Forrest Gump: Special Collector's Edition DVD Review

Title: Forrest Gump: Special Collector’s Edition

Region: One

Genre: Drama

Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field, Haley Joel Osment, Michael Conner Humphrey, and Hanna R. Hall

Writer: Eric Roth

Based On The Novel By: Winston Groom

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Feature length: 141 minutes

Extras: Commentary By Director Robert Zemeckis, Producer Steve Starkey, and Production Designer Rick Carter, Commentary By Producer Wendy Finerman, Through The Eyes Of Forrest Gump Documentary, The Magic Of Makeup, Through The Ears Of Forrest Gump-Sound Design, Building The World Of Gump-Production Design, Seeing Is Believing-11 Visual Effects Sequences (Including 2 Never-Before-Seen Sequences), Photo Gallery, Screen Tests, and Theatrical Trailers

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Dolby Surround 2.0

Subtitles: English Captions and Closed Captions

Packaging: White Double Alpha Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 19

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 1994/DVD Release: 2001

Theatrical Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

The Academy Award Winning Best Picture® of 1994 “Forrest Gump” is finally being released by Paramount Home Entertainment as the studio’s first two-disc Special Collector’s Edition. The only other title two feature two discs that was released by Paramount up until “Forrest Gump” was “Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments” and that was a matter of necessity because of the film’s length. This is the most elaborate special edition the studio has released and gives great anticipation for other Paramount Home Entertainment Special Edition DVD titles coming later this year such as “The Godfather DVD Collection” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The Director’s Edition.”

Hands down, this is the best home video version of “Forrest Gump” to ever be released on a home video format for the public with a beautiful anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio that captures the cinematography of the film with minimal to nonexistent grain. An excellent English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is completely impressive because the mix is appropriately leveled out so that one can hear the great difference in ambient Foley effects from the recomposed archival footage where actor Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump interacts with historical figures to the serene scenes featuring Robin Wright on the Gump estate to the amazing Vietnam War sequences which features an array of various sound effects that will blow your ears today. A French Dolby Surround 2.0 Soundtrack and English Captions and Closed Captions are also encoded on to the dual layered DVD as options.

The first disc also includes two feature length audio commentary tracks. The first one is a commentary by Director Robert Zemeckis, Producer Steve Starkey, and Production Designer Rick Carter, which as is the case with commentaries featuring Robert Zemeckis; the commentary is thoroughly screen specific and very insightful. Zemeckis is one of the best filmmakers to deliver audio commentaries on DVD judging by the excellent commentary by Zemeckis on Paramount’s “Forrest Gump: Special Collector’s Edition” and past commentaries on films such as “Cast Away”, “Contact”, and “What Lies Beneath.” Producer Wendy Finerman delivers a second feature length audio commentary track that compliments the first commentary track though she tends to pause a bit more than Zemeckis, Starkey, and Carter, but then again she is the only one present on the second track speaking so it is probably a bit more difficult than if one has two other people present while doing the recording.

The interactive menus on disc one are eloquently rendered in a style of the packaging and theatrical one sheet for “Forrest Gump” with animated transitions featuring the feather blowing from one screen to the next menu where items like the dog tags or a ping ball bounces on to the menu and rests there while music from the film plays in the background.

The second DVD entitled “Behind The Magic Of Forrest Gump” features some full motion scenes in the background of select menus. The interactive menus on both DVD-Videos are easy to navigate. The 30-minute documentary “Through The Eyes Of Forrest Gump” was made and presented during the time of the theatrical release and features filmed interviews with cast and crewmembers from the production set of the film. Then there are four new videotaped interviews within featurettes that run for various lengths featuring Ken Ralston discussing 11 visual effects sequences that include two never-before-seen sequence, which feature Forrest Gump and Martin Luther King, Jr. and another featuring Forrest Gump playing ping pong with former President George Bush. Appropriately the featurette with Sound Designer Randy Thom is presented in full English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound while the other three that concludes with featurette on the makeup effects and production design are presented in English Dolby Pro-Logic Sound. The documentary and featurettes all feature English Captions as an option.

There are three sets of screen tests featuring young actors Michael Conner Humphrey and Hanna R. Hall in three screen tests, two screen tests with Robin Wright and Tom Hanks and two more with Tom Hanks and a very young Haley Joel Osment. All three sets are presented in a filmed (1.33:1) aspect ratio. The theatrical trailer and the “Remember Trailer” are presented in a widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio with English Dolby Pro-Logic Sound and the quality of the presentation of the trailers is excellent. A beautifully vibrant photo still gallery wraps up the extra features included on the second DVD of this Special Collector’s Edition.

This is great effort from Paramount Home Entertainment. “Forrest Gump: Special Collector’s Edition” will debut on DVD-Video on Tuesday, August 28, 2001 and it is definitely a must for anyone who loves this film.

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