Remember the late 80's, when Australia became one of the hottest
tourist attractions for people in the United States? Sure, tourists
had ventured down under before, but the Australian tourist board made
a concerted effort in the 80's to make damn sure that we knew they
were there. Aside from Olivia Newton-John, one of the best things that
happened for the Australian tourist industry was the release of
Crocodile Dundee in the US. Paul Hogan became an instant celebrity in
our country, and became the de facto spokesman for Australia, even
eventually hosting the Academy Awards.
While Crocodile Dundee
wasn't exactly a landmark in terms of originality, the fish out of
water scenario has rarely been executed this well. Paul Hogan plays
Michael J. "Crocodile" Dundee, a legend from the Australian
outback, and much like every folk tale, his exploits became quite
exaggerated over time. Partnered with his life long friend Walter
Reilly (John Meillon), he has begun to develop a flourishing little
tourist trade. As luck would have it, Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski),
a reporter for a large New York newspaper, gets wind of Dundee's
legend, and decides to investigate his story for herself.
Eventually, Dundee and Reilly take Sue to the outback, where the
first cracks in Dundee's fanciful persona begin to appear. We learn
that, while he is a rugged outdoorsman, he's not completely out of
touch with reality, but has never experienced life outside of his
little town of Walkabout Creek. Sue smells a major story for her
father's newspaper, and invites Dundee to New York. Once in the big
apple, Sue and Dundee's mutual attraction grows (both onscreen and
off, it would turn out) and Dundee experiences a wide range of comical
situations with the "wildlife" of New York. It's actually
quite hilarious to see what the naive Dundee makes of the big city,
and Hogan's "no worries" attitude only makes it all the more
comical. And while Sue also begins to accept her attraction to Dundee,
she is torn between him and her nerdish boyfriend, who is hell bent on
marrying her.
Crocodile Dundee is a well-paced film that never
veers into overt slapstick. The oddest part of this film for me is the
PG-13 rating, or rather the lengths the producers would go to ensure
it. Some of the film's dialogue replacement is obvious, and laughable.
It hilarious to think one use of the word "fuck" only rates
a PG-13, but two uses will guarantee you an R. Maybe it was for
context, but it really looks silly in retrospect.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
I remember when I
picked up the widescreen laser disc of Crocodile Dundee; I was
stunned, and pleasantly surprised that the film was shot in glorious
2.35:1 widescreen. To be honest, I was on the fence about replacing my
LD with this new DVD, especially since the laserdisc looked pretty
damn good as it was. But this new anamorphic transfer improves upon
the LD in every respect. While the film never contained the most
detailed image I've ever seen, the DVD delivers even more detail,
especially on the exterior shots in the outback. You can see the
ripples on the river, with colors very well saturated and fleshtones
accurate - the beautifully filmed sunsets look wonderful.
A
detriment to the transfer is that it appears somewhat dark, resulting
in lessened shadow detail, especially in the nighttime sequences.
While there are no signs of digital artifacting, the edge enhancement
seemed more pronounced than on most films I've seen. Overall,
Paramount has done a fine job on this disc, but not quite up to the
standards of the Crocodile Dundee II and Crocodile Dundee in Los
Angeles DVDs.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
According to all the rumors I've heard, the original audio elements
for Crocodile Dundee were just in too poor of shape to remix for 5.1.
Dundee was a low budget film, especially by today's standards, yet the
audio mix was still decent on the laserdisc, so I'm a little miffed at
how poor this DVD sounds. This 2.0 surround track is very flat in
comparison to the uncompressed PCM of the laser. While the LD's PCM
track seemed to fill the room, the DVD's mix collapsed to the front of
the sound stage. A prime example of this can be heard in chapter 3,
"Mind Over Matter." During this classic scene, when Dundee
hypnotizes the ox, the room comes to life with the buzzing and
tittering of the Australian wildlife. The laser boasted a better sense
of envelopment, while the DVD contains little ambiance. Sure, the DVD
boasts a some surround use, but they're just not as defined as on the
laser. The low-end also seems lost on the DVD, and while the music
score by Peter Best isn't exactly hardcore, the impact of the laser is
missing here. Overall, I found the DVD audio mix disappointing, but I
have to remember that half of the people that will be buying this disc
will be upgrading from VHS, so the DVD is bound to sound far better by
comparison.
A French mono track is also included, along
with English Closed Captions.
Supplements: What Goodies Are
There?
G'day mate? Not much here, just the film's
theatrical trailer. But, at least it's anamorphically
enhanced.
Parting Thoughts
One of
Paramount's most requested films has finally arrived on DVD, but this
release may disappoint some. For laserdisc veterans, the audio doesn't
cut it, while newbies and longtime collectors alike will lament the
complete lack of extras. Considering the effort Paramount made on the
recently released Wayne's World, I expected at least a few new
interviews or something special. Thankfully, Paramount has priced
Crocodile Dundee at a relatively affordable $24.95, instead of their
usual $29.95 price point. Not a bargain by any stretches of the
imagination, but not a horrible deal, either.
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