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It's not unusual for Hollywood to produce a remake. Or even a
remake of a remake. The conventional wisdom is that each remake
is worse than its predecessor. Not so The Parent Trap. Originally
made in Britain in 1953 as Twice Upon a Time, it enjoyed a successfully
remake by Disney in 1961 as The Parent Trap starring Haley Mills.
Now we have a modern update, and this latest effort is one of
the most disarmingly charming films I've seen in quite some time.
The well-known plot is simple.
Nick Parker (Dennis Quaid) and Elizabeth James (Natasha Richardson)
don't like to fly. They each decide to cross the Atlantic on the
QE2 and they meet by chance while onboard. Smitten with one another,
they instantly fall in love, soon marry, and start a family. But
after some inexplicable and unexplained conflict, James flees
back to her native England. Divorced, she resumes using her maiden
name. Each parent retains custody of one daughter from a set of
identical twins, Hallie Parker and Annie James (Lindsay Lohan).
Eleven years and nine months later, the twins discover one another
at a summer camp and realize that they've each been raised by
one of their divorced parents. Neither has ever met the other
parent. So they plot to exchange places, to impersonate one another,
and in hope of a reconciliation, to force their parents together
when the necessary exchange inevitably takes place. They spend
the rest of the summer teaching one another the tiniest details
of their lives. A haircut and piercing soon follow to complete
the transformations.
Summer ends and each girl is reunited with the long-missed parent,
but there is another. Meredith Blake (Elaine Hendrix), a publicist
hired by Parker to promote his Napa Valley vineyard, has set her
gold-digging sights on her employer. And during the eight weeks
Hallie has been away, Blake's managed to score an engagement ring.
To quickly reunite the divorced parents, the twins force James
away from her successful bridal designer business in London to
bring the now revealed Hallie to California. I think you can predict
how this plays out. But this simple plot description does little
justice to the film.
Parent Trap was directed by Nancy Meyers and produced by Charles
Shyer. They co-wrote the screenplay with David Swift. (The team
of Meyers and Shyer brought us two other satisfying comedies,
Baby Boom and Father of the Bride.) Meyers, Shyer, and Swift strike
a pleasing balance between humor and sentimentality that manages
to draw the viewer into the relationships without causing a diabetic
coma.
The cast is outstanding. Quaid and Richardson both bring a warmth
and tenderness to the movie that is uncharacteristic of their
typical roles. Lisa Ann Walter plays Chessy, a spunky and all-knowing
housekeeper in Parker's vineyard home. Simon Kunz plays Martin,
James's droll butler who is, naturally, more like a member of
the family. And in an interesting cameo, Joanna Barnes, who played
the wicked girlfriend in the 1961 version, plays the mother of
1998's wicked girlfriend. Alan Silvestri wrote the pleasant score.
But most notable of all is the wonderful Lindsay Lohan
who, with the help of modern digital compositing, plays both Hallie
Parker and Annie James. She manages two distinct personalities,
a flawless British accent, subtly compromises both personality
and accent when playing a twin impersonating the other, and conveys
a depth of emotion that is neither cloying nor self-conscious
whether she's playing against herself or with another member of
the cast. Very well done.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio is presented in 4:3 letterbox
video. The image is cropped on the sides ever so slightly to permit
filling vertically the standard 1.78:1 (16x9) aspect ratio screen.
As with other such transfers, there are enough scan lines to make
the video quality quite acceptable. As you would expect, without
16x9 enhancement, it's a little on the soft side. But the video
is quite stable, and offers good color and noise characteristics.
No visible artifacts were noticed.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
Dolby Digital audio is available in both English and French.
There is little in the way of surround information or spectacular
sound effects. With the exception of the occasional ear-splitting
scream, this is a relatively quite film. Dialog, score, and sound
effects are always well balanced and clearly presented.
I found a rather unusual audio(?) feature - or perhaps I just
never noticed this approach before. On other DVDs in my collection,
switching to French simply changes an audio track; the video remains
the same. I checked a few. On The Parent Trap, switching to French
not only changes the spoken language, but the credits and plaques
are transformed into French as well. When I removed the DVD from
the player, I noticed the coloration of a dual layer disc. The
film is only 128 minutes long and I didn't notice an RSDL layer
change. Nor did I notice any programmed chapter seek for the sequences
that displayed French on the screen. Did Disney author a second
layer to present an entirely separate French version? Interesting.
Also included are English Closed Captions and Spanish subtitles
are provided.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? Minimal extras include a full frame theatrical trailer,
20 chapter stops, and two screens of recommended Disney family
films.
DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop
the disc in your PC?
No ROM extras are included.
Parting Thoughts
This is a delightfully sentimental date movie but just an average
DVD. Still, worth a rental for the kids, but hardly much of a
collectible.
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