"Hidalgo"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Viggo Mortensen as FRANK HOPKINS Omar Sharif as SHEIKH RIYADH Zuleikha Robinson as JAZIRA Louise Lombard as LADY ANNE DAVENPORT Adam Alexi-Malle as AZIZ Said Taghmaoui as PRINCE BIN AL REEH Rated PG-13 Studio: Touchstone Directed by: Joe Johnston Back to DVD Review Home |
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Okay, I have to take issue with something about the marketing of the “Hidalgo” DVD. I distinctly heard advertisements that this would be a “groundbreaking” DVD experience. You got that? “Groundbreaking.”
Surely, there must be something spectacular in the special features. Maybe a new way to present a normally dull DVD game. Maybe a new type of interactive experience like the supplemental audio-video commentary track found on “Finding Nemo.” I was actually somewhat excited to see what was on this “groundbreaking” DVD beside the movie itself. I’m sure you’ll understand my disappointment when I found a single 9-minute behind-the-scenes video, “Sand & Celluloid.”
Never once has something been built up as much to be so let down. The “Hidalgo” DVD is anything but groundbreaking. In fact, there are very few extra features at all. Not even a commentary track by anyone - the director, the stars, or even the writer or cinematographer.
Apparently, the purported “groundbreaking” feature was a documentary entitled, “America’s First Horse.” This documentary tells the story of the Spanish Mustang, which was Hidalgo’s breed. It includes interviews with screenwriter John Fusco, actor Viggo Mortensen and other experts on the Mustangs. The catch is that this documentary doesn’t play in your DVD player. It must be played on a computer with a DVD-ROM drive.
According to the insert sleeve, “America’s First Horse” is an enhanced computer feature, and the short preview that can be seen on a standard DVD player advertises interviews and some of Frank T. Hopkins’ original writings.
So, I hauled out my lap top and popped the video in my DVD drive. Of course, the first thing it wanted to do was install new software. Let me be blunt here. I hate having to install new software. If your slice of entertainment won’t work with the dozens of multimedia programs already pre-installed on any decent lap top, then I don’t want it. All this proprietary software does is clog up my registry and clutter my system.
But I bit the bullet and installed the software. But when this “enhanced computer feature” finally played in its own customized memory-hogging skin, it was just a 22-minute QuickTime movie. There was nothing in there that couldn’t be shown on a 22-minute video segment on my home DVD player. Oh, and to make matters worse, the program I just installed kept trying to access the Internet, presumably to download new material and register my DVD.
The promise of some fantastic - no, “groundbreaking” - extra feature held about as much water as the “based on a true story” label the film carries. I don’t mind a DVD that is lean on features. But I do mind a DVD that promises something special and doesn’t deliver.
Here’s the bottom line for the folks out there in Hollywood who just don’t seem to get it. People don’t want to watch movies on their computers. They want to watch movies on their televisions. That’s why DVDs didn’t catch on until electronics manufacturers started making players that piped right into your TV. The most an average person might watch on the computer is a funny 30-second movie clip sent along with a joke-of-the-day in their email.
So, when it comes to the DVD experience of “Hidalgo,” I was left in the dust.
“Hidalgo” tells the story of champion long rider Frank T. Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) and his faithful mustang in one of their most famous races. After winning just about every long race in North America, Hopkins is challenged by Sheikh Riyadh (Omar Sharif) to compete in a 3000-mile race across the Arabian desert. Hopkins must face not just the challenges of the race - which include sandstorms, quicksand and locust swarms - but the deathly competitive nature of his opponents who will do anything to stop an impure mustang from finishing a race before the finest breeds in the Middle East.
When “Hidalgo” originally came out, I wrote at great length about how the story of Frank T. Hopkins might not be true at all. That’s still the case, and the filmmakers are still clinging to the “based on a true story” label, but it shouldn’t stop you from enjoying a decent film. There are some rough spots, like awful CGI cheetahs, some historical revisionism and some points that drag. But overall, the movie “Hidalgo” can still be a fun ride.
Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound. THX-certified (includes THX Optimizer). Widescreen (2.35:1), enhance for 16x9 televisions. French and Spanish language track; French and Spanish subtitles; English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
