Search - Pleasantville on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Adult Language, Sexual Situations, Suitable for Teens Movie Release: 1998 DVD Release: 03/23/1999 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Special Collection Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 4 mins Studio: New Line Home Video Total Copies: 15 Genres: Comedy, Americana, Fantasy Comedy

Gary Ross, Oscar nominated for his Dave and Big screenplays, made his directorial debut with this comedy. The cheerful '50s TV sitcom "Pleasantville" is revived in the '90s for a loyal cable audience. One devoted fan is shy suburban teen David Wagner (Tobey Maguire), who has an almost obsessive interest in the series. Living with his divorced mother (Jane Kaczmarek), David sometimes has disputes with his ultra-hip twin sister Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon). She wants to watch MTV just when a Pleasantville marathon is about to begin. They struggle over the remote control, and it breaks. A strange TV repairman (Don Knotts) supplies their new remote, a potent high-tech device which zaps David and Jennifer inside Pleasantville, where their new sitcom parents are businessman George Parker (William H. Macy) and wife Betty (Joan Allen). As "Bud" and "Mary Sue," the teens take up residence in a black-and-white suburbia where sex does not exist and the temperature is always 72 degrees. Life is always pleasant, books have no words, bathrooms have no toilets, married couples sleep in twin beds, the high school basketball team always wins, and nobody ever questions "The Good Life." David revels in Pleasantville's Prozac-styled peacefulness. He fits right in, but Jennifer's 1990s attitude upsets the blandness balance, painting parts of Pleasantville in "living color." Repressed desires surface, cracks appear in the '50s lifestyles, and the Pleasantville populace finds their lives changing in strange, wonderful ways. It's liberating -- but there's also a darker side. This film breaks an all-time record with more than 1700 special effects shots. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Tobey Maguire - David/Bud
Jeff Daniels - Mr. Johnson
Joan Allen - Betty
William H. Macy - George
J.T. Walsh - Big Bob

Few films are more ideally suited to DVD format than Pleasantville, Gary Ross' fantastical tale of two modern-day teenagers literally bringing color to a tame, black-and-white '50s TV series. Thankfully, this disc should satisfy even the most demanding of Pleasantville's many admirers. The film is visually just as gorgeous as it appeared on the big screen, the mixture of monochrome and color photography looking utterly seamless. Pleasantville's more inventive moments benefit greatly from an anamorphic widescreen transfer, an example being the falling cherry blossom sequence, which is dazzling. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio track is also exceptional; Randy Newman's score sounds lush but clear. The audio-visual excellence of the film is almost matched by the special features on the disc. The original theatrical trailer is provided, as are some unusually thorough biographies of Ross and the main cast. "The Art of Pleasantville" is a half-hour featurette in which key crew members reveal some production background, concentrating on the film's enormous number of visual effects; though it will certainly interest the technically minded, its somewhat academic air is a bit inconsistent with the whimsical tone of the film. The promo video for Fiona Apple's version of the Beatles song "Across the Universe" is also intriguing in its use of one of Pleasantville's key scenes. Ross' commentary track is modest and enjoyable, although weighted firmly in favor of analysis rather than production. For a film so unique in theme and appearance, perhaps even more additional features would have been justified, but the content of New Line's DVD is so exquisitely delivered -- even the scene selection menu is marvelous -- that few will be disappointed. ~ Patrick Lee, All Movie Guide