...if children can stay awake long enough, they will undoubtedly find much of it entertaining.
Nevertheless, there's nothing to worry about anymore. The picture quality in widescreen is excellent, the whole film freshly remastered with an increased bit rate to reflect MGM's newfound care in their product. There is a slight overall fade to the image, but the softness tends to add to the naturalness of the picture. Otherwise, the colors are deep, the definition still reasonably good, and the backgrounds free of grain. By contrast, the P&S version is not only incomplete, it's fuzzier and blurrier as well.
Audio:
The stereo soundtrack was remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround for the previous edition, and it continues to come off pretty well, although the rear channels are not fed much signal. The opening prologue displays a nice full surround, but most of the rest of the movie doesn't have a lot of rear-channel information except some minor musical ambience enhancement. The deepest bass and the entire dynamic range seem somewhat compressed, but that may be a fault of the original sonics.
Extras:
The dual-sided, dual-layered first disc contains the standard and widescreen film presentations on flip sides, Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, a sneak peek at "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" the stage musical, thirty-two scene selections, and a sing-along feature. This sing-along (available on the English-language track only) is a carryover from the older edition, and I still like the idea. When it's turned on, it's a kind of follow-the-bouncing-ball affair. Lyrics light up at the bottom of the screen when the actors sing them. However, except for the title song, there wasn't much I felt compelled to sing along with. Oh well. English (DD 5.1), French (Dolby Surround), Spanish (Dolby Surround), and Portuguese (mono) are provided as spoken language and subtitle choices.
In the previous edition, MGM afforded only the sing-along. Now, they've given us a whole second disc of bonus items. The most important, at least for adults, is a newly made, twenty-five minute documentary, "Remembering Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," in which Dick Van Dyke reminisces on the making of the film and the actors in it. This is followed by a nine-minute bit on the amazing car in the film, "A Fantasmagorical Motorcar," narrated by its real-life owner. Then, there are three featurettes made at the time of the film's production: "The Ditchling Tinkerer," about a Roland Emmett, an actual crackpot inventor (ten minutes); "The Potts Children," about the child actors (three minutes); and a Dick Van Dyke press interview (eight minutes). Next is a vintage advertising gallery with two theatrical trailers, one in English pan-and-scan and one in French widescreen; plus five TV spots.
Finally, there's a read-along storybook feature; a photo gallery; a series of Sherman Brothers preproduction song demos (audio only); some trailers for other MGM family movies; and two games for kids, "One Person's Junk Is Another Person's Jalopy" and "Too Sweet Special Delivery." Also for kids is a DVD-ROM coloring book.
The two discs and a thirty-four page storybook insert are contained in a foldout package, which itself is housed in a beautifully embossed, gatefold slipcase.
Parting Shots:
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is a musical comedy that contains little noteworthy music apart from the title song and even less comedy. Be that as it may, it is colorful and energetic, and if children can stay awake long enough, they will undoubtedly find much of it entertaining.
Audio:
The stereo soundtrack was remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround for the previous edition, and it continues to come off pretty well, although the rear channels are not fed much signal. The opening prologue displays a nice full surround, but most of the rest of the movie doesn't have a lot of rear-channel information except some minor musical ambience enhancement. The deepest bass and the entire dynamic range seem somewhat compressed, but that may be a fault of the original sonics.
Extras:
The dual-sided, dual-layered first disc contains the standard and widescreen film presentations on flip sides, Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, a sneak peek at "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" the stage musical, thirty-two scene selections, and a sing-along feature. This sing-along (available on the English-language track only) is a carryover from the older edition, and I still like the idea. When it's turned on, it's a kind of follow-the-bouncing-ball affair. Lyrics light up at the bottom of the screen when the actors sing them. However, except for the title song, there wasn't much I felt compelled to sing along with. Oh well. English (DD 5.1), French (Dolby Surround), Spanish (Dolby Surround), and Portuguese (mono) are provided as spoken language and subtitle choices.
In the previous edition, MGM afforded only the sing-along. Now, they've given us a whole second disc of bonus items. The most important, at least for adults, is a newly made, twenty-five minute documentary, "Remembering Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," in which Dick Van Dyke reminisces on the making of the film and the actors in it. This is followed by a nine-minute bit on the amazing car in the film, "A Fantasmagorical Motorcar," narrated by its real-life owner. Then, there are three featurettes made at the time of the film's production: "The Ditchling Tinkerer," about a Roland Emmett, an actual crackpot inventor (ten minutes); "The Potts Children," about the child actors (three minutes); and a Dick Van Dyke press interview (eight minutes). Next is a vintage advertising gallery with two theatrical trailers, one in English pan-and-scan and one in French widescreen; plus five TV spots.
Finally, there's a read-along storybook feature; a photo gallery; a series of Sherman Brothers preproduction song demos (audio only); some trailers for other MGM family movies; and two games for kids, "One Person's Junk Is Another Person's Jalopy" and "Too Sweet Special Delivery." Also for kids is a DVD-ROM coloring book.
The two discs and a thirty-four page storybook insert are contained in a foldout package, which itself is housed in a beautifully embossed, gatefold slipcase.
Parting Shots:
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is a musical comedy that contains little noteworthy music apart from the title song and even less comedy. Be that as it may, it is colorful and energetic, and if children can stay awake long enough, they will undoubtedly find much of it entertaining.
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[release]11190[/release]