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Arachnophobia - DVD
Writer: Don Jakoby, Al WilliamsDirector: Frank Marshall Producer: Frank Marshall, Steven Spielberg Studio: Buena Vista Features:Chapter Search, Trailer, Production Featurette VIDEO Widescreen 1.85:1, ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC] Characters: Ross Jennings - Jeff Daniels Molly Jennings - Harley Jane Kozak Delbert McClintock - John Goodman Review: Arachnaphobia is a horror movie for people who are afraid of spiders. I remember when this film came out, it was touted as "Jaws with spiders". There is a major difference, though, everyone knows a shark is an eating machine. Most sane people know (most) spiders are not that bad. To get around this problem, the good people at Disney and Amblin created a whole new species of super spider. This spider is not only incredibly deadly, but also seems to have the ability to breed with completely different species of spider to create hybrid super spiders. The film stars Jeff Daniels as a Dr. Ross Jennings, who moves his family to a small town in the hopes of settling down. It seems Dr. Jennings has a small phobia...a fear of spiders. As can be expected in any movie with the title Arachnaphobia, Dr. Jennings must overcome this fear and save the day by the movie's end. Dr. Jennings finds much help along the way in the form of a spider expert played by Julian Sands (with typical Sands strangeness), and an exterminator who seems to think he's a super hero played by John Goodman (channeling Bill Murray in Caddyshack). There are various other persons, good, evil and indifferent who come and go throughout the film, most of them eventually becoming a giant lump of spider food. For fans of the film, I suppose Arachnaphobia is worth getting. For people who haven't seen it, I don't even know if I'd bother with a rental. For everyone who has seen it and wasn't impressed, the DVD isn't going to change your opinion. The film is adequately entertaining, well-made, and clicks together nicely, but lacks that something special which makes for a truly memorable experience. As Dr. Evil would say, it's the Margarine of suspense thrillers. It's quasi-suspensful. You don't find yourself looking at your watch, but you also don't find yourself caring who lives or dies. The DVD itself is of typical Disney quality. The video is presented in its original 16x9 aspect ratio, but is sadly not enhanced for widescreen displays. The audio has been remastered nicely, but not spectacularly, in Dolby Digital 5.1. The special features consist of a theatrical trailer, and a production featurette. The featurette is an absolute joke, even by Disney terms, running at less than three minutes and being nothing more than an extended commerical for the film. I'll give them credit on one point, though, at least they added some interview segments instead of just re-editing the trailer with a voice-over. Ken Pierce Dvdken@home.com Contributing Editor, www.dvdfuture.com |
copyright ®1999