| 
Technical Information
Studio: Buena
Vista Home Entertainment
Year of Theatrical Release: n/a
Disc Format: 1
single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Format: Anamorphic
Widescreen
Aspect Ratio: 1:85:1
Region
Encoding: 1
Sound
Format: Dolby
Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 (pro logic)
Running Time:
88 minutes
Director: Kevin
Lima
Stars: Julie
Andrews, Jeffrey Tambor, Sofia Vassilieva, Kenneth Welsh, Stephanie
Mills
MPAA Rating: Not
rated (television)
Disc
Supplements:
- From Page to Screen: The Making of Eloise at the
Plaza
- Hilary Draws Eloise: An Art Lesson
- Eloise Book Listing
|
| |
|
It must be a little bit of pressure to be
responsible for the video version of a classic children’s
story read by hundreds of thousands of children over the course
of nearly 50 years. In this case, Disney did it justice.
Eloise at the Plaza is of course, all about
Eloise. Eloise (Sofia Vassilieva) is 6 years old and lives in
the Plaza Hotel in New York City with her caretaker, Nanny (Julie
Andrews). She also has a dog named Weenie, a turtle, and she
knows all about the Plaza. Eloise has unique and fun relationships
with the employees of the Plaza Hotel, such as the bellboy who
brings her breakfast every morning and Mr. Salomone (Jeffrey
Tambor), the Plaza Hotel manager who is constantly trying to
keep Eloise from disrupting the elegance of such a grand hotel.
In Eloise at the Plaza, Eloise has several
adventures, all at the same time, which of course is what one
would expect from a 6 year old with free run of a 5-star hotel.
While she is getting herself invited to a debutant ball, she
is also befriending a lonely prince and playing matchmaker for
her Nanny and Sir Wilkes (Kenneth Welsh).
While the average person would be exhausted
by all of these responsibilities, Eloise still finds time to
learn Science (what would happen if she dumped a pitcher of
water down the mail slot?) and Psychology (how does it affect
someone who is obsessed with being on time to constantly set
their clock forward?). Oh yes, she also has a tutor to help
her with her schoolwork, but that kind of learning is positively
boring.
All in all, this interpretation of one
of my childhood favorites was very well done. Sofia Vassilieva
was perfect for the character of Eloise and Julie Andrews was
brilliant as Nanny. They incorporated the look of the storybook
into the film with the use of pink as the predominant color
in certain scenes, and I especially loved the scene where Eloise
and the Prince visit a street artist who creates drawings just
like the illustrations from the book. (A little secret, the
street artist is Hilary Knight, the illustrator of Eloise!)
Eloise stories were one of my grandmother’s favorites
to read to me when I was little, and she would be pleased with
this interpretation.
:::back to
top |
Eloise at the Plaza was originally
a made-for-TV film, therefore it's a bit of a refreshing twist to
see it presented on DVD in widescreen format that is also anamorphically
enhanced. Eloise is all about pink. It's everywhere in the stories
and also very prevalent in this film. Pinks and reds can cause some
problems on video transfers with over saturation and color bleeding,
but I saw none of that here. The transfer also seemed to be free
of any digital compression problems and only some minor edge enhancement.
:::back to top |
The audio is probably a little
more than I would have expected from a television movie, but there
are still a couple of weak areas. First of all, on the good side,
the 5.1 mix offers up very clear dialog and a few stereo effects
across the front sound stage. Surround effects are some lacking,
with ambient crowd noise and some musical effects being about it.
The only significant low spot is in the dynamic range, where the
bass response is nealy non-existent.
:::back to top |
The featurette, From Page
to Screen: The Making of Eloise at the Plaza, was 17 minutes
of fantastic insight into the production of Eloise. Hilary Knight,
the illustrator of Eloise, along with other cast and crew members
present the motivation behind their cast selection, set design and
overall interpretation of the children’s story. I especially
enjoyed seeing the different scenes compared to their respective
illustrations from the Eloise book. The other special feature, Hilary
Draws Eloise: An Art Lesson, is just that, how to draw
Eloise. Don’t forget the attitude!
:::back to top |
Hollywood takes a big gamble any time they try
to adapt a book into movie. The risks are only amplified by the
popularity of the story. In this case the gamble paid off with a
film that is just as irreverent, irrepressible and as charming as
original stories. Eloise at the Plaza is a film that will please
adults who grew up with the stories and just may create new fans
out of their kids.
:::back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Eloise is silly enough
to entertain the kids and clever enough to entertain the adults. Everyone
will enjoy watching this one together. |
|
|
|
|
|
| -- By Jennie Austin. Copyright
© 2003. |
|
|
 |
