Product Details

• Directors: Steven Spielberg
• Format: Box set, NTSC
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 6
• Studio: DreamWorks Home Entertainment
• Run Time: 877 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009JVURY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,427 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Taken spans five decades and four generations, centering on three families: the Keys, Crawfords, and Clarkes. World War II veteran Russell Keys is plagued by nightmares of his abduction by aliens during the war; the Roswell incident transforms Owen Crawford from ambitious Air Force captain to evil shadow government conspirator; the unhappily married Sally Clarke is impregnated by an alien visitor. As the decades go by, the heirs of each are affected by the machinations of the aliens, culminating with the birth of Allie Keys, who is the final product of the aliens' experimentation and holds the key to their future.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding and involving!, June 17, 2005

By 

RMurray847 (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Steven Spielberg Presents Taken (DVD)

A superior mini-series in almost every way. Mostly well-acted and written. Well paced for a TV show. Acceptable special effects. Good craftsmanship.

Based on the Amazon listing, it would seem the DVD set is out of print. I was able to rent it from my local store, otherwise might never have seen it. Don't have cable. This miniseries once again proves how invaluable DVDs have become. A decade ago, those who didn't see it originally would never have had the chance to experience it.

Basically, it's an alien invasion / conspiracy show, spanning four generations, from WWII to "present day" (about 1999/2000). The show follows three different families. One begins with a lonely housewife in Lubbock who has a crazy fling with a wounded young man who turns out to be an alien. Their offspring is the beginning of the aliens' plan. Another family starts with a WWII pilot/hero who is "taken" during a bombing run and is the only crew member who is able to survive the "work" that the aliens have done to him...thus, he has something in his genes that they want. Finally, the Crawford family are the villains of the piece, starting with Owen Crawford, a military man who is interested in hiding the truth of the Roswell crash as well as discovering the secrets to alien technology and to their plans for the earth. His goals are actually admirable...his methods are another story!!

Most of the actors are unknowns or perhaps familiar faces whom we've never put names to. But most are quite solid. In my opinion, the earlier episodes are the best, because they're set in another time. We're so used (thanks to X-FILES) to modern day abduction stories...it's kinda fun to see the mythology of them develop in the 40's, '50s and '60s. Standout performances include the actor playing Owen Crawford and Dakota Fanning, who appears much later in the show. She's got the same eerie calm that Haley Joel Osment had at a young age. Actually, there are several young actors throughout the series, and they are all excellent. Towards the end, our two major villains are played by Matt Frewer (Max Headroom!) and Heather Donohue (Blair Witch Project). They are a bit over the top, and have to play a line between insane and just plain nutso. Mostly they succeed, but they are a bit annoying.

The story is solid throughout all fifteen hours (10 episodes at 90 minutes each..it's a little movie each time). We become very attached to the characters and involved in their fates. Some stories play out in a sweet manner, others are bittersweet. It's got romances that are actually believable. It's got some action and some sprinkles of humor. It's mostly a character drama though, exploring how "ordinary" people react in extraordinary situations. I liked it very much.

Just be ready to put in a lot of time. My family and I found we couldn't just watch it occasionally, so we basically saw the whole thing in about a week. But it was still sad to say goodbye. And speaking of families...this is a good show for kids age 11 and up or so. The violence is mostly tepid. There are a couple of mild "bedroom" scenes, but otherwise it's just good drama. I was VERY pleasantly surprised at the entertainment value in this series. CHECK IT OUT!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Minor Critique, May 7, 2006

By 

pjbogart (Fitchburg, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steven Spielberg Presents Taken (DVD)

First off, I'd like to say that I in no way intend to pan this phenomenal film, but I'll leave the praise to the other reviewers, as I think they've done so adeptly. I enjoyed this movie immensely, and have managed to sit through it four times. The rather large pricetag is worth it, in my opinion. Performances are excellent, script is by and large excellent, perhaps a bit forced at times to push the story forward, but overall excellent.

That said, the sound mixing in the movie is perhaps the worst I have ever heard. Honestly, the lead engineer must specialize in annoying people with "hot" voice-over recordings, because he jammed the microphone volume on Dakota Fanning's narrative so high that it's painful to listen to. Have you ever noticed that many pharmaceutical company commercials have women who whisper into a microphone and you can hear the wet, sticky noises that their tongues make while moving around inside their mouths? That's called microphone volume (as opposed to master volume), and hearing subvocal noises is generally a no-no, but some people feel that it contains a maternal and personal quality that conveys comfort and trust. Mostly, I think it's like listening to someone chew gum into a microphone.

So if you've ever been annoyed by voice-overs or you have difficulty listening to NPR, be warned that Dakota Fanning's narrative in this film is beyond atrocious, through no fault of her own. Her performance is excellent, her dialogue is excellent, but her engineer single-handedly cheapened this otherwise amazing film with his astonishing incompetence. But that's just my opinion.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A mini-series that gets most things right., April 29, 2006

By 

dsrussell "greyhater" (Corona, CA. United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Steven Spielberg Presents Taken (DVD)

This is a very, very, very long film ... an epic (6 dvd disks that will kill almost 15 hours out of your life), so it came as a surprise that it kept my interest enough to watch it until the end. Oh, I think they could (and should) have tightened this up by nipping two or three hours (or more) out of this series, and not everything works in this film (example: they did a pour job aging the actors and some of the sub-plots were weak, run-of-the-mill, and unconvincing), but it is a far cry from most of the cheesy sci-fi corrupting the airways on the sci-fi channel. The truth is, I rarely watch anything on the sci-fi channel because I find almost all of it laughable at best. Sci-fi is ripe for sub-B scripts, dumb dialog, and poor acting, and the Sci-fi channel is notorious for airing unadulterated crap. Is it any wonder that most people don't like sci-fi?

TAKEN, however, is surprisingly sophisticated in its approach and direction. And there are scenes that are truly disturbing (this isn't light fare). Perhaps it helped that Steven Spielberg produced this series. It looks like they really did some solid research in the UFO/abduction field when coming up with this script. And while none of the actors were house-hold names when this film aired, most did a fine job throughout this series. The plot is simple enough (are the aliens evil, or good, or something else?), but it is the execution of this simple script that makes this series worth watching. It spans more than 50 years of the UFO phenomena and centers upon alien abduction and government involvement and cover-ups. Whether you believe in aliens and alien abductions (or government cover-ups for that matter) or think it's all hogwash, this film will keep you interested (although some episodes aren't quite up to par with most of this film).

I don't really know when this series was produced. I've seen dates that range from 1998 to 2002. But I do know that Dakota Fanning was quite young (4, 5, 6, or 7 years old, depending upon when this was actually filmed). And I guess that's what surprised me the most. This little girl must have a genius IQ (she narrated the entire series) and is now (at age 11) considered to be one of the most gifted actors/actresses working in Hollywood. And yes, she is the highlight of this film (even though she appears toward the end of the series), as she is the highlight of every film that she has made. I also don't know what it is that fascinates people (as well as me) so much concerning Dakota. A fine actress? Yes. Believable in every part she has played? Yes again. I do know that she feels like a breath of fresh air every time I have watched her (whether in movies or in interviews).

So, if you are looking to kill an entire weekend (and perhaps a good portion of the week), pick up this fine film (if you are lucky enough to find it). Between 1 and 10, I give TAKEN a solid 8.