Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas

Director Brian Levant's second take on the Flintstones manages to be even more bright and colorful than his first, and though this Universal DVD release is hardly loaded, it does treat the film very well. The transfer is anamorphic, preserving the 1.85:1 aspect ratio of the original. The image quality is fine, from a pristine source print, and has accurate colors -- the film uses a lot of primary colors at its heart, surrounding those with interesting mixtures of earth tones and pastels, providing it with a striking look that is well preserved here. Compression artifacts are absent, as are signs of edge enhancement, and blacks are nice and solid. The soundtrack is available in DTS and Dolby Digital formats in English and in Dolby Digital in French. The English version features very nice separation and extremely clear dialogue, with the underscore mixed across the front soundstage. The various parts of the source music and song score, however, seem somewhat underpowered, which dilutes the amusement value of Ann-Margret singing "Viva Rock Vegas." The sound is clear overall, with good sound effects and surround usage and a clean bass channel (though this seems somewhat underused at times). The French track is likewise well done, with good voice casting and fairly accurate dubbing. The extras on the disc are fairly limited -- there is a PC-friendly DVD-ROM section that provides some background, pictures, and so on, but this is quite insubstantial. Also included are cast and crew notes, movie recommendations (with trailers for Babe, The Flintstones, and The Little Rascals), production notes, and a fluffy "Spotlight on Location" segment.