DVD Review: Evan Almighty
From Universal Home Entertainment
Evan Almighty
A sequel to the Jim Carrey film Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty features Evan Baxter, played for great laughs by Steve Carell, deciding to give up newscasting to become a congressman. He's too busy to spend much time with his sons and wife (Lauren Graham). God, again played by wonderful Morgan Freeman, pops in to tell Evan to build an ark. Evan ignores the request so tons of animals start following him everywhere. He also grows a long Noah-like beard he can't shave off.
Freaked but finally convinced, Evan starts building his huge ark despite the fact that friends, family and co-workers think he's nuts. Will the big flood really come?
Video/Audio: The widescreen picture is very sharp and detailed with very bright, accurate colors in this transfer. Sound is fine with dialogue very clear. Not a lot of wrap-around sound but a little in the big flood finale makes for a good all-around watching experience.
Special Features: Quite a few! There is no feature-long commentary but Steve Carell introduces most of the featurettes with his usual charm and humor. "The Almighty Green Set" stresses that the filmmakers tried to be "green" in making their movie since the message of the film is to protect the earth. Trees were planted and ark wood donated to build houses. The crew rode around on bikes whenever possible etc. Very worthy.
In "Steve Carell Unscripted" you get a funny few minutes of silly Steve goofing off on the set. "A Flood of Visual Effects" gives you the special effects guys talking about the ark and the CGI flood sequences. Fun to watch. "It's Easy Being Green" and "Acts of Random Kindness" are there to encourage you to go green to protect the earth. Cast members talk about small kindnesses you can do every day.
"Casting Call: Serengeti" is a funny piece with casting directors pretending to cast the animals who are trying out for the roles. Cute. "The Almighty Forest" gives thanks to people who joined the filmmakers to plant trees.
"The Ark-Itects of Noah's Ark" shows how the actual full-sized ark was built from scratch on a lot in a housing development in Virginia. Interesting. "Becoming Noah" shows the step-by-step process Steve Carell went through every day for the various beard and hair looks. He started at 2 A.M. every day. What a trouper!
"Animals on the Set Two-by-Two" is a delightful piece about the hundreds of different animals onset and their trainers teaching them various behaviors. Really cute and fun. Finally, we also get the "Animal Roundup Game" cute to play a couple of times. You get a lot of deleted or extended scenes that are okay but you can see why they were cut and several funny outtakes featuring Steve although I would have loved to have seen more Wanda Sykes outtakes since we were told they were hilarious!
Wrapping Up: This is a cute film with a worthy environmental message we all need to learn. Some of the jokes are funnier than others but Steve Carell is pretty funny throughout. Very worth a rental and then decide if you want to buy.
***
Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.
