Snow Dogs [DVD] [2002]

It's dogs galore in the Cuba Gooding Jr. Disney vehicle Snow Dogs. Disney's work on this 1.33:1 full-frame version of Snow Dogs is less than stellar and disappointing at best. While the colors and black levels are all well-saturated and very even, the fact that the original widescreen version has been cropped should makes fans of the film mad as a pack of wild arctic wolves. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in English and French, as well as DTS 5.1 Surround in English. Featuring an aggressive array of sounds and effects, both the DTS and Dolby 5.1 soundtracks are bombastic and very full. Also included on this disc are subtitles in English. The special features on Snow Dogs should please those looking for a bit of insight into the making of the film. A commentary by director Brian Levant and producer Jordan Kerner is both entertaining and enlightening. Three featurettes ("Going to the Dogs," "Chillin' With the Actors," and "Tolketna on Ice") include a bevy of information on the film's production, plus interviews by some of the cast and crew, behind-the-scenes footage, and a look at how some of the effects in the film were achieved (animatronic dogs). Finally there are a few deleted/extended scenes that don't add up to very much, a mildly fun set-top game called "Ted's Arctic Challenge," and a plethora of trailers for other Disney movies.