times this is severe, such as just after the opening credits and on the usual culprits such as blinds, buildings and billboards.

Being a single layered disc, there is no layer change. Three subtitle tracks do exist, an English one as well as Spanish and French. They are reasonable accurate, but do take the easy street when it comes to scenes with busier dialogue.

  Audio
Contract

There are three audio tracks on this disc, all surround-encoded stereo tracks in English, Spanish or French. Naturally, English was the prime listening option for this English-speaking reviewer.

Surround activity is limited to the score and the odd ambient effect. The score builds a beautiful soundstage which is rich and immersive. Sure the content isn’t the most breathtaking, but it sounds great. Dialogue is crisp and clear throughout, and the ‘subtitle’ button need not be pushed at all. Bass levels are spot on, with a clean depth that adds atmosphere, yet not too deep that it sucks down the rest of the aural experience.

  Extras
Contract

The disc loads to a menu with an aspect of 1.85:1 (and it's 16x9 enhanced) and has a looping audio track that is the “theme” to the film.

There is a single page with Cast and Crew Information, which just lets you know who is in the film, and a little bit about the crew behind it. The Mary-Kate and Ashley Video Highlights is a set of text pages showing what else the girls have been involved with. The Mary-Kate and Ashley U.S. Videocassette/DVD Collection Trailer runs for about a minute and a half, and advertises three of their other videos which have recently been released in the U.S. on DVD. OK, sure there’s nothing terribly in-depth here, but it’s a kids film, and a direct-to-video release at that!

  Overall  
Contract

With the school holidays approaching, this is one for the teenage girls... the young teenage girls. As in, the teenage girls who still have one digit to their age and really cannot actually be called ‘teenage’ yet. The video is reasonable given the NTSC issues, and the audio is great for the genre. Sure there are a few extra features, but they aren’t terribly interesting.


  • LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=2185
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      And I quote...
    "If only life were as simple and carefree as this..."
    - Martin Friedel
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Philips DVD 736K
    • TV:
          TEAC EU68-ST
    • Speakers:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Centre Speaker:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Surrounds:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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