Rating: 
Summary: One of the finest DVD's on the market
Review: This DVD is packed full of behind the scenes info as well as 2 running commentaries. The film itself is a rare glimpse inside the mind of a genius. It was too bad is was ignored by the Academy in the visual effects category as well as the acting and Best Picture categories. Joan Allen gives a heart felt performance that let's us watch her "re-birth". The late J.T. Walsh shows us again what a character actor should be, one who fits in to any role anywhere, and convinces us that he's been there all along and we are seeing him for the first time. Tobey Maguire brings an enthusiasium that is all but missing in today's young actors. Superb performances all around. This is one you can watch over and over, and will want to!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Premise, Good Actors, BAD MORALS
Review: This could have been a great movie with the wonderful special effects, excellent casting, and a fantastic premise. The movie dissolves under a cloud of bad morals and thinly disguised allegory. I could sense some hostility towards Christianity (portrayed by the black and white crowd) and glorification of self gratification (the color group). This is not a harmless movie as a number of not too subtle jabs at conservatism, family values, Christianity (especially in the book burning scene) occur. Being in a racial minority myself, I could sense that the color group was supposed to represent some of the oppressions that minorites experience. However, I feel that the makers of the film think that they know what minorities go through but, they do not. They haven't a clue. This movie could have really taken off if racial diversity started occurring in Pleasantville but that did not happen either. In the end, the producers of this film are like the people watching television. They are on the outside looking in. It makes you wish that Spike Lee had a hand in this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Have Sex, Change Color!
Review: This movie had a great cast but the story in Pleasantville was very predictable. Everyone who has sex gets colorized. The intent of the movie is clear and it slams Christians and family values as living in a black and white world. Minorities are totally missing from this movie. Recommendation is to see for special effects and the energetic young cast but the message and story are predictable and unsatisfying. Another example of caucasian left wing politics prevalent in moviemaking that really does not have a clue about minority issues.
Rating:
Summary: This film made no sense...
Review: I assume this film had a message, but I had no idea what it was. Color, then black-and-white... Joan Allen having an affair with Jeff Daniels, who plays a mildly-retarded malt-shop employee... Mr. Furley talking through the TV set, and so on. A lot of moviegoers liked it. A lot of critics liked it. I thought it was a complete waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully insightful, but will people really get it?
Review: Pleasantville is one of those rare movies that dares to make you think, that dares to challenge what you believe and how you view the world. One might say that the allusions to racism or stereotyping of anyone with strict morals are slightly overdone. But only by bludgeoning us with this imagery can the director ever hope to get the movie's central theme through to us. And most won't get it, or will be too offended to even understand where it's coming from. That's quite a shame really, as it is a fantastic movie with an uplifting moral message and superb acting performances. Go see it! Love it or hate it, try to understand what it's getting at.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but not harmless.
Review: Pleasantville has a good script, but is loaded with Hollywood values and self-righteous "truths". The main premise seems to be that a moral life must be "colorless" and empty of joy. And, of course, all religious people are mean-spirited thugs. Just once, I'd like to see a big studio movie where a person with a relationship to Christ actually practices what Christ preached! I might have a long wait for that. Parents beware!
Rating:
Summary: Morally bankrupt movie
Review: This movie's only plus is the cool use of color vs. Black and white. And I must say it accurately reflects the pervading values of our time. However, in the name of "tolerance" it totally lambasts anyone who has any moral convictions (like being true to your marriage or being honest). People with morals are portrayed (should I say, "betrayed"?) as being hateful, narrow-minded, and ignorant. The "heroes" are the ones who do whatever feels good to them at the moment, no matter who else it may hurt or what consequences there may be in the future. The worst things were: (1) The root idea for this movie is excellent-the experiences of people of the '90s suddenly thrown into the society of the '50s. This could have made for a very entertaining plot, without trashing moral values; and (2) The previews for this movie (unless I was sleeping when I saw them) gave me no hint of its real content. I was totally surprised when I actually watched it. I should have asked for my money back.
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing, beguiling, and above all, captivating.....
Review: This movie actually managed to keep me awake. I can see clearly now....and in Technicolor!
Rating: 
Summary: Too preachy.
Review: Granted, the mixing of color with black-and-white is brilliantly done, BUT . . . It's never entirely clear just why certain people become "colorized" (love? lust? a quest for knowledge? anger?). The rule SEEMS to be that a character gets to be colorized when he/she falls in with the screenwriter's own preconceptions (i.e., prejudices). Apparently, the idea of an all-embracing diversity which "color" represents doesn't quite extend to "black-and-whites", who must be changed at all costs if Pleasantville is to be saved from arson, or something. The arguments of the armchair liberals who dreamed this movie up doesn't hold up to scrutiny: color's good, black-and-white is bad, therefore the b&w's are permanently excluded from the happy rainbow coalition. This is what's called a "QUALIFIED VICTORY", folks. How parochial!Another nit to pick: even in the most marshmallowy '50's sitcoms, people would, I daresay, occasionally miss a free throw. The point being, the director's CONCEPTION of '50's sitcoms is the rule, rather than a fully grounded knowledge of them -- which would've been nice, btw. Would've added depth to the details, so to speak. Finally, mildly humorous scenes and some funny characterizations by the actors are drowned out by the Baby-Boomer self-righteousness. Please try again. . . .
Rating:
Summary: Remembrance of times past
Review: The "Brady Bunch Movie" this is not, although both films present a clash of cultures, past and present. Pleasantville attacks the premise with greater vigour and more assuredness however - "Brave New World" or "Things To Come" come more readily to mind in defining this fantastic excursion into other-worldness. Gary Ross should be commended for his ambitious attempt to reconstruct contemporary times through the lens of another era. Essentially, "Pleasantville" is more than a simple morality fable about good and evil, tolerance and respect. It aims to be a prism through which our basic values are distorted to reveal the underlying worth of our basic values. The shading from monochrome through to heightened colour, as the past shades into the present, reflects this prismatic approach. The "Animal Farm" imagery in the film's closing third is a little awkward at times - J.T. Walsh's mayor was reminiscent of Napoleon, leader of the dominant pigs - and the use of religious and political imagery to reinforce the film's liberal sensibilities was similarly heavy-handed. However, a fine satire regardless, and shamefully overlooked by the Academy.
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