| Reviews & Columns |
|
Reviews DVD TV on DVD Blu-ray 4K UHD International DVDs In Theaters Reviews by Studio Video Games Features Collector Series DVDs Easter Egg Database Interviews DVD Talk Radio Feature Articles Columns Anime Talk DVD Savant Horror DVDs The M.O.D. Squad Art House HD Talk Silent DVD
|
 DVD Talk Forum |
|
|
| Resources |
|
DVD Price Search Customer Service #'s RCE Info Links |
|
Columns
  
 
|
|
|
Man From Snowy River, The
Fox // PG // May 28, 2002
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
I'll have to admit it: I was a teenaged horse fanatic. If a movie had nice horses in it, it would be sure to get at least some applause from me. However, my horse-loving days having receded into the distant past, I found that a film like The Man from Snowy River needed more than a strong equine supporting cast to make a favorable impression on me; it needed an entertaining story. In the final analysis, while the film isn't bad, the story and characters never quite grabbed me.
The Man from Snowy River has at its core a soap-opera plot, with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. Even the cast of characters shows it: we have a young man on his own for the first time, a cantankerous but good-hearted old man with an obsession, a rich and arrogant landowner with a secret who, of course, has a beautiful and rebellious daughter, and so on.
The main problem with the storyline is evident as I try to give a brief statement of what the movie's about. I can either tell you that it's set in the Australian Old West and describe the characters, as I just did, which doesn't really tell you much, or I can give a detailed summary of the plot from beginning to end, which I never do, as it spoils the movie. What The Man from Snowy River lacks is a purpose, a plot pressure that is established at the beginning to drive the story forward. In a well-plotted movie this pressure leads to the story developing, often in unexpected ways, but there's always something at the beginning that establishes a route for the film which it can then follow or deviate from as the case may be.
With The Man from Snowy River, it's unclear where the focus of the story is, even well into the film. At first, it looks to be the story of the mob of "brumbies" (wild horses) led by the mysterious uncatchable stallion, but it shifts gears and appears to be about young Jim Craig (Tom Burlinson) and his coming of age. Then a highly predictable romance plot is added to the mix, and it's evident that the story's different parts are drawing apart what little focus there was to begin with. All in all, while the story has the trappings of plot, it never has much going on that will compel the viewer to continue watching.
Who will like The Man from Snowy River? Teenage viewers will probably find it more to their taste than adults, with the young romantics and their rebellion against parental plans most likely carrying more interest for them than for their parents. Plot and characters aside, the setting in the Australian wilds in the late 19th century is interesting, and there are some lovely shots of landscape; horse lovers will undoubtedly rank this film considerably higher than I do, on the strength of the nicely-done shots of the wild horses and some fairly impressive stunt riding and horse handling going on throughout the film.
Video
Fox's transfer of The Man from Snowy River is sure to please lovers of the film. The anamorphic widescreen image is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, with the width of the picture being used to its fullest in the cinematography throughout the film. The only fault I'd find in the image is a touch of edge enhancement, which fortunately is fairly mild. Apart from that, it looks great: nice and clean, with strong colors.
Audio
The Dolby 2.0 track leaves a lot to be desired. The music and dialogue portions of the track are badly balanced, with the music generally much louder than the dialogue, necessitating frequent re-adjusting of the volume on the fly. Dialogue is also fairly muffled, and it's easy to lose portions of the actors' lines on occasion.
Extras
With space being wasted on a pan-and-scan version of the film on the flip side of the disc, all we get is a trailer.
Final thoughts
Existing fans of the film will be generally satisfied with the transfer of the film; visually it looks great, although I was displeased with the audio quality. I probably would have liked this movie a lot more when I was thirteen years old and nuts about horses; seeing it as an adult, I found it rather bland. It's the kind of DVD that could be a great family film for viewers with kids, but I'd recommend renting it first to find out whether you like it well enough to add it to the collection.
The Man from Snowy River has at its core a soap-opera plot, with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. Even the cast of characters shows it: we have a young man on his own for the first time, a cantankerous but good-hearted old man with an obsession, a rich and arrogant landowner with a secret who, of course, has a beautiful and rebellious daughter, and so on.
The main problem with the storyline is evident as I try to give a brief statement of what the movie's about. I can either tell you that it's set in the Australian Old West and describe the characters, as I just did, which doesn't really tell you much, or I can give a detailed summary of the plot from beginning to end, which I never do, as it spoils the movie. What The Man from Snowy River lacks is a purpose, a plot pressure that is established at the beginning to drive the story forward. In a well-plotted movie this pressure leads to the story developing, often in unexpected ways, but there's always something at the beginning that establishes a route for the film which it can then follow or deviate from as the case may be.
With The Man from Snowy River, it's unclear where the focus of the story is, even well into the film. At first, it looks to be the story of the mob of "brumbies" (wild horses) led by the mysterious uncatchable stallion, but it shifts gears and appears to be about young Jim Craig (Tom Burlinson) and his coming of age. Then a highly predictable romance plot is added to the mix, and it's evident that the story's different parts are drawing apart what little focus there was to begin with. All in all, while the story has the trappings of plot, it never has much going on that will compel the viewer to continue watching.
Who will like The Man from Snowy River? Teenage viewers will probably find it more to their taste than adults, with the young romantics and their rebellion against parental plans most likely carrying more interest for them than for their parents. Plot and characters aside, the setting in the Australian wilds in the late 19th century is interesting, and there are some lovely shots of landscape; horse lovers will undoubtedly rank this film considerably higher than I do, on the strength of the nicely-done shots of the wild horses and some fairly impressive stunt riding and horse handling going on throughout the film.
Video
Fox's transfer of The Man from Snowy River is sure to please lovers of the film. The anamorphic widescreen image is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, with the width of the picture being used to its fullest in the cinematography throughout the film. The only fault I'd find in the image is a touch of edge enhancement, which fortunately is fairly mild. Apart from that, it looks great: nice and clean, with strong colors.
Audio
The Dolby 2.0 track leaves a lot to be desired. The music and dialogue portions of the track are badly balanced, with the music generally much louder than the dialogue, necessitating frequent re-adjusting of the volume on the fly. Dialogue is also fairly muffled, and it's easy to lose portions of the actors' lines on occasion.
Extras
With space being wasted on a pan-and-scan version of the film on the flip side of the disc, all we get is a trailer.
Final thoughts
Existing fans of the film will be generally satisfied with the transfer of the film; visually it looks great, although I was displeased with the audio quality. I probably would have liked this movie a lot more when I was thirteen years old and nuts about horses; seeing it as an adult, I found it rather bland. It's the kind of DVD that could be a great family film for viewers with kids, but I'd recommend renting it first to find out whether you like it well enough to add it to the collection.
|
| Popular Reviews |
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Release List | Reviews | Shop | Newsletter | Forum | DVD Giveaways | Blu-Ray | Advertise |
|
Copyright 2024 DVDTalk.com All Rights Reserved. Legal Info, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use,
Manage Preferences,
Your Privacy Choices 
| |||||||