Son of Rambow (DVD)

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I wonder, too, for what audience the filmmakers intended their movie. British kids may find it's not funny enough or "reckless" enough, and being set the 80s, they may not find it relevant to them today. American kids, on the other hand, would undoubtedly find the British accents hard to understand. That leaves adults, and for them the movie may simply appear old hat--not nostalgic enough, funny enough, or dramatic enough.

It's hard to knock "Son of Rambow," because its heart is surely in the right place. Yet so much of it just doesn't work, even in the details, that it's hard to get very excited about it. The videotape the kids are making, for instance, looks a lot better on screen than any videotape would ever look, no matter who made it. The religious angle is heavy-handed. And, perhaps worst of all, the movie itself doesn't seem that much better than the movie Will and Lee are making; both the film and the film-within-the-film display slapdash, improvisational, make-it-up-as-you-go-along peculiarities.

In every frame of "Son of Rambow" you can see the writer-director trying to create something sweet, gentle, humorous, and uplifting, and not quite succeeding. Which, in the end, hardly raises the film out of the ordinary.

Video:
The video presentation is the best part of the show, actually. The disc offers the movie in its original 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio in an anamorphic transfer, enhanced for widescreen TVs. You'll find the picture quality bright and colorful, with excellent hues and shadings, reasonably good contrasts, decent definition, and a light film grain.

Audio:
While the image is quite handsome, there is hardly anything going on in the audio department. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound might as well be two-channel stereo for all the good the rear speakers make. There is virtually no surround activity I could notice, only an adequate front-channel stereo spread, and a minimum frequency range and dynamic impact. This is really not a condemnation of the audio track, however, simply an observation, as the movie never calls upon the sound to do very much.

Extras:
I can't say that I liked the extras any more than I liked the film; they also seemed quite ordinary and lightweight to me. There's an audio commentary with director Jennings, producer Nick Goldsmith, and stars Bill Milner and Will Poulter that seems as if the filmmakers are having more of a good time together than they are enlightening us about anything. Still, it's pleasant enough. Following that is a twenty-six-minute featurette, "The Making of Son of Rambow," that repeats a lot of what the same four people said in the commentary. Next, we have "Aron," the director's original short film that inspired "Son of Rambow," followed by a five-minute amateur film, a "Son of Rambow" Website winner.

Things conclude with fourteen scene selections but no chapter insert (apparently a thing of the past); previews at start-up and even more previews in the main menu; English and Spanish spoken languages; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Parting Shots:
"Son of Rambow" is one of those good-intentions movies. It strives for the sentimental warmth of "The Sandlot" and the nostalgic laughs of "A Christmas Story," but it doesn't quite make it on either count. Mostly, it feels forced and tired, and, like its ending, contrived. Give it an A for effort, but I really don't think I'd want to see it again.

Final note: In an unusual marketing arrangement, for the indefinite future you will find "Son of Rambow" for sale only at Best Buy, but for rental at most major video stores.

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