Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011/Disney Blu-ray w/DVD) + Summer Eleven (2010/Image DVD) + Tikki Tikki Tembo and more stories to celebrate Asian heritage (Scholastic
Storybook Treasures/New Video DVD)
Picture: B-
& C/C+/C+ Sound: B- & C+/C+/C+ Extras: C- Main Programs: C-/C+/B-
When we
discuss children’s programming, I hope it is not always junk or fluff. One area we can quickly address in this
respect is that a young ladies. We will
do that looking at the latest round of releases.
The glossy
(or gaudy, depending on your take) Disney release of Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure on Blu-ray and DVD puts Ashley Tisdale
as the title character (no dog is she, but she has brought one along just the
same and the character is a spin-off from the High School Musical franchise) in another one of Disney’s
mall-movie safe consumerist fantasies where humor, thinking you are royalty and
a sudden amount of money means paradise on earth with only comical obstacles
that can be easily overcome. This is
definitely fluff and a project many could rightly criticize sets up distorted
expectations for young female viewers.
In fun
and moderation, not taken seriously, it is passable and yet does not offer much
more than any such release the studio (or any competing company) has issued
lately. When she meets a male filmmaker
(Austin Butler hardly convincing as the next Spielberg or anything else), we
get fake, silly romance. But then this
is a project that celebrates artifice as if it is a normal thing; as if the
unnatural is natural and it never adds up to much. This is a TV project and rare to see such a
project get this kind of release. It is
also pretty boring except that it is interesting to see how poor it is at times
and that it even exists. Only young
ladies unusually impressed with this will find it rewatchable, but can there be
that many?
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Blu-ray is an HD shoot that has
some good color, but more motion blur and other detail issues than expected,
which is even worse on the included anamorphically enhanced DVD with poor Video
Black, less color range and an overall lame image. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1
lossless mix has a weak soundfield, is too much towards the front channels and
is nothing to write home about, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes in foreign languages and English
on the DVD are worse with even weaker audio.
Extras
include an Austin Cam featurette and
Bloopers on both format versions, while the Blu-ray also has The Evolution Of Sharpay featurette. Oh
well…
Much
better and more realistic, Joseph Kell’s Summer
Eleven (2010) is a good if shorter than I would have liked drama/comedy
about a group of pre-teen young ladies (11 years old) who share a summer
together with some trial sand tribulations that are far from fluff. One might be in a feature film, while another
is homeless. There is a mother’s new
boyfriend who does not like her two daughters and a family whose son (one of
the gal’s older brother) is serving in Iraq. I expected more fluff, but was surprised how
smart, interesting and intelligent this turned out to be, with only budget
restrictions holding it back. For the
first time in years, an indie drama I wished was some kind of hit and maybe a
possible pilot for a TV show. Adam Arkin
is the one name actor among a surprisingly good cast, with the child actors
more naturalistic than expected. This is
more like what I would want a young lady to enjoy.
The 1.78
X 1 anamorphically enhanced image can be soft in places, but is not bad for a
low-budget production, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 may be stretching
out the stereo sound a little more than it should. Except for a few spots, this is well recorded
enough. A trailer is the only extras.
Among the
shorts in the very nice compilation Tikki Tikki Tembo and more stories to
celebrate Asian heritage (the latest in the strong Scholastic Storybook
Treasures series) offers Lon Po Po, an interesting variant of
Little Red Riding Hood that is far
smarter than many of the dumb “adult” versions that make the female leads look
airheaded. It also is another example of
a young lady in a drama being treated with respect and intelligence much like
the audience it is aimed for; too rare for our own good these days. Tikki
Tikki Tembo is joined by The Stonecutter, Tale
Of The Mandarin Ducks, Grandfather’s Journey and Sam
& The Lucky Money. This is a
nice collection of literary tales children of all ages and backgrounds will
enjoy and I was pleased to see some of these again after so many years.
The 1.33
X 1 image across the shorts have good color, but some can be a little soft in
places, with some being softer than others.
They are fine for DVD and very watchable. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on each also
fares well, though some of the older shorts may be slightly compressed and on
the monophonic side. Read-A-Long
subtitles are the only extra.
So of
these choices, I recommend the latter two and can say that boring as it is, at
least Sharpay’s is not offensive or
degrading intentionally. It is just that
too many such releases are more like it that the educational, smart choices.
- Nicholas Sheffo