Field of Dreams (HD-DVD)

As a life long baseball fan/player, I am ashamed to say, until today, I had never seen Field of Dreams. I am glad I finally took the time to watch this incredible story. The movie stars Kevin Costner (Robin Hood, JFK, Bull Durham) as Ray Kinsella, a farmer in Iowa who begins to hear voices in his cornfield tell him “If you build it, he will come.” So Ray decides to plow over a portion of his farm to build a baseball field. Ray is sitting with his wife Annie, played by Amy Madigan (Carnivàle), wondering why he built this field, when his daughter Karin, played by Gaby Hoffman (Uncle Buck, Volcano) and says “there is a man on the lawn,” and there he was, Shoeless Joe Jackson, played by Ray Liotta (Goodfellas, Identity) and begins to play baseball with him. Shoeless Joe then tells Ray there are others and next we see there are 9 players enjoying the game.

But the voices don’t stop and Ray goes on cross country journey to find Terence “Terry” Mann played by the great James Earl Jones (Star Wars, The Lion King) who in his legendary voice preaches a great speech about Baseball. Upon finding Terry in Boston, he and Ray, travel to Minnesota to find Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, played by Hollywood Legend, Burt Lancaster. Everyone one has a dream or wish in the film and in the end on this field, dreams do come true.

As for the technical aspects of the DVD, the colors are bright and vibrant and the sound is crisp and makes you feel like you are right there, which is everything you expect from HD-DVD. There are not many special features but the one include are entertaining and interesting. Some the special features are “From Father To Son, Passing Along The Pastime” (great feature); deleted scenes; feature commentary; roundtable with Kevin Costner, Bret Saberhagen, George Brett and Johnny Bench; Galema, IL pinch hits for Chisholm, MN; The Diamond in the Husks (another great feature about the movie site and how it truly is a Field of Dreams; Bravo Special: From page to screen; and The Field of Dreams scrapbook.

As I mentioned above, I am glad I finally watched this great movie. If you have never seen it or haven’t seen it in HD-DVD, rent it or buy it. Whether you have a regular DVD player or getting the HD experience this great film will last the test of time because at Terry Mann says “there is always one constant in life…BASEBALL.” In closing, go out and buy yourself some peanuts and crackerjacks and get your copy of Field of Dreams, cause this HD-DVD is a grand slam.