By June L. Nov 20, 2007, 12:00 GMT
For many, Dennis Mitchell (Dennis the menace) is an entertaining Sunday comic, or a special comic book that was read and giggled over during childhood. Kids are horrified and delighted at all the trouble Dennis creates, and parents think to themselves, thank goodness my kids aren’t like that. A Dennis The Menace Christmas brings some of those wild adventures to screen for the holidays in a colorful presentation.
The current Dennis film is set in the present, with things identifiable to the 21st century audience, such as computers and online shopping, cool bikes and the parents of spirited children support group. Dennis is still a well meaning if misguided youngster, played very well by Maxwell Cotton Perry, who at the time of the filming was actually only six years old.
Much of the action is jarring to the adult nerves, but wasn’t it ever so in Dennis stories? Children will writhe in agony at Dennis’s disasters. But the spirit of Christmas wins the day, with the help of an angel played by Godfrey.
The Wilsons played by Robert Wagner and Louise Fletcher are exactly the way you would want them to be, and Henry and Alice Mitchell, Dennis’s long suffering parents are strong in their belief that their son is not bad, just “spirited” and their love for him is evident.
A Dennis The Menace Christmas is presented in widescreen format in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Subtitles are available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Running time for the feature is 87 minutes. There are quite a few bonus features included.
The Making of A Dennis the Menace Christmas is most entertaining, as are the out-takes and blooper reel. There is an audio commentary with director Ron Oliver and Robert Wagner, and a completely delightful video commentary with Maxwell Perry Cotton, as he sees the completed movie for the first time.
In order to provide a balanced viewpoint, I asked assistance in reviewing A Dennis The Menace Christmas from a young friend. Tyler S. had several comments after viewing the disc. First of all Tyler liked the set up of the loser/winner scenario between Dennis and the bully kid and the resulting bike race.
He found the Thanksgiving Play scene really funny, and especially liked the pandemonium created by the turkey, and Margaret’s allergy to turkey feathers. We agreed that the mishaps with Mr. Wilson were too much and he was a little too mean, but with the help of the Christmas spirit, things worked out.
A Dennis The Menace Christmas is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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