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Cinderella (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Forced to do additional chores by her stepmother, Cinderella is about to miss the royal ball until her fairy godmother and friendly mice help her.
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Media Type: DVD
Artist: DISNEY
Title: CINDERELLA
Street Release Date: 10/04/2005
Domestic
Genre: CHILDREN'S VIDEO

Worry not, Disney fans--this special edition DVD of the beloved Cinderella won't turn into a pumpkin at the strike of midnight. One of the most enduring animated films of all time, the Disney-fied adaptation of the gory Brothers Grimm fairy tale became a classic in its own right, thanks to some memorable tunes (including "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," and the title song) and some endearingly cute comic relief.

The famous slipper (click for larger image)

We all know the story--the wicked stepmother and stepsisters simply won't have it, this uppity Cinderella thinking she's going to a ball designed to find the handsome prince an appropriate sweetheart, but perseverance, animal buddies, and a well-timed entrance by a fairy godmother make sure things turn out all right. There are a few striking sequences of pure animation--for example, Cinderella is reflected in bubbles drifting through the air--and the design is rich and evocative throughout. It's a simple story padded here agreeably with comic business, particularly Cinderella's rodent pals (dressed up conspicuously like the dwarf sidekicks of another famous Disney heroine) and their misadventures with a wretched cat named Lucifer. There's also much harrumphing and exposition spouting by the King and the Grand Duke. It's a much simpler and more graceful work than the more frenetically paced animated films of today, which makes it simultaneously quaint and highly gratifying. --David Kronke

DVD Features

For another of its classic films, Disney delivers another dazzling DVD with a gorgeous, razor-sharp picture and 5.1 sound. (Note: the 1949 film is properly presented in full-screen format, 1.33 aspect ratio, because widescreen films weren't made until the '50s.) The best part of the supplemental features is the archival material, the absolute highlight of which is two unused songs, "Cinderella's Work Song" (in which Cinderella imagines multiplying herself à la the Sorcerer's Apprentice) and "Dancing on a Cloud."

Bippity-boppity-boo! (click for larger image)

Because these numbers were never animated, they're accompanied by stylish illustrations from the Disney artists, and they're simply marvelous to look at. The artist of much of that material, Mary Blair, gets her due in a 15-minute featurette, while the better known "Nine Old Men" are the subject of a round-table discussion among some of today's top animators. In addition, a 38-minute documentary covers their contributions to specific characters of Cinderella as well as the film in general and the vocal cast. Also on the historical side is "The Cinderella That Almost Was," tracking the development of the project through decades of original Disney concepts, characters, and songs, including the 1922 silent "Laugh-o-Gram," which is also included in its entirety.

The pumpkin transformed (click for larger image)

Additional musical material includes three radio programs and a short promo of the movie by Perry Como, in which he summarizes the plot amid some songs by the Fontaine Sisters, star Ilene Woods, and the host himself. Seven other unused songs (17 minutes total) are available in audio-only. The material for kids is on the sparse side, consisting of two music videos, Disney Channel personality Sally (from "Mike's Super Short Show") learning how to become a princess with the help of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition crew and others, a minor dancing-princess feature, and a DVD-ROM design studio. Oddest extra: ESPN's "top Cinderella stories," including the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and Joe Namath's New York Jets, although stories on Mia Hamm and tennis's Williams sisters should appeal to the film's primary target audience of young girls. --David Horiuchi

Cinderella Throughout the Years

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1957 Television Production)	Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1965)	The Slipper and the Rose (1976)
Faerie Tale Theatre - Cinderella (1982)	Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997)	Ever After - A Cinderella Story(1998)

Anne of the Thousand Days / Mary, Queen of Scots

Enter the world of majesty with two emotionally charged epics that expose the secret lives and public battles of England's most influential royalty in the Anne of the Thousand Days / Mary Queen of Scots 2-Movie Collection! Honored with a combined 15 Academy Award nominations these films tell the torrid true-life tales of King Henry VIII Queen Elizabeth I Anne Boleyn and Mary Queen of Scots. Featuring lavish costumes stunning Technicolor photography and critically acclaimed performances these spectacular films bring new life to some of the most powerful figures of all time!System Requirements:Running Time: 146 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG UPC: 025195015721 Manufacturer No: 61101955

