Holland Region-free blu-ray
1080p Widescreen 2.35:1
Dutch: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles: English
MOVIE: 8
VIDEO QUALITY: 10
AUDIO QUALITY: 9
ENGLISH SUBTITLES: 10
EXTRAS: 0
Dik Trom is not about dicks or anything sexual, which is unexpected for a Dutch film. Quite the opposite, Dik Trom is a charming PG-rated family film that is entertaining for children as well as adults. Based on children’s books by Cornelis Johannes Kieviet released in the early 1900s, this 2010 movie marks the eighth movie adaptation of Dik Trom. The director tries to get the message across that it’s okay to be fat if you are physically active and it’s okay to be a thin health-obsessed person if you eat junky food once in a while. The message is nothing new, but the movie is delivered in quite an entertaining visual spectacle! Imagine a mish-mash of George Miller’s Babe movies, Lass Hallstrom’s Chocolat, Tim Burton and Dr. Seuss – that’s Dik Trom!
Dik Trom, translated to Chubby Drums, is the name of the cherubic boy who’s the star of the movie. Dik is a pretty happy kid with two plump parents who love him dearly and feed him tasty food nonstop. Dik’s father is a very popular street food vendor (famous for selling hot dogs) in the town of Fatville. At a local sports competition, restaurant bigwigs offer Dik’s father a chance to show off his talent in an empty restaurant in the town of Thinville. The only catch is that if his restaurant doesn’t succeed after a month, he’ll have to close shop and go back to being a street food vendor. The Trom family packs their bags and head to Thinville which is like a town populated with families straight out of Michael Bay’s The Island. All dressed in very light shades, the townsfolk of Thinville constantly exercise to an extreme. Everyone is jogging in the street, using their treadmills on their porches, elementary school students sit at stationary bike desks, etc. At this point, we have entered Dr. Seuss land! The Trom family thinks that they can run a successful restaurant with ease until they realize that townsfolk are not only exercise fanatics but they are also health food freaks. Supermarkets are carb-free and meatless with aisles and aisles of fruit, vegetables, and water! The Trom family not only have a hard time figuring out how to get people into their restaurant, but they also have to deal with the town’s workout guru Sonja Slager who inspired the whole town to follow this health-obsessed madness as well as personal trainer Dolf who runs a popular gym next to the restaurant. Both Sonja and Dolf want the Trom’s restaurant to fail but they have a tougher time than they thought to rid the town of the Troms!
The Dutch Region-free Blu-ray is quite impressive. The 2.35:1 1080p is reference quality. The video is absolutely spotless. Colors are vivid and bright with no smearing whatsoever. The video is totally sharp and well contrasted. This is one of those movies where you feel like you have to wear sunglasses because the video is so three-dimensional and bright (but bright as in the director’s style of filming, not as a fault of the Blu-ray). The Dutch DTS-HD 5.1 is also excellent. Not quite reference quality as the video, but still very impressive. Dialogue is mixed slightly lower than sound effects and music, so there were times where I had to reach for the remote to monitor the volume. This mix makes pretty good use of all speakers and subwoofer. The English subtitles are perfect and the non-subtitled extras are a Making of, Casting of the child actors, a Flash mob dance promoting the film in a Holland mall, and a trailer to the movie.
Dik Trom is a visually spectacular family film worth seeing. I’ve been pretty disappointed with recent European films that are marketed only for their native country, but Dik Trom is the type of film that could be successful if it was marketed outside of the Netherlands. If you check out this excellent Blu-ray, I guarantee that you will be hungry while watching this cute film!
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