Image Entertainment presents

The Godthumb (2002)

“I am your son and I am a hothead. So all I am saying is that whatever we do we should do it quickly within a rage and without thinking. Preferably at night when you are in that weird state between sleeping and waking. That is what we should do!!!”- Thumby (Mark DeCarlo)

Stars: Steve Oedekerk, Paul Greenberg
Other Stars: Mark DeCarlo
Director: Steve Oedekerk

Manufacturer: ritek
MPAA Rating: Not Rated for nothing offensive
Run Time: 00h:30m:14s
Release Date: 2002-09-24
Genre: comedy

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B+	B-	A-	B+	B-

 

DVD Review

As anyone who knows me will attest I am in love with The Godfather. As of this writing I have seen the film well over three hundred times and as a testament to its brilliance, it keeps getting better every time I see it. It is with this love that I sat down to review Steve Oedekerk's The Godthumb, a brief, thumb-sized version of Coppola's classic original.

Telling roughly the same story, The Godthumb makes a few small modifications to both character names and situations for the purpose of humor and for the most part they work. The story this time around is that of Godthumb and his children Mickey (Michael), Thumby (Sonny), Alfredo (Fredo), and Adopted Lawyer Son (Tom Hagen) and their battles with opposing gangs for control over a new product called The Meat Cube Magician. As is expected, blood (or perhaps thumbnails) is shed and the parodies of events that transpire in sequences of The Godfather happen here, but with an entirely different tone.

What makes this send up work so well is that Oedekerk understands what humor can be taken from parody. For instance, the infamous scene in which Sonny is massacred at the tollbooth in the original is done not with weaponry in The Godthumb but with exact change being hurled at him. It is the ways in which Oedekerk plays so wonderfully with the most famous aspects of Coppola's film that made The Godthumb such a winsome piece of entertainment in my eyes.

The tone of the Coppola film is also recreated well here as the locations, while low budget, are concurrent with the tones and manner of the original.

Rating for Style: B+
Rating for Substance: B-

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	no
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: Presented in a full-frame transfer, this short looks better than I ever imagined it would. Colors are done well with the dark tones that are so heavy and imposing in the original film being well recreated here. Sharpness and detail are excellent throughout, making this a very nice transfer.

Image Transfer Grade: A-
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	yes
Dolby Digital 5.1	English	yes

Audio Transfer Review: Sound for The Godthumb is a solid Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that, like the video, exceeded my expectations. Dialogue is crisp and clear throughout, while the surround speakers enjoy a bit of a workout in several sequences where gunfire is involved. A good track to be sure.

Audio Transfer Grade: B+ 

Disc Extras

Full Motion menu with music
Scene Access with 14 cues and remote access
1 Original Trailer(s)
5 Other Trailer(s) featuring Bat Thumb, Thumbtanic,The Blair Thumb, Thumb Wars, Frankenthumb.
Storyboard
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:

1. Cast Interviews
2. Personal Thoughts
3. Outtakes

Extras Review: A collection of Outtakes is the most substantive extra feature. The outtakes are funny to be sure, but they are entirely too short. Next up are a collection of Personal Thoughts that feature each character rambling incoherently for what seems like minutes. Along the same lines is a section entitled Cast Interviews that features each thumb going on about their characters and their part in The Godthumb.

A collection of storyboards for the entire film is offered and is interesting once, but after awhile it gets a tad boring. Finally a collection of trailers for The Godthumb, Bat Thumb, Thumbtanic, The Blair Thumb, Thumb Wars, and finally Frankenthumb.

Extras Grade: B-
 

Final Comments

Running a short thirty minutes, The Godthumb can be found for a mere ten dollars at most retail outlets. It is a worthy addition to any Godfather fan's DVD collection.

Kevin Clemons 2003-01-02