Release Details

Title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Release Date: 04/25/2006

Label/Distributor: Warner

Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Prebook DVD: 03/21/2006

Retail Price: $19.98

Genre: Action & Adventure

Director: Rod Hardy

Running Time: 178

DVD Video Options: Closed-captioned, Color, Subtitled

DVD Audio Options: English, Original Language; French, Subtitled; Spanish, Subtitled

UPC Code: 012569765009

The year is 1886 and New England's fishing harbor is the scene for a "creature of unknown origin" destroying all ships at sea. It is the job of a curious marine expert, Professor Pierre Aronnax (Patrick Dempsey from the hit TV show "Grey's Anatomy") and the iron-willed sailor, Ned Land (Bryan Brown) to learn the truth of the "monster" roaming the depths of the ocean. Their discovery begins when they encounter the reclusive Captain Nemo (Academy Award Winner Michael Caine) and learn of his surprising relationship with the terrorizing "creature" and all the other secrets lurking in the waters.


Tipsheet Reviews
DVD Special Edition

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

5/8/2003


Color, G, 127-minutes plus supplements, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, anamorphic widescreen, $29.99, Street May 13; First Run: W, Dec., 1954, $8 mil.

The Love Bug Special Edition

Color, rated G, 108 min. plus supplements, Dolby Digital, anamorphic widescreen, $29.99, Street: May 20; First Run: W, May, 1968, $50.7 mil.

The Rescuers

Color, G, 76-min. plus supplements, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, widescreen, $29.99, Street May 20; First Run: W, June, 1977, $48.7 mil.

Three new first-time-on-DVD releases this month represent three of Disney's most memorable movies from the '50s, '60s and '70s. The best of the trio is the special edition of the 1954 classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The double-disc set includes the hours of extra features from Sparkhill Productions and elaborate menu designs from 1K Studios common to all of the studio's Vault Disney DVDs, for which this title was developed before that label was quietly dropped. Director Richard Fleischer (son of original Disney animation rival Max Fleischer) is candid and highly entertaining in his comments on an audio commentary and in multiple interviews, such as when he discusses the challenges working with then-new widescreen camera equipment, uncharted effects and the strong personalities of Walt Disney and star Kirk Douglas. Douglas, long-haired and recovering from a stroke, also offers numerous comments in the 88-minute Making of... featurette from producer/writer Mark Young, featuring an amazing amount of behind-the-scenes footage, including the original fight with the giant squid that Disney disliked enough to scrap. Other notable extras include the six-minute featurette The Humboldt Squid: A Real Sea Monster! about real-life squids, the 16-minute Jules Verne & Walt Disney: Explorers of the Imagination from producer/writer/director David Skal and the 10-minute The Musical Legacy of Paul Smith from producer/writer/director Les Perkins. Another leftover Vault Disney title that gets the Sparkhill/1K double-disc treatment is the 1968 family classic The Love Bug Special Edition. Although stars Dean Jones, Buddy Hackett and Michele Lee are delightful as they recall pleasurable filming experiences and amusing anecdotes during their audio commentary and in a few video interviews, most of the visual material, including the 45-minute That Lovable Bug from producer/writer Mark Young, showcase the obsession for anything related to the Beetle named Herbie by fans who can describe the slightly varying paint colors on the cars in all the sequels and others who dress themselves, their spouses and children in Love Bug clothing and costumes and build their vacations around Herbie hotels and events. After hours of this kind of fanatacism, one of the few non-fan-related documentaries, The Man Who Gave Herbie His Voice, featuring the work of sound effects supervisor Jimmy McDonald, is a welcome relief. While not a Platinum title or even a special edition, the single-disc presentation of The Rescuers features a fair amount of extras that should appeal to youngsters, including an interactive trivia game, a classic animated Silly Symphony cartoon, the vintage Disney True-Life live action nature documentary Water Birds, a featurette from Toon Disney on Disney villains and a sing-along version of the song from the movie, "Someone's Waiting For You." --Scott Hettrick

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