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Recess Christmas
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment // Unrated // November 6, 2001
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
I've often voiced (or written, actually) about the lackluster state of children's programming. While my previous comments were generally regarding straight-to-video material or theatrical releases, my comments have previously spared the weak roundup of Saturday morning and weekday afternoon programming. Overloaded with flash and lacking substance, the act of providing an actual story seems to be a second thought to most of these programs.
Still, as I've said before, there are some bright spots in every catagory. While "Recess" isn't exactly the best thing to happen to children's programming, at least it does offer some fun stories and characters that have their own personalities. "Recess: School's Out" was the animated film from the series that was released last year, to mediocre reviews and mild box office. The picture was occasionally fun, but became slow at points and didn't seem to offer the energy of the small-screen adventures.
"Recess: Christmas", while not as lengthy as the movie, is a nice little compilation that offers different holiday-themed segements from the show's past. While I'm not sure that all of these are previously seen, I believe I have skipped past some of the bits, such as the first one included, which has one of the kids named TJ taking over the role of pricipal for a day, ending up taking his power a bit too seriously. There's also a few other enjoyable bits, such as the kids trying to prove whether or not Santa exists and when they try to put on a food drive, realizing that it's not about competition.
Overall, this is a cute and entertaining compliation of "Recess" moments that fans of the show will enjoy. Unlike the feature film, this should also be entertaining for both children and adults.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Recess: Christmas" is presented in the show's original 1.33:1 full-frame aspect ratio by Disney. As expected, the transfer is a fine presentation of rather ordinary looking animation. Sharpness and detail are respectable, as the picture presented the show in a well-defined and crisp appearance, with no noticable softness or haziness.
Yet, some minor irritations did appear, suprisingly. "Recess" did show some print flaws here and there - slight grain, little specks and the occasional further wear. None of these were really that annoying on their own, but overall, they built up to be rather distracting. Further, some minor shimmering was seen, but there weren't any instances of edge enhancement or pixelation.
Colors did look enjoyable, if not too remarkable. While not eye-popping, colors could appear rich and vibrant throughout the show, looking nicely saturated, but without problems such as smearing. Overall, this presentation was firmly average - it did look a bit sharper and crisper than broadcast, but some mild problems kept it from rising above its origins.
SOUND: Suprisingly, "Recess: Christmas" is presented in both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 audio, which is an option that Disney has unexpectedly started to provide on more and more animated releases. The show's audio remains rather firmly in the front speakers, although there are those rare moments when a sound effect or some ambient sounds would come from the rear speakers. Audio quality remained pleasant, as the score and dialogue came through clearly.
While both the Dolby Digital and DTS editions did present an enjoyable, if limited, sound experience, the DTS track did edge out the Dolby Digital edition, as it provided a slightly more detailed and warm sound.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use film-themed images and cover art.
EXTRAS: Extras include three "Christmas Report" shorts, where one of the kids talks about a part of the Christmas traditions. Also, "Sneek Peaks" trailers, including "Mickey's Magical Christmas", "Atlantis: The Lost Empire", "Peter Pan in Return to Never Land", "The Princess Diaries" and more.
Final Thoughts: Recommending a kid's program like this one is a bit difficult. I liked the different programs that came together to form this little special, but the 65 minute program is a bit thin for the retail price of $29.99. Yet, kids might want to watch this one more than once - and rather renting it a few times, it might be worth looking for a low price to pick it up Disney's DVD offers fine, if not remarkable audio and video, but there's unfortunately not much in the way of supplements.
I've often voiced (or written, actually) about the lackluster state of children's programming. While my previous comments were generally regarding straight-to-video material or theatrical releases, my comments have previously spared the weak roundup of Saturday morning and weekday afternoon programming. Overloaded with flash and lacking substance, the act of providing an actual story seems to be a second thought to most of these programs.
Still, as I've said before, there are some bright spots in every catagory. While "Recess" isn't exactly the best thing to happen to children's programming, at least it does offer some fun stories and characters that have their own personalities. "Recess: School's Out" was the animated film from the series that was released last year, to mediocre reviews and mild box office. The picture was occasionally fun, but became slow at points and didn't seem to offer the energy of the small-screen adventures.
"Recess: Christmas", while not as lengthy as the movie, is a nice little compilation that offers different holiday-themed segements from the show's past. While I'm not sure that all of these are previously seen, I believe I have skipped past some of the bits, such as the first one included, which has one of the kids named TJ taking over the role of pricipal for a day, ending up taking his power a bit too seriously. There's also a few other enjoyable bits, such as the kids trying to prove whether or not Santa exists and when they try to put on a food drive, realizing that it's not about competition.
Overall, this is a cute and entertaining compliation of "Recess" moments that fans of the show will enjoy. Unlike the feature film, this should also be entertaining for both children and adults.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Recess: Christmas" is presented in the show's original 1.33:1 full-frame aspect ratio by Disney. As expected, the transfer is a fine presentation of rather ordinary looking animation. Sharpness and detail are respectable, as the picture presented the show in a well-defined and crisp appearance, with no noticable softness or haziness.
Yet, some minor irritations did appear, suprisingly. "Recess" did show some print flaws here and there - slight grain, little specks and the occasional further wear. None of these were really that annoying on their own, but overall, they built up to be rather distracting. Further, some minor shimmering was seen, but there weren't any instances of edge enhancement or pixelation.
Colors did look enjoyable, if not too remarkable. While not eye-popping, colors could appear rich and vibrant throughout the show, looking nicely saturated, but without problems such as smearing. Overall, this presentation was firmly average - it did look a bit sharper and crisper than broadcast, but some mild problems kept it from rising above its origins.
SOUND: Suprisingly, "Recess: Christmas" is presented in both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 audio, which is an option that Disney has unexpectedly started to provide on more and more animated releases. The show's audio remains rather firmly in the front speakers, although there are those rare moments when a sound effect or some ambient sounds would come from the rear speakers. Audio quality remained pleasant, as the score and dialogue came through clearly.
While both the Dolby Digital and DTS editions did present an enjoyable, if limited, sound experience, the DTS track did edge out the Dolby Digital edition, as it provided a slightly more detailed and warm sound.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use film-themed images and cover art.
EXTRAS: Extras include three "Christmas Report" shorts, where one of the kids talks about a part of the Christmas traditions. Also, "Sneek Peaks" trailers, including "Mickey's Magical Christmas", "Atlantis: The Lost Empire", "Peter Pan in Return to Never Land", "The Princess Diaries" and more.
Final Thoughts: Recommending a kid's program like this one is a bit difficult. I liked the different programs that came together to form this little special, but the 65 minute program is a bit thin for the retail price of $29.99. Yet, kids might want to watch this one more than once - and rather renting it a few times, it might be worth looking for a low price to pick it up Disney's DVD offers fine, if not remarkable audio and video, but there's unfortunately not much in the way of supplements.
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