Director: Enrique Gato
Cast: Dani Rovira, Michelle Jenner, Carme Calvell (VOICES)
Release Date: Now Available on DVD
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 6.5/10
Synopsis:
Space travel runs in Mike Goldwing’s family: both his father and grandfather were astronauts. But the plucky 12-year-old’s estranged grandfather, Frank, has lived a life isolated from his family after missing out on the chance to make history as a member of the Apollo 11 crew. However, when Mike discovers that an eccentric billionaire plans to fly to the moon, claim its vast, valuable mineral resources, and destroy the American flag planted by the Apollo 11 astronauts, the countdown to a spectacular adventure begins! Mike, teamed with his grandfather, best friends Amy and Marty, and a clever chameleon, blasts off on an incredible moon-bound mission, determined to thwart the billionaire’s evil plan, capture the flag, and reunite his divided family.
Get ready to blast off with some action-packed animated fun for the entire family. ‘Capture the Flag’ follows young Mike Goldwing who comes from a family of astronauts, albeit ones who never actually made it to the moon. When a greedy and power-hungry tycoon claims that NASA in fact never made it to the moon at all, even going so far as to stage a fake video he claims as proof of the lies, Mike and his young friends soon discover that he is actually using the claim as a front to make his own way to the moon in order to mine its powerful materials for his own benefit. Now it’s up to Mike and his two trusty friends to try and rebuild a shattered bond between his father and grandfather and do everything it takes to assist the folks as NASA as they make preparations to try and arrive at the moon before the tycoon lands in order to prove the validation of their initial arrival years ago by presenting the American flag previously planted on site live to the world. Now, let the race begin.
‘Capture the Flag’ is a fun, adventure-filled animated film that should have no trouble entertaining the entire family, keeping things largely kid friendly (there may be some mildly questionable content for the much younger children as should be evident by the PG rating) while also subtly providing plenty of funny tidbits primarily targeted toward the older audience. While this may not be a groundbreaking film by any means in the field of animated features today, it nonetheless delivers a relatively original story including heavy focus on space operations and visiting the moon which is certain to strike a chord with many of the youngsters. It’s also surprisingly humorous and I found myself laughing quite consistently throughout, while never the least bit disappointed story wise, even if not quite blown away. Some of the included characters may not be brimming with originality, nor be overly memorable, they more than suffice and never weigh down the film, while a couple others are actually somewhat compelling.
Overall, ‘Capture the Flag’ is an entertaining animated adventure that the entire family will likely enjoy, with no shortage of action and adventure that’s also complimented by a healthy supply of laughs; I would definitely recommend fans of animated family adventures check this one out when they have the opportunity to do so. While some may be understandably hesitant to make a blind purchase, it’s certainly one worth renting if not at least catching on TV when broadcast at some point.
VIDEO:
The DVD release of ‘Capture the Flag’ is presented in a 16×9 enhanced Widescreen presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.40:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty good as a whole, delivering a solid, sharp and clean video presentation aside from a few minor glitches throughout such as a quick hiccup or two in scene transitions resulting in some brief video noise, yet nothing notable enough to negatively affect the overall viewing experience. Overall, this is a fairly solid standard definition presentation that looks pretty good by DVD standards.
AUDIO:
The DVD release features a 448 kbps 5.1 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack. This lossy multichannel soundtrack sounds great and provides a sharp, fairly clean and often surprisingly active audio presentation from start to finish, frequently utilizing all five available channels in order to send music and plenty of action related auditory effects including everything from flying creatures and rockets, along with wind, water and plenty more making its way throughout the speakers, while never resulting in any dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible. Overall, this is an active and enjoyable 5.1 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack that contributes even more fun to this entertaining animated adventure.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The DVD release of ‘Capture the Flag’ doesn’t contain any supplemental material whatsoever.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the DVD and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this DVD release are the property of their respective owners.
Film Rating: 6.5/10
Disc Rating: 6.5/10
‘Capture The Flag’; The Animated Family Adventure is Now Available On DVD, Digital HD & On Demand From Paramount
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