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The Royal Tenenbaums

The Royal Tenenbaums on DVD

Gene Hackman leads an all star cast in an unusual "tragicomedy" that has been given a terrific Criterion Collection treatment for its DVD release.

Hackman is Royal Tenenbaum, the estranged patriarch of the clan - a once high powered lawyer fallen onto hard times - hard enough for him in desperation to try coming home to reconcile with his long-estranged family.

He's in trouble, and without a place to live, so he uses the trumped up excuse of a life-ending illness to try wriggling his way back into the lives of his dysfunctional family of mostly failing geniuses. They include playwright Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), financier and widower Chas (Ben Stiller), and washed up tennis pro Richie (Luke Wilson). All of these kids were raised mostly single-handedly for the past several years by mother Etheline (Anjelica Huston), and the whole brood carries enough baggage to fill the holds of the Titanic. They also yearn for a familial togetherness they never really had.

By the end of the movie, each of the Tenenbaums has had his own crisis and appears to be on the road to a less screwed up future. And the family reconciles somehow, but not in a manner you might expect.

The Royal Tenenbaums is funny, but in a more gentle and subtle way than we're used to from "beat 'em over the head with it" Hollywood. The humor is played extremely straight by a cast of very good actors, in a manner quite similar to that of Director Wes Anderson's previous outing Rushmore.

The performances are first rate, as one might expect from an ensemble cast that includes more than its share of Oscar winners. Besides those mentioned above, The Royal Tenenbaums also features Bill Murray, Danny Glover, and Owen Wilson (who co-wrote the script with director Anderson) and they all contribute to the strangely looney whole.

Not surprisingly, Wes Anderson's style fits the film perfectly, as do the casting choices, production design etc.

And what can you say about a Criterion Collection DVD? The Criterion Collection has been making its name for great movie packages since the early days of laserdisc and is making the transition to DVD with aplomb.

So The Royal Tenenbaums features a great anamorphic widescreen picture (16x9 TV compatible) with rich colors (and the film's overall yellowish tinge comes through beautifully) and sharp images. There's also terrific sound that offers you the choice of DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 surround - and the expected plethora of interesting extras.

The movie is presented in its original 2.40:1 aspect ratio, which makes it a tad wider than the usual 2.35:1 shape. and while the sound quality is first rate, there isn't a lot of surround in evidence. This isn't a big deal, however; it isn't as if there are swooping planes or space ships in The Royal Tenenbaums.

Sisc one only features one extra, but it's an entertaining commentary by director Wes Anderson. Disc two is where the real "extra meat" is, and it includes a 26-minute documentary ("With the Filmmaker: Portraits by Albert Maysles") that features some great behind-the-scenes footage. You also get a selection of pretty interesting, though fairly short, interviews with the main cast members, "The Peter Bradley Show" (which includes interviews with other cast members), "The Art of the Movie," trailers, two collectible booklets, and a couple of Easter Eggs.

In all, a terrific package and we encourage Buena Vista Home Entertainment to embrace Criterion with some of its other titles. Mary Poppins springs to mind imediately, and there are many more titles in the Disney library that cry out for such a DVD treatment.

Then again, the "Vault Disney Collection" also does a darn fine job.

The Royal Tenenbaums, from Buena Vista Home Entertainment/The Criterion Collection
110 min, anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and DTS
Starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Danny Glover and Bill Murray
Produced by Wes Anderson, Barry Mendel, Scott Rudin
Written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
Directed by Wes Anderson

 

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Updated May 13, 2006