DVDown Under REVIEW - Daddy Day Care

Charlie (Murphy) and Phil (Garlin) are high flying advertising executives who lose their jobs. Their children both attend an elitist preschool called the Chapman Academy which they can no longer afford. They decide that running a Day Care Center can.t be that hard (famous last words) and set one up in Charlie.s home. This of course leads to various tricky situations as the career professionals are now out of their depth dealing with young children. They also have to contend with the scheming head of the Chapman Academy (Huston) who discovers that the Daddy Day Care is proving more popular with the kids and she is losing her pupils.

While this has a rather predictable storyline with some obvious children related gags, it is entertaining enough for some G rated family fun with some cute (and some not so cute) kids. Steve Zahn complements Eddie Murphy.s humour and his character is responsible for several of the funnier moments.

So how does this DVD Scrub Up?

VIDEO
The video is presented in an anamorphic widescreen format with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It is a reasonable transfer without being exceptional. The visuals look a little soft possibly due to the low level grain evident throughout the presentation. Otherwise there are no real problems evident except for the occasional incidence of aliasing and the film source was clear of artefacts.

The colour palette is quite bright as appropriate for the subject material such as the children.s clothing and toys. There is no evidence of bleed and overall the colours lend to the cheery nature of the movie. Skin tones look realistic and shadow detail is quite good when it is required.

The layer change occurs at 56:12 and there is only a brief pause in the audio during a scene change, so there is minimal disruption.

AUDIO
There are 4 possible languages on the DVD, each presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio format. The English stream is a good quality version and as essential for a dialogue driven comedy the dialogue is clear and easy to understand. Audio sync is never a problem. The surrounds are used to support the audio wherever possible for both the active scenes involving the kids and their activities and to set ambience for the quieter moments.

The music track is quite dynamic and helps to provide a lift to the overall presentation. The surround speakers are used extensively to support the musical score.

EXTRAS

DISC 1 -

Blooper Reel :- includes a series of outtakes that were generated during filming the movie. These are also provided with the closing credits.
"Early Bloomer" - Animated Short from Sony Imageworks :- Runs for 3.34. Designed for viewing by children, this animated story tells the story of a tadpole developing its legs and the reaction received from fellow tadpoles.
4 Behind the Scenes featurettes :- There are 4 short featurettes which are focussed on the child stars of the movie. The first two featurettes predominantly consist of mock interviews as the kids interview each other. There is also some behind the scenes footage showing the adult stars interacting with the kids between filming the scenes. The latter two featurettes are focussed more on the actual filming process involving the kids, although each still contain some of the kid.s interviews.

Good Morning Eddie Murphy (3.14)
Meet the kids of Daddy Day Care (6:18)
Quiet on the Set (5.49)
What did that kid say? (3.22)
Original Movie Trailer :- Runs for 2.02 min. Gives a good overview of the movie premise and of course shows some of the funnier moments.

INTERACTIVE DVD PLAYER GAMES

"Kid Card Match-Up", "Name the Noise Maker", and "Odd One Out" :- : Three games are also provided that are played on the TV using the DVD remote and are targeted at young children. They mostly involve matching pictures and sounds associated with movie scenes.
Bonus Movie Trailers :- Three additional trailers are also provided for other family type movies. These include Annie, Oliver and Stuart Little 2.

A suitable movie for family entertainment but probably won.t appeal to an audience looking for adult humour or a sophisticated story line.

DVD Ratings

PICTURE QUALITY	8/10 Vivid colour palette but some persistent grain = softer images
SOUND QUALITY - Dolby	8.5/10 Nice clear dialogue with some decent surround usage
5.1 WOW FACTOR	4/10 Pretty good for a comedy but nothing too serious
SOUND QUALITY - DTS	N/A
EXTRAS	4/10 Mostly relevant for a younger audience

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