Forrest Gump DVD > Reviews > Stupid is as stupid does

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	A movie for the whole family to enjoy  -  very moving and very funny
Disadvantages:	Nothing

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

What you get?
The product is a special collector’s edition and it consists of two discs; the movie feature that is the brilliant ‘Forrest Gump’ and a ‘Behind the Magic of Forrest Gump’. The running time of the movie is approximately 136 minutes.

Who stars in the film?
Tom Hanks superbly portrays the life of Forrest Gump. Hanks has become one of my all time favourite actors, from Forrest Gump he has continued to impress and has now appeared in several other blockbuster hits including ‘Saving Private Ryan’, ‘Green Mile’ and ‘Cast Away’. Alongside Hanks in this masterpiece is Robin Wright, who plays Jenny, Garry Sinise as Lt. Dan and Sally Field (Mrs. Doubtfire) as Mrs. Gump. But perhaps the main star of the film is director Robert Zemeckis whose brilliant imagination and creativity made the film as successful as it is today. Later works of Zemeckis as a director are ‘What Lies Beneath’ and ‘Cast Away’.

The Movie Plot
It is hard to describe and explain the main plot of the movie without giving the best bits away, but I will try to do so through my memories and personal experiences of the film, with plenty left to discover for those who haven’t yet watched it.
The story begins with a feather floating down from the sky and landing at the feet of Forrest Gump who is sitting on a bus stop bench. He puts the feather in a book and tells the story of his life to different people waiting with him at the stop. We first visit a young Forrest who is incredibly stupid with an I.Q of just 75; he is bullied because of this and the braces he has to wear on his legs. His only friend is Jenny who helps Forrest and teaches him about different aspects of life. A famous bit early on in the film is when bullies are throwing stones at Forrest who is helpless due to his braces. Jenny shouts, ‘Run Forrest, Run’, and so he does this and his braces are broken and he continues to run and run until he gets home. In my opinion this symbolises Forrest’s freedom.
Forrest from that moment always enjoyed running, and this was noticed by the coach of the University of Alabama and so he later played in the National Football Team, where he then met President John F Kennedy, when he famously said to him ‘I gotta pee’ after drinking 15 bottles of Dr. Pepper!
Forrest decides to join the army where he fights in the Vietnam War and there meets friends ‘Bubba’ and ‘Lt. Dan’. He try’s to save them both but Bubba is killed and Lt. Dan loses both his legs. Forrest meets Lyndon Johnson where he receives the Medal of Honour for rescuing his soldiers and shows the whole nation and the president his buttock wound. Whilst in the army Forrest becomes a professional ping-pong champion and again meets the President this time Richard Nixon.
He leaves the army and takes up the position of Shrimp boat captain, as a request of his dying friend Bubba. Lt. Dan joins him (as promised) and they eventually become hugely successful, Forrest later sends Bubba’s share of the money to his Mum who at the sight of it faints. Lt. Dan later suggests they invest some of their money, they eventually choose to invest some of this money into Apple Inc.
When Forrest returns home he finds that his mother is sick and so comes the famous catch phrase, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get,’ said to him by his mother. Forrest’s mother later dies and this tragic event brings back Jenny who stays with him for a short while, she buys him some running shoes and Forrest has Jenny’s Fathers home knocked down, he wakes up one morning and she is gone. Then one day Forrest gets up and starts running and he keeps on running and running and running only stopping to eat and sleep. He picks up a group of followers who follow him across the country. He inspires along the way the ‘Shit Happens’ slogan for bumper stickers and the ‘smiley’ after wiping his face on a t-shirt. Then one day he decides to stop running.
Whilst telling all this on the bench at the bus stop he is told by one lady that the address he is wanting to go to is just a few blocks away so he ends up running there. This brings us to the present day in Forrest’s life. The address is that of Jenny’s where he meets his unknown son – Forrest. Jenny reveals she is ill so they move in with him and later Jenny asks Forrest to marry him. They wed and soon after Jenny dies. The story concludes with young Forrest’s first day at school and as Forrest watches the school bus pull away he opens the book and the same feather floats away back into the sky.

Sound Track
The Forrest Gump soundtrack has a variety of music from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s performed by American artists. It went on to sell 12 million copies.

DVD Extras
Disc two consists of many interesting features that include:
- Through the eyes of Forrest Gump – Documentary
- The magic of Makeup
- Through the ears of Forrest Gump – Sound Design
- Building the world of Gump – Production Design
- Seeing is believing – 11 visual effects (includes 2 never-
before-seen sequences)
- Photo Gallery
- Screen Tests
- Theatrical Trailers

Appearance of DVD
The front cover of the DVD is white with a red and blue title – ‘Tom Hanks is Forrest Gump’ and then a picture of Forrest sitting on the bus stop bench. The back has three pictures, Jenny and Forrest sitting together, Lt. Dan, Bubba and Forrest in the army and young Forrest and his mother.

Awards?
Forrest Gump was the winner of 6 Academy awards including:
Best Performance in a leading role – Tom Hanks
Best Picture
Best Visual Effects
Best Film Editing
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Director – Robert Zemeckis

Price?
I bought my copy of Forrest Gump from Amazon brand new for £3.49 which I thought was a great bargain. If you buy in the shops you should expect to pay between £5-7. I however would recommend you buy from online, either Amazon or E-bay are great, you should be able to get it for under £3.

Classification
The Film has been given a 12 rating which I think is just about acceptable, if anything it should be a PG because it’s very much a family film and there is minimal violence and swearing throughout.

Conclusion
This truly is a magnificent film, one which you can easily watch over and over without getting bored of. It has everything, a very touching film which proves that you don’t have to be clever and as long as you have a kind and honest heart you can have a good effect on people and the world, in this case Forrest. The film provides its share of humour, in the form of the extreme Lt. Dan and in places the innocent Forrest regularly confused but excelling in everything he does. This film is brilliant and you would have to be absolutely mad not to buy this film or at the very least watch it!