Search - The Royal Tenenbaums on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Adult Humor, Profanity, Substance Abuse Movie Release: 2001 DVD Release: 07/09/2002 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 2 Number of Discs: 2 Run Time: 1 hrs 50 mins Studio: Walt Disney Video Total Copies: 16 Genres: Comedy Drama, Sophisticated Comedy, Comedy of Manners

Director Wes Anderson and his longtime friend and writing partner Owen Wilson follow up Bottle Rocket (1996) and Rushmore (1998) with this similarly offbeat comedy about a dysfunctional family reunion. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) was a successful attorney who had three children with his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston), an archaeologist. Each of the Tenenbaum kids was a precocious genius: Chas (Ben Stiller) made a killing as a child investor. Richie (Luke Wilson) was a junior tennis champ and three-time U.S. Nationals winner. The adopted Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a playwright who won a 50,000-dollar Braverman Grant in the ninth grade. When Royal abruptly left his family, however, it was the beginning of two decades of betrayal and failure that would scar the Tenenbaums for life. Their past resentments are bitterly held against Royal when he suddenly reappears, claiming to have six weeks to live and a desire to reconnect with his family. Typically, Royal's story is a sham, but his presence and sincere desire for absolution soon have a profound effect on the Tenenbaums, who are each dealing with thwarted desires and relationships. Among them are Richie's lifelong love for Margot, who's unhappily married to Raleigh St.Clair (Bill Murray) and Etheline's eccentric engagement to Henry Sherman (Danny Glover), who wishes to marry her. The Royal Tenenbaums also co-stars Owen Wilson and features narration provided by Alec Baldwin. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Gene Hackman - Royal Tenenbaum
Anjelica Huston - Etheline Tenenbaum
Ben Stiller - Chas Tenenbaum
Gwyneth Paltrow - Margot Tenenbaum
Luke Wilson - Richie Tenenbaum

The Royal Tenenbaums, featuring one of the most eccentric dysfunctional families ever put to film, comes to DVD, produced by Criterion. Typical for the two-disc sets they release, it's creative and well organized. Hardly unusual for their special edition, this set is loaded with supplemental features. The first disc, along with the movie, has a commentary track from director Wes Anderson, who covers just about everything that could be imagined. The second disc houses the rest, with a featurette on the portraits created for the film, interviews with the cast, outtakes, an extensive photo gallery, storyboards, theatrical trailers, and more. The navigation, look, and atmosphere of these extras is similar to Criterion's other DVD release of Anderson's Rushmore. As for the image, it's presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen, and while it does look a little soft at times, detail and color are still quite strong, as well are the black levels. Knowing Anderson's visual style, the way the video image looks is related to the way he makes films and less to mediocre authoring. The sound, which includes 5.1 tracks in Dolby Digital and DTS, is completely adequate for this type of film. It's centered up front, with good volume, but doesn't take advantage of the Surround speakers. Dialogue is clear, which for this film is of the utmost importance. English subtitles are also offered. You would be hard-pressed to find a bad Criterion special edition, and certainly won't find it with this title. ~ Trent Fordham, All Movie Guide