A “widescreen” movie should play correctly on almost all current DVD players. If you do not have a widescreen TV, however, you must set your DVD player to “letterbox” the movie.
How to setup your DVD player. If you have a wide screen TV, set the TV type on your DVD player for “16:9: or “widescreen.” If you have a traditional tv set, set it for “4:3 letterbox.” This will put black space above and below the widescreen picture. The other alternative is “4:3 Pan and Scan.” The picture appears full height (no black at top and bottom or sides), but you will not see a small part of the video that is at the left and right.
If your DVD player does not have this capability (e.g. an inexpensive portable DVD player may not), you can still watch the movie, but it will be stretched a bit vertically (people will appear thinner).