Family Guy: Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story DVD Review:

When Stewie Griffin has a near death experience when one of his diabolical revenge plots goes disastrously wrong, he realises that he cannot be evil any more. He starts by been far too nice to Brian, his once canine nemesis, who instantly tries to return him to his nefarious ways but while he is doing both he and Stewie see something on the TV that could change his life for ever. What they see is a man in San Francisco who looks spookily like Stewie. Could he be Stewie’s real father?

After been saved from cancellation by amazing DVD sales after the series ended, ‘Family Guy’ is back with new episodes and now a movie!

‘Family Guy’ might have originally been seen as a poor man’s ‘Simpsons’ by some but there is much more to this animated series than people might think. Where Homer and his family cater more to the masses, the Griffin family has always been more cutting edge and walking the tightrope decency much more than the characters from Springfield. The social commentary of the series pushes the envelope, with nothing taboo or off limited meaning that a first time audience may have found it a little too strong the first time around but on DVD, ‘Family Guy’ became a cult phenomenon.

This feature length adventure concentrates on the two best characters on the show, the super intelligent baby Stewie Griffin and talking dog Brian. The episodes that have paired these two together have always been the best of the series and again the pair provides some hilarious moments. As Stewie and Brian come together to try and curb the young baby’s evil ways and then head off on another adventure, this shows again how good ‘Family Guy’ can be.

The rest of the feature length episode isn’t as funny as it could have been however. The storyline for the rest of the Griffin family is not as well written as the Stewie and Brian story. Even though they are free of the confines of television, this DVD movie doesn’t push the envelope as far as it could have. Those of you expecting it to be open season for Peter, his family and everyone favourite pervert Quagmire will be sadly disappointed. While the Peter and Lois teaching Meg and Chris how to attract the opposite sex is funny, it just doesn’t go as far as it could do.

‘Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story’ is a funny addition to the ‘Family Guy’ franchise and one that fans will enjoy. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few moments of bad language, there is nothing here that pushes the show beyond its TV trappings that fans would have hoped for. ‘Family Guy’ is still one of the best satirical animated shows around at the moment and this feature length movie only adds to that notion.

Star Rating = * * *

PICTURE AND SOUND

Presented in 4:3 full screen presentation with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack the transfer is very good, as you’d expect from an animated feature.

BONUS FEATURES

Commentary with Seth MacFarlane, cast and writers

Executive producers David Goodman and Chris Sheridan and director Pete Michaels join series creator Seth MacFarlane, as they come together to record to the second commentary track for the Family Guy feature, after the first one went a bit wrong. They talk about how the show came back from the dead after three years off air and how the movie came about. They also talk about the having the shackles of TV taken away, especially during the specially written extra footage at the beginning and end of the movie. This is a fun and informative commentary that fans of the show will really enjoy.

Animatic Comparison

View Animatic to finished footage comparisons for the sequences ‘Red Carpet Ceremony’ and ‘Road trip/dating education’. You can use the angle button on your remote to change between the different views or a split screen comparison.

American Dad Preview (0.50 mins)

A preview of Seth MacFarlane’s new animated series

Coming Soon

Previews of ’24: Season 4’, ‘Angel: The Complete Season Collection’, ‘That 70s Show’, ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Family Guy’

OVERALL

Even though the DVD has a really good commentary track, the lack of any other bonus features is a real disappointment for fans. There is so much potential for the DVD with featurettes etc but this is not the case, which is a real same.



Jamie Kelwick