As costume dramas go, this is a passionate and feisty one, keyed by the ever-luminous Vanessa Redgrave in the title role and the sharp-edged Glenda Jackson as her jealous cousin, Queen Elizabeth I (who knew a thing or two about palace intrigue). Mary, who was raised in France as a Catholic, claims the Scottish crown from her mother upon her death. But she runs up against religious prejudice, both from the Protestant Elizabeth (who had encountered anti-Protestant bias before she took the throne) and from Mary's Protestant half-brother James Stuart (Patrick McGoohan). Elizabeth, whose own reign is shaky (given a strong Catholic presence in her country), is nervous about her Catholic cousin--and made more so by Mary's seeming inability to appreciate the political niceties of the period. Redgrave received an Oscar nomination for her performance. --Marshall Fine

Jurassic Park Adventure Pack (Jurassic Park/ The Lost World: Jurassic Park/ Jurassic Park III)

Jurassic Park
Steven Spielberg's 1993 mega-hit rivals Jaws as the most intense and frightening film he'd ever made prior to Schindler's List, but it was also among his weakest stories. Based on Michael Crichton's novel about an island amusement park populated by cloned dinosaurs, the film works best as a thrill ride with none of the interesting human dynamics of Spielberg's Jaws. That lapse proves unfortunate, but there's no shortage of raw terror as a rampaging T-rex and nasty raptors try to make fast food out of the cast. The effects are still astonishing (despite the fact that the computer-generated technology has since been improved upon) and at times primeval, such as the sight of a herd of whatever-they-are scampering through a valley. --Tom Keogh

The Lost World - Jurassic Park
In the low tradition of knockoff horror flicks best seen (or not seen) on a drive-in movie screen, Steven Spielberg's sequel to Jurassic Park is a poorly conceived, ill-organized film that lacks story and logic. Screenwriter David Koepp strings along a number of loose ideas while Jeff Goldblum returns as Ian Malcolm, the quirky chaos theoretician who now reluctantly agrees to go to another island where cloned dinosaurs are roaming freely. Along with his girlfriend (Julianne Moore) and daughter, Malcolm has to deal with hunters, environmentalists, and corporate swine who stupidly bring back a big dino to Southern California, where it runs amok, of course. Spielberg doesn't seem to care that the pieces of this project don't add up to a real movie, so he hams it up with big, scary moments (with none of the artfulness of those in Jurassic Park) and smart-aleck visual gags (a yapping dog in a suburb mysteriously disappears when a hungry T-rex stomps by). A complete bust.--Tom Keogh

Jurassic Park III
Surpassing expectations to qualify as an above-average sequel, Jurassic Park III is nothing more or less than a satisfying popcorn adventure. A little cheesier than the first two Jurassic blockbusters, it's a big B movie with big B-list stars (including Laura Dern, briefly reprising her Jurassic Park role), and eight years of advancing computer-generated-image technology give it a sharp edge over its predecessors. While adopting the jungle spirit of King Kong, the movie refines Michael Crichton's original premise, and its dinosaurs are even more realistic, their behavior more detailed, and their variety--including flying pteranodons and a new villain, the spinosaurus--more dazzling and threatening than ever. These advancements justify the sequel, and its contrived plot is just clever enough to span 90 minutes without wearing out its welcome.

Posing as wealthy tourists, an adventurous couple (William H. Macy, Téa Leoni) convince paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and his protégé (Allesandro Nivola) to act as tour guides on a flyover trip to Isla Sorna, the ill-fated "Site B" where all hell broke loose in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. In truth, they're on a search-and-rescue mission to find their missing son (Trevor Morgan), and their plane crash is just the first of several enjoyably suspenseful sequences. Director Joe Johnston (October Sky) embraces the formulaic plot as a series of atmospheric set pieces, placing new and familiar dinosaurs in misty rainforests, fiery lakes, and mysterious valleys, turning JP3 into a thrill ride with impressive highlights (including a T. rex versus spinosaurus smack-down), adequate doses of wry humor (from the cowriters of Election), and an upbeat ending that's corny but appropriate, proving that the symptoms of sequelitis needn't be fatal. --Jeff Shannon

