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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"Splash" is one of those
totally ridiculous, feel good, charmers from the
mid-eighties that asks nothing more from its
audience than to maintain its suspended belief in
the romance between Joe Everybody -- Allen Bauer
(Tom Hanks) -- and an underwater fantasy creature,
Madison (Darryl Hannah). John Candy costars as
Freddie, Allen's blithering idiot brother, whose
one desire is to see his name published in
Penthouse magazine. Ah, ambition! How does it all
end? With anyone other than director Ron Howard it
might have been superficial tripe. Actually, it
still is. But with Howard, Hanks et al, we get a
modern day fairytale of love -- unlikely,
implausible and thoroughly engaging.
Though color balancing is generally more solid,
colors are still weak and sometimes muddy. Film
grain is excessive in several scenes. Black levels
are weak. Fine details are lost during darker
scenes. Edge enhancement and pixelization crop up
now and then but do not terribly distract.
Age-related nicks, chips and scratches are
everywhere. The audio is Stereo Surround.
Extras include a making of featurette, audio
commentary and theatrical trailers. Big deal!
If you're a fan of the movie you'll want to add
this to your collection. But for anyone else my
advice is to swim for shore! |
