Similar to almost all Touchscreen releases, A Civil Action has a pretty good video transfer. Unfortunately the original print used as the disc s master was fairly dirty with noticeable amounts of white and black lint. Some film grain can be seen on certain scenes, however overall it s a faithful reproduction without any visible artifacting or jagged edges. The disc is single layered and features 25 chapter stops. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track contains minimal usage of the rear speakers, but considering the drama genre much more couldn t be asked for.
Deep bass is limited to dramatic thunder claps, though dynamic range seems to be good.
Vocals are easy to make out over other elements, but constant background hiss mar this otherwise problem free mix. In addition to the 5.1 soundtrack, a French 2.0 track is included along with English subtitles and closed captioning. Disney seems to have standardized on a specific feature set during the past few months. Not much, but certainly better than earlier releases. This DVD doesn t excel in any particular area but still presents a great version of this movie.