Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by rico (A) on June 16, 2004 at 12:13:49

This wonderful Disney film from last year is out on DVD and is highly recommended. It is based on the already classic young person's novel by Louis Sachar (who also did the screenplay, his first) and is ably directed by veteran cinematographer turned director Andrew Davis ("The Fugitive" et al). It features stars Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight, minor players Henry Winkler, Patricia Arquette and Eartha Kitt, and a host of talented young newcomers. The story, which jumps about in time throughout the film in the manner of "Slaughterhouse Five", features a fourth generation young man living out a family curse who is sent by a judge to a teen age boot camp in the dessert run by Weaver and Voight. There is a back story and a whole bunch of loose ends that are neatly tied up (but not too neatly) by the picture's end. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, so much so that I watched some of the DVD extras, something I hardly ever do.

BTW, like all Disney DVDs it opens with an annoying set of trailers which can be bypassed by pushing the menu button.