Becoming Jane

Anne Hathaway (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA THE PRINCESS DIARIES) gives a radiant performance as a young love-struck Jane Austen in the witty and engaging romantic comedy BECOMING JANE from Miramax Films. It's the untold romance that inspired the novels of one of the world's most celebrated authors. When the dashing Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) a reckless and penniless lawyer-to-be enters Jane's life he offends the emerging writer's sense and sensibility. Soon their clashing egos set off sparks that ignite a passionate romance and fuel Jane's dream of doing the unthinkable -- marrying for love. BECOMING JANE also starring the acclaimed Maggie Smith James Cromwell and Julie Walters is an enchanting and imaginative film you'll fall head over heels for.System Requirements:Running Time: 120 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/LOVE & ROMANCE Rating: PG UPC: 786936731927 Manufacturer No: 05410400

Like Molière, which was released in theaters around the same time, Becoming Jane isn't a conventional biopic. Instead, Julian Jarrold (White Teeth) expands on events from Jane Austen's life that may have shaped her fiction. To his credit, he doesn't stray too far from the facts. In 1795, 20-year-old Jane (Anne Hathaway with believable British accent) is an aspiring author. Her parents (Julie Walters and James Cromwell) married for love, and money is tight. They hope to see their youngest daughter make a more lucrative match, and there's a besotted local, Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox, son of actor James Fox), who would be happy to oblige. Unfortunately, Jane isn't interested. Then, she meets brash law student Tom (The Last King of Scotland's James McAvoy), while he's staying with relatives in rural Hampshire. As in many Austen novels, it isn't love at first sight--but rather irritation. Just as affection begins to bloom, Tom has to return to London, and Wisley, whose financial prospects are superior, proposes. To complicate matters, Tom's uncle (Ian Richardson in his final performance) disapproves of the outspoken young lady just as much as Wisley's aunt (Maggie Smith, lending the proceedings some subtle humor). Had Austen penned the script, Tom and Wisley would be combined into one person, but life doesn't work that way--and nor does Becoming Jane. Though Jarrold's effort may not be as swoon-worthy as Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice, it remains true to the spirit of the author's work. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Idiocracy

From Mike Judge one of the creative minds behind "Beavis and Butt-Head" "King of the Hill" and Office Space comes an outrageous sci-fi comedy that'll make you think twice about the future of mankind.Meet Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson). He's not the sharpest tool in the shed. But when a government hibernation experiment goes awry Bowers awakens in the year 2505 to find a society so dumbed-down by mass commercialism and mindless TV programming that he's become the smartest guy on the planet. Now it's up to an average Joe to get human evolution back on track!Filled with razor-sharp sarcasm and outrageous sight gags Idiocracy will make you laugh out loud whether you're an absolute genius or a complete idiot!Extras:Anamorphic3 trailers5 deleted scenesFeatures: Outtakes (Five deleted scenes: Babies - Trashy Guy & Girl in Truck / Girlfriend #1 / Girlfriend #2 / Museum of Fart / Joe in Whitehouse Looks Out)System Requirements:Run Time: 84 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 024543401797 Manufacturer No: 2240179

Given that Office Space is a bona fide cult classic, it comes as some surprise that Mike Judge's follow-up wasn't more heavily promoted. Granted, this live-action comedy is a darker, more pointed proposition, but it's unfortunate that few theater patrons got the opportunity to, well, judge for themselves. In Idiocracy, the King of the Hill creator visualizes what would happen if Devo's proposition--that mankind is in the process of devolution--came to pass. The catalyst: the overeducated start having fewer children while the undereducated have more. Enter Joe (Luke Wilson), a military librarian with no family and even less ambition. The Pentagon chooses him for a top-secret hibernation project due to his extreme "average-ness." They select Rita (SNL's Maya Rudolph), a prostitute, for the same reason. When the experiment goes haywire, the two emerge 500 years later--rather than one. Now it's 2505 and they're the brightest people in the over-polluted land. Everyone else is, basically, Beavis and Butt-head. Yes, the satire couldn't be less subtle, but the premise gives Judge license to make as much fun of junk food pop culture as dystopian classics like 1984 and Planet of the Apes. Wilson wisely plays it straight, even if the actors who surround him sometimes succumb to excess. And the effects may be cheesy, but that just adds to the fun. Idiocracy features former footballer Terry Crews (Everybody Hates Chris) as President Camacho and Dax Shepard (Punk'd) as Joe's futuristic friend Frito. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Peter Pan (2-Disc Platinum Edition)

Disney's classic story of Peter Pan is back. Join Peter Pan and Tinker Bell in this family film as they take three small children on an adventure of their lives. The excitement explodes when they come face to face with Captain Hook and his crew. This magical video has exclusