One of the most successful films ever, 'Forrest Gump', has made it's much anticipated debut on laser disc. I won't bother with any comments on the film. If you didn't see it, you should. If you did see it, you either 'got it' or you didn't. I will confine this short review to the disc itself.
The transfer is wonderful. Everything you might expect from a THX laserdisc. I saw this film three times in the theater so my my memories of that experience are still quite fresh. This transfer is, in many ways, superior to the projected print I have seen. Except for the obvious difference in resolution, which, by the way, is only really noticable in very small details, I actually prefer the look of this disc. Color is a definite improvement. Almost perfectly saturated and completely natural. Contrast and brightness are also better than projected film. Sharpness and detail are excellent. Only the appearance of the unavoidable artifacts of the electronic medium remind you that this is video. And even these are kept to the barest minimum. The image is extemely clear with almost no chroma noise. The transferred ratio is about 2.25:1. Not quite perfect but closer than the theater I saw it in. Also of note, this seems to be one of those films that does not lose it's impact in the translation from the big screen to video. Perhaps because the film is more story driven than a big spectacle, I suppose. For whatever reason, 'Forrest Gump' appears to be a disc that can be enjoyed to it's fullest for years to come.
The audio is as close to perfection as I have heard. I was not fortunate enough to see 'Forrest Gump' in a digital theater, having to settle for analog Dolby (and not very good Dolby at that). The soundtrack here is a revelation. My system is set up to THX spec and at first I thought the level to be lower than it should be, until I skipped to the 'fire fight in the jungle' scene. Wow! I about came off the couch. The dynamics of this mix are astounding. Frequency response is excellent. Highs and mids are perfectly clear and natural sounding with a bottom end you can feel in your chest. Every subtlety, every nuance of the mix is reproduced with extreme precision. For maximum effect, I recommend a dark room and generous volume.
Now, some of the 'nuts and bolts'. The film runs 142 minutes and is spread to 3 sides in CLV. A CAV side would have been nice, but the side breaks are well placed and limiting one side to 30 minutes might not have made them so. If you look the gate-fold jacket over, you might note the absence of a chapter index for the film. Well, for good reason. Paramount has chosen not to chapter encode this disc. Odd, but not a hanging offense. The 37 minute documentary, 'Through the Eyes of Forrest Gump', presented on side 4 is chapter encoded with 14 markers. Video quality of the documentary is very good. Interview segments are full screen with film excerpts boxed at about 1.85:1. One thing I could not find are the deleted scenes that I understood were supposed to be included at the end of the film. I have not watched to entire disc yet and without a chapter index as a guide I don't know where to look but I did scan sides 1 and 2 and found nothing that was not in the theatrical cut. I guess they were deleted.
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