Hide and Seek DVD Review (Robert De Niro) Empire Movies

HIDE AND SEEK DVD REVIEW

Hide and Seek
(Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment)

The Movie

The Extras

Reviewed by

6.5/10

Liam

The most difficult thing about reviewing a movie like Hide and Seek is trying not to reveal the ending. The whole movie hinges on not knowing what happens until the final few scenes, so how do you dissect it without ruining it for everyone else. Well, here goes...

Hide and Seek stars Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning as a father and daughter who movie to upstate New York after De Niro's wife/Fanning's mother dies. De Niro, a psychiatrist, figures it's in the best interests of his child for her to get away from everything a start fresh. However, once they've settled into their new home, Fanning develops an eerie friendship with "Charlie". The problem, we don't know if "Charlie" is an imaginary friend or the real deal. Just how real "Charlie" is becomes crystal clear after he begins terrorizing their home. The rest of the movie, we're left trying to figure out who "Charlie" is. Could it be the kooky neighbor who's recently lost his own child? Or how about the local police officer? The realtor who sold them their home? Or somebody else you'd never guess? You're just going to have to watch for yourself to find out.

There are some decent special features included with this DVD. First, the highly touted alternate endings. I won't talk about them here, but I will say that I preferred a couple of them to the actual ending. There's also the option here of watching the movie with your chosen alternate ending. Also, each version comes with commentary by director John Polson, editor Jeffrey Ford and screenwriter Ari Schlossberg. That trio also provides a feature-length commentary for the film. For those interested, it's worth a listen as the three discuss the making of the movie and mostly how great it was to score De Niro for the lead role. It almost came across at times as a little De Niro fanboy convention. But hey, if I was a filmmaker and De Niro was in my movie, I'd probably act the same way.

Moving on, the DVD also offers several deleted scenes, some of which were pretty good, but all of which were reasonably cut. These are also available with optional commentary. Next, "The Making of Hide and Seek" brings us behind the scenes including interview with pretty much everyone involved in the making of the movie - with the noticeable absence of De Niro. (As a warning, don't watch this feature until you've watched the actual movie because it gives away the ending.) Finally, we get three "Previs Sequences" which are scenes that were storyboarded, but that the filmmakers didn't end up shooting for one reason or another. Director John Polson provides commentary for each sequence.

De Niro really made this movie. Without him, I doubt I would've enjoyed it much more than I did. While this wasn't the greatest movie I've ever seen (to be honest, I felt the material was beneath De Niro's considerable talents) I will give credit in that I had absolutely no clue who "Charlie" was until it was revealed in the final scenes. So, for that, this movie earns my recommendation.

Features
4 Alternate Endings, Audio Commentary by Director John Polson, Screenwriter Ari Schlossberg and Editor Jeffrey Ford, Deleted/Extended Scenes with Optional Commentary, Rough Conceptual Sequences, "Making-of" Featurette

Video
Widescreen (2.40:1)

Audio
English 5.1 DTS, English 5.1 Dolby Surround, Spanish Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround

Subtitles
English, Spanish, Closed-Captioned

Release Date
July 5, 2005

Rating
R/14A

Length
101 mins.

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