A Sound Of Thunder: Widescreen Edition DVD Review

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Title: A Sound Of Thunder: Widescreen Edition

Region: One

Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller

Stars: Edward Burns, Catherine McCormack, and Ben Kingsley

Writers: Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, and Greg Poirier

Based On A Screen Story By: Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer

Based Upon The Short Story By: Ray Bradbury

Director: Peter Hyams

Feature length: 102 minutes

Extras: Theatrical Trailers

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Closed Captions and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 27

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2005/DVD Release: 2006

Theatrical Distributor: Warner Brothers

Home Video Distributor: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Based on a short story by Ray Bradbury, “A Sound Of Thunder” is set in the near future where time travel is not only possible, it is a lucrative business. Charles Hatton (Ben Kingsley) is the owner of Time Safari, Inc., a travel agency that specializes in escorting wealthy clients on exclusive hunting trips back to the prehistoric age. When an exposition is compromised due to an unforeseen malfunction of the lead ice particle weapon used to shoot the carefully chosen Allosaurus, ripples in time begin to alter the future world leaving a seasoned scout (Edward Burns) and a scientist (Catherine McCormack) to unravel the mystery and set things back as they should be before humanity as they know it is erased from existence.

“A Sound Of Thunder” is one of those short stories everyone reads growing up in grammar school regardless if they remember it or not, but as good as the short story is, blowing it up into a feature length film is a difficult task even with a veteran genre film director like Peter Hyams behind the camera. So not surprisingly, this film received a “delayed” release theatrically and much of the special effects look dated or incomplete as if the film was only finished just enough to make it viewable for audiences. At least some of the alternate evolutionary ancestors to the dinosaurs like the carnivorous baboon/lizard hybrids, a sea serpent, giant bat creatures, killer bugs, and an alternate humanoid all look quite good. If I had seen this on the big screen I might have been upset, but despite the film’s faults, on DVD and the small screen, “A Sound Of Thunder” is very entertaining with a beautiful anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio presentation and a striking English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack mix. English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded as options. The menus are standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate.

Two widescreen theatrical trailers clocking in at 2 minutes and one minute respectively are the only bonus materials offered on this standard DVD release, however considering that films are being released as special editions with everything but the trailers and TV spots that I feel every DVD release should have if it is available, I am actually grateful that Warner Home Video cared enough to include the trailers on this DVD.

“A Sound Of Thunder: Widescreen Edition” is available now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Warner Home Video and all things considered, there are far worse things one can do than view this film. I thought “A Sound Of Thunder” was entertaining and sometimes that’s more than some supposedly higher brow films have to offer so I recommend it as a rental first and purchase for those who like it too.

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