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Forrest Gump Customer Reviews (97 - 99 of 133 Reviews)

A fantastic classic
One of the greatest movies in History, Forrest Gump is the story of a slow man from Alabama who winds up in all kinds of historic and amazing events and to him, its no big deal. Hanks is the standout throughout and this Academy Award winning performance put him in the same class as Jimmy Stewart and Marlon Brando as one of the greatest actors of this or any other generation. From Football star, to War Hero, to Shrimping Tycoon, Forrest does it all.

Youll laugh, youll cry, youll love Forrest Gump. A must have!!!

My Mamma always said that life is like a box of DVD extras..
You never know what you're gonna get!

Forrest Gump is without a doubt one of the best films of the 1990s. Very unique, very original, very wonderful! And now with the release of this gem onto DVD, you get even more to write home to Momma about.

2 Audio Commentaries - The first with Director Robert Zemeckis, Producer Steve Starkey and Production Designer Rick Carter is a nice mix of storytelling, special effects talk, and personal memories, while the second commentary by Producer Wendy Finerman is a more intimate setting (since she's alone), giving cute stories such as the reason why the speakers are cut off while Forrest is speaking in Washington D.C. is because no one could think of anything profound enough for him to say for real.

Through The Eyes of Forrest Gump - This 30 minute documentary is one of the most famous, in that it was sold separately on video in stores all over the country...and sold well. On the laserdisc of Forrest Gump it was included as a bonus on side 4. So many wonderful moments from the film are discussed, including how they were able to have Tom Hanks shake hands and interact with JFK, turning Tom into a ping pong wizard, as well as making Gary Sinise (Lt. Dan) believably look as if he truly lost his legs. This is certainly not your run of the mill "making of" that gets boring after a few minutes. It instead holds your interest to the point where you're saying "WOW!! So that's how they did it!" My only complaint is that the transfer of this documentary didn't seem crisp and sharp enough. It almost seemed like they just copied it off of a laserdisc. I happen to own the laserdisc, so I compared the two and to me, the laser looked brighter and sharper. But it's a minor complaint. The film itself looks great!

The Magic of Makeup - A wonderful look at how the makeup in this film was so crucial to its success. Included is makeup for Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise and Sally Field. Tom's beard growing is interesting, but watching Sally Field being transformed into an elderly woman is astonishing!

Through The Ears of Forrest Gump - This is the sort of thing most moviegoers take for granted...the sound of a film. When you watch this segment you'll get a sense of just how important sound was in making scenes come alive: the sound of the bikes rolling after a young Forrest as he breaks free of his metal braces, the tracers and mortar explosions during the Vietnam sequence, creating different ways to convey the sound of the rain in Vietnam as Forrest had said rained in so many different ways, the storm at sea, and much more!

Building The World of Gump - Creating the places and settings of the film, including Forrest's home in Alabama, Vietnam, and Washington D.C. All crucial to the films believability.

Seeing Is Believing - 11 visual effects from the film are discussed, including 2 that didn't make the final cut. Forrest was planned to meet Martin Luther King, Jr., a scene involving dogs being released to stop what Forrest thought was a "parade" of black Americans, headed by King. But because Forrest knew all the dogs since they were puppies, he unknowingly stops the violence by getting their attention with a stick, then apologizes to Mr. King, himself ("They're just dogs") - The other new scene is a ping pong match with George Bush Sr when he was the Ambassador to China and having Forrest hit him in the crotch with the ball. Both of these scenes are winners to me, but I'm sure they may have bogged down the story some, and that's why they were cut. Nice to have them here though.

Photo Gallery - Some nice still shots of the film that are definitely worth looking at.

Screen Tests - A total of 7, the first 3 with Michael Conner Humphrey (Young Forrest) and Hanna R. Hall (Young Jenny), 2 with Robin Wright Penn (Jenny), and 2 with Haley Joel Osment (Forrest Gump Jr.). Besides witnessing these characters coming to life for the first time through the actors, it's also interesting to see Tom Hanks before he employed Micheal Humphrey's accent to his own and how this made a huge difference.

2 Theatrical Trailers - including the "Remember..." trailer, which contains no dialogue and just uses Alan Silvestri's wonderful score.

Get the film that gave Tom Hanks his second consecutive Oscar on DVD in a nice two disc set. Relive the magic and the memories. Relive Forrest Gump.

"And that's all I have to say about that". - Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump

A Special Edition DVD is like a box of chocolates....
I've watched Forrest Gump for the first time since its initial theatrical release and was quickly reminded just how great a film it really is. The film itself has been critiqued many times, so I will instead concentrate on the DVD contents and presentation, as usual.

Disc 1 contains the movie as well as two different running commentaries. The first commentary by director Robert Zemeckis, producer Steve Starkey and production designer Rick Carter is full of details and never lags, but I couldn't escape the feeling that I wish that they had answered a few more questions about specific scenes, etc. That's not to say that they didn't divulge interesting information about the making of the film, or that I didn't enjoy it, but I expected a bit more from a commentary by three people. The second commentary is by producer Wendy Finerman, and is fairly insightful. There are a few extended moments of dead air, but for the most part she offers information about characters, their development and the subtle visual and verbal cues used to convey that growth. She occasionally resorts to describing the action on the screen and stays away from the technical info of the first commentary, but provides a nice analysis of the film's emotional undercurrents.

Disc 2 contains most of the good stuff about the production that was omitted from the commentaries, and as I felt with Zemeckis's Cast Away DVD collection, it was probably planned that way so as not to be redundant. The "documentary," Through the Eyes of Forrest Gump, is actually just a promotional fluff piece that was also included on the original laserdisc. There are a couple of screen tests which only underscore the acting abilities of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, as well as some great breakdowns of makeup, sound and production design. An extended section on visual effects is the centerpiece of the second disc and includes some unfinished deleted scenes and disections that are very informative and entertaining. As Zemeckis says in his commentary, if you notice the effects, then he hasn't done his job, and as with Cast Away, you'll be surprised just how often visual effects were used besides in the obvious circumstances.

All in all, this is a good, thorough DVD package. It's not quite as good as some (Fox's "Five Star Collection"), but better than most. And that's all I have to say about that.

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