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    • WSR Detailed LaserDisc Review

    Simon Birch
    Genre:Comedy

    Reviewed In Issue 33 Of Widescreen Review® Stars:
    Joseph Mazzello, Oliver Platt, David Strathairn, Dana Ivey, Jan Hooks, Beatrice Winde, Ian Michael Smith & Ashley Judd

    WSR Review Scores
    Picture Rating: 4.5
    Sound Rating: 4.5
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    Reference Systems
    Critics' Composite Score:
    Internet Links

    Supplementals
    None

    DVD General Information
    (Studio/Distributor): Hollywood Pictures Home Video
    (Catalog Number): 15962AS
    (MPAA Rating): PG
    (Retail Price): $29.99
    (Running Time In Minutes): 114
    (Color Type): Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access): Yes
    (Closed Captioned): Yes
    (Theatrical Release): 1998
    (LD Release Date): 04/99
    (THX® Digitally Mastered): No

    Credits Information
    (Director): Mark Steven Johnson
    (Screenplay/Written By): Mark Steven Johnson
    (Story): NA
    (Music): Marc Shaiman
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer): David Chapman
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor): David Finfer
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers): NA
    (Co-Producers): Billy Higgins
    (Producers): Laurence Mark & Roger Birnbaum

    DVD Picture Information
    (Principal Photography): Academy Standard Flat
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio): 1.85:1
    (Measured LaserDisc Aspect Ratio): 1.82:1

    DVD Sound Information
    (DVD Soundtrack): Dolby Digital Surround
    (Theatrical Sound): DTS, SDDS & Dolby Digital
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (Remastered Dolby Digital): No
    (Remastered DTS Digital Surround): No
    (Additional Languages):

    WSR Narrative Review
    Story Synopsis:
    Narrated by Jim Carrey, Simon Birch tells the story of the smallest kid in town (Smith) who stubbornly persists in thinking big. Along with his best friend Joe (Mazzello), Simon gets into all kinds of trouble—sometimes with tragic consequences. But when the boys set out to discover the identity of Joe’s father, we see what really sets Simon apart from the rest is not his small size, but his inspirational way of looking at life. The idea for the movie came from the novel “A Prayer For Owen Meany” by John Irving.

    LaserDisc Picture:
    The LaserDisc, matted at 1.82:1, exhibits charming image quality with beautifully rendered colors and fleshtones. Images are sharp and detailed, with superb contrast and shadow delineation. Minor video artifacts are apparent, but there is no distracting noise. The cinematography is enchanting throughout the film.

    LaserDisc Soundtrack:
    This is a very pleasant and spatially engaging soundtrack presentation. The discrete 5.1 Dolby® Digital and matrix PCM soundtracks are nicely implemented. The matrix version actually sounds slightly more open and better resolves low level ambience information. Surround is at times aggressive and dimensionally rewarding with discrete split surround and phantom center back imaging. The music score is well recorded with an expansive soundstage presence that is slightly wider in perspective on the discrete version. Bass sounds perfectly natural and .1 LFE enhancement is limited though effective. Disappointingly, the discrete’s surround tracks are either without signal or the level is so low to be ineffective. Dialogue sounds generally natural with good spatial integration, but occasionally is ADR-processed.
    (Surround Bass Below 50Hz): Yes
    (Aggressive System Surround): Yes
    (Intense 25Hz Bass): No
    (Deep Bass Challenging): No
    (Aggressive 0.1 LFE):
    (Holosonic Soundfield): No
    (Aggressive Split Surround): No
    (Center Back Surround Imaging): Yes
    (Directionalized Dialogue): No
    Superb Sound Effects Recording Quality:
    Superb Music Score Recording Quality:
    Superb Special Visual Effects Quality:
    Superb Color Fidelity:
    Superb Cinematography:
    Reference LaserDisc:
    		 Yes
    Collector Edition:
    		 No
    DVD To LaserDisc Comparison:
    The LaserDisc and non-anamorphic DVD, both matted at 1.82:1, exhibit charming image quality with beautifully rendered colors and fleshtones. Images are sharp and detailed on both versions, though the DVD is slightly sharper with better clarity. Contrast and shadow delineation are superb throughout, with excellent visual information in the darkest scenes. Minor video artifacts are apparent on both versions, but there is no distracting noise on either format. The cinematography is enchanting throughout the film. This is a very pleasant and spatially engaging soundtrack presentation. Both the DVD and LaserDisc discrete 5.1 Dolby® Digital and LaserDisc matrix PCM soundtracks are nicely implemented. The matrix version actually sounds slightly more open and better resolves low level ambience information. Surround is at times aggressive and dimensionally rewarding with discrete split surround and phantom center back imaging. The music score is well recorded with an expansive soundstage presence that is slightly wider in perspective on the discrete version. Bass sounds perfectly natural and .1 LFE enhancement is limited though effective. Disappointingly, the discrete’ s surround tracks either are without signal or the level is so low to be ineffective. Dialogue sounds generally natural with good spatial integration, but occasionally is ADR-processed.