Could you dumb it down a little doc.

When two young overweight teenagers file a lawsuit against McDonalds, blaming the fast food giant for their obesity, it is the result that triggers Morgan Spurlock to produce this documentary. When McDonalds asked for proof that a steady diet of their fast food menu would affect a persons health, he set out some rules to see what the real affect was over a period of 30 days.

1. Must eat only what is available over the counter (water included!)
2. Must supersize when offered
3. Must eat every item on the menu at least once

To add to these rules, he would also have to reduce his daily exercise to better reflect the fitness habits of the country as a whole. Of course he'd have doctors and dieticians on hand to monitor his progress and give their opinions, usually to stop the experiment.

All the 5 McFood groups here

On its own, the above rules wouldn't make much of a documentary so Spurlock looks into the decline of the health of the nation as a whole, how schools are introducing more and more fast food into lunch room menus because of pressure from the big guns and how the marketing campaigns continue to bombard youngsters; get 'em while they're young. When young kids can not relate to a picture of Jesus but can cheer at a photo of Ronald McDonald, you know the damage is done.

This 100 min look at the fast food industry in the US will certainly open your eyes about exactly what the industry is doing to your system. At times it is a frightening account of the effects a continuous fast food diet will have on a body and the statistics for obesity and diabetes amongst sub 30 year old people are startling. Having lost 40 kilos in the past year, this reviewer knows what excess can really do to a body and this documentary really hit home.

Fancy some sugar with your diet?

Filmed entirely on a Sony DSR-PD150 widescreen 3CCD DV camera, the footage looks very video like in its presentation and the subsequent DVD encoding is in an anamorphic widescreen format. Having seen this doco on the big screen, it's actually very good, considering it was completed on a budget of $75,000 US ($100,000 AUD). There is also some effects show for graphicial statistic presentations that stand out in comparison to the DV footage.

Audio wise, we just have a simple 2 channel stereo presentation from the original mic recordings off the Sony DSR. There are times when the audio feels a little harsh in its presentation but that is expected with such a un-super-sized budget.

Oh say can you feel, all the lard in your pot.

As for the extras, a collection of trailers and scene selections sum up this two dollar meal effort. Some outtakes or bloopers would have made a nice happy meal of a DVD here.

Spurlocks pot-shot at the fast food industry provides for fascinating viewing and if you don't get turned off by fast food on whilst watching the footage of someones stomach being stapled, let alone the effects on Spurlock himself, then nothing will turn you off fast food at all. Even Mr Subway himself makes a cameo to balance the good and bad of the effects of fast food.

Grab your mates, a pile of pizzas and litres of your favorite cola drink and see how far you can get through the meal or the movie. If you are to ever own a documentary DVD this is definitely a must have for your collection.