Movie Reviews

I was a bit reluctant going into this one. The Rock has impressed me with his choices acting wise, but the trailers for this did nothing for me. The first act of the film didn't do me any favors. There are a lot of gag bits that weren’t that funny and honestly I felt like I'd seen this too many times before. The second act brought it back though and I started to feel like I wasn't wasting my time. The film started developing some honest emotion points and laid off on the prank jokes. By the time the film was over I thought it was pretty good. I don't really know who this film was aimed at though. Younger kids may get a kick out of some of the laughs, but it didn't really play to the kid audience. On the other hand it didn't play to the adults either. While this is wholesome family entertainment, there are a lot of other films almost just like it.

Disney has done a wonderful job with the presentation. I was blown away by the quality of the video. Fine detail is apparent throughout and even longer shots are nice and sharp. The quality of the print is pristine and dimensionality is as good as I've seen. Colors are rendered nicely with bold hues and no oversaturation at all. Contrast is exceptional with deep blacks and excellent shadow detail. I really couldn't find anything at all to pick on here!

The PCM soundtrack is also a winner, but not quite as impressive as the video presentation. This is a family movie so the track isn't very aggressive. Some of the film's soundtrack livens it up from time to time and there were some nice dynamics from the songs. Surrounds are used for environmental cues, but I didn't hear much in terms of spatial panning or directional effects. For what it is though, it is quite effective.

The extras are better than normal for a film like this and do a great job of keeping with the theme. The full ESPN spoof on The Rock's character is available plus an interview with the real man on preparing for this role. There are some good bloopers and deleted scenes and a feature commentary with the director and star. For the kids there is a makeover feature with the film’s younger star.

The Game Plan ended up being more enjoyable than I thought it would but I could see audiences coming out with mixed opinions. It has its heart in the right place, but some of the movie comes off a bit too silly. The A/V presentation is a winner though and the video is good enough to demo. Overall I would give this a strong rental recommendation.