Borrowers

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Borrowers, The/B-,C+

Polygram/1998/186m/ANA,WS 1.85

This is the film that tries to disprove the conventional Shakespearean wisdom, "Neither a borrower or a lender be." So, there are these little people, no bigger than a human finger, and they live in the nooks and crannies of an old house. The family who lives there is unaware of the little "borrowers" until disaster strikes. All hell is about to break loose because the meanest man in town wants to cheat the family out of their house. When the family discovers the little people and helps to move them out of the house before the demolition crew arrives, the adventure begins for real.

All tied up. ŠPolygram

     John Goodman plays Ocious Potter, an attorney with nary an honest bone in his body. Goodman, normally a good-natured screen presence, has plenty of fun making threatening faces and scheming to do in The Borrowers. But before he can finish them, he's in for plenty of surprises that include a pretty bad exterminating burn and a cheese bath.
      The production design is highly imaginative and it alone is worth enjoying the DVD. Borrower gadgets are charming. Costumes are entertaining of themselves. The action is pretty much non-stop. The Borrowers get into lots of trouble and slip and slide there way out.
     There are some scenes on The Borrowers DVD that appear slightly choppy. It could be from the effect work, but whatever the reason, it's there. The film has a overpowering orange cast to it. Was it the director's palette or the colorist's lack of accuracy. I did not see it in the theaters for comparison, so there's no sure way of knowing. There are also several soft sequences. Overall, the DVD has a homogenized color look to it, not up to today's typical standard. The Dolby 5:1 is quite active and the bass emphasizes the pratfalls well.