DVDizzy Forum

Hello -
Can anyone illuminate me on the DVD release of "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes?" Amazon lists the disc as "full screen," but I believe I've read somewhere that the packaging is in error, and the disc is actually widescreen. I'm hoping the upcoming releases in the Dexter Reilly series are widescreen...

Any help appreciated.

Candleshoe,
I've heard that not only is it Fullscreen, but it looks pretty poor too. Maybe they'll treat the two Dexter Riley movies coming out early next year better. It's possible.

I own it and it is fullscreen and pretty grainy. I have to ditto Luke on this one.

That was irritating. I have this myself and I am begining to be a little irritated on Disney making so many bad DVDs now these days.

yeah full screen, but i thought the picture and color was pretty good and honestly i don't see much point in having it presented in widescreen, or whatever it's original aspect ratio was. i personally love the dexter reilly movies but the fullscreen presentation doesn't hurt anything.

It does hurt when you do not get it in the original aspect. To get into another format they have to cut out parts of the image. That means that you do not get to see the whole picture, just a zoomed image.

I have always prefered the widescreen editions, even before I got a widescreen TV.

i much prefer widescreen as well, i just don't think that this particular movie needs to be presented in widescreen for it to be effective. it's not the kind of movie that relies on grand scope or anything. i do understand your desire to have the movie in the way it was originally presented though. does anyone here know the original aspect ratio of the movie?

donaldduckfan wrote:i much prefer widescreen as well, i just don't think that this particular movie needs to be presented in widescreen for it to be effective. it's not the kind of movie that relies on grand scope or anything. i do understand your desire to have the movie in the way it was originally presented though. does anyone here know the original aspect ratio of the movie?

Probably 1.75:1. Disney liked using that ratio in the '60s.

I like the movie,and the OAR is possibly 1.75:1.I also Disney should re-issue it as a Vault Disney title.It's a cult classic,and will be for generations to come.

Thanks, everyone. I'll skip this release, and keep my fingers crossed that the next two releases are treated better. The WORST one I own is "Blackbeard's Ghost." What a disappointment!

Thanks again.

Regarding the "Dexter" trilogy, I remember that when "The Strongest Man in the World" was first shown in a 2-hour Wonderful World of Disney back in the 70s, that there were a couple of added scenes that weren't in the theatrical version. The first was the very first scene after the credits, and showed the characters of Dexter and Schuyler straining to get the cow up the steps into the lab. The second was a much longer scene after he destroys the basketball backstop, where Dexter and his friends go to find Schuyler, who's working under his VW. Dexter lifts up the entire car by the front fender.
I wonder if these can be added to the DVD release - I KNOW I saw these scenes.
By the way , I was a massive fan of these movies when I was growing up in the 70s, but does anyone think that the third movie, "Strongest Man in the World," is by far the weakest movie in an otherwise good trilogy? The opening third is fine, and the finale is good, but there is a LO-O-O-Ong stretch in the middle where Kurt Russell's and Joe Flynn's characters virtually disappear for at least a good half-hour, and there is a lame subplot about a kidnapping and a theft by Cesar Romero's character (who is reduced to an ineffective burglar in this one, not a good villain at all). Were the actors working on something else and need the time off, or did the writer for some reason see fit to write out the two best actors from half the film?
What do you think?

Hey gary, welcome to the forum. I'd say the odds of those additional TV version scenes being included are very close to nothing. Perhaps if it was getting Vault Disney-type treatment, it'd be possible, but even then maybe not. Like a whole slew of Disney live action films from the '90s have additional scenes or alternate cuts for the Disney Channel airing, and none of them ever turn up on DVD.

I haven't seen any of the Dexter Riley trilogy myself, so I can't comment on that, but I can share a general frustration with the way Disney turns out the catalogue features with disregard for bonus features.

so, does anyone know if this dvd is pan and scan or open matte or what? also, how good is the movie? is it so dated that its terrible? it's sitting on the shelf waiting for me to pick it up but i don't even know if it would be worth the venture. does anyone have anything to say about this movie more than 'it's good' or 'i like it'?

I had a lot more to say than that in my review:
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/computer.html

It seems that the complaints about it not looking good were misfounded as I thought it looked surprisingly good.

Luke wrote:I had a lot more to say than that in my review:
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/computer.html

It seems that the complaints about it not looking good were misfounded as I thought it looked surprisingly good.

HEY! i clicked on the new review quick link box on the main page before i posted this to look for a review but didn't see one. i'll have to go back and look, but sorry about that

so, from the screenshots in your review, it looks like it has the possibility of being open matte, if i were to guess. i'm gonna go get it. nice review i like kurt russel. it would be nice if they could get him to do some commentaries. i'm sure it's just no intrest on disneys end because he's in alot of commentaries on other discs-the thing-big trouble- well, those are all carpenter films but anyway, his commentaries are of the most enjoyable i've ever listened to.

o.k. sneaky luke. on second inspection of your reviews page, you snuck a bunch of reviews on there after i posted the first time, thus making it look like i don't check the reviews. i'm hip

wizzer wrote:o.k. sneaky luke. on second inspection of your reviews page, you snuck a bunch of reviews on there after i posted the first time, thus making it look like i don't check the reviews. i'm hip

Nope, it's been updated regularly. Maybe you just had an older version of the page in your computer's cache. Still, that would mean it'd have to be nearly a month old, since that's about how long the Computer Wore Tennis Shoes review has been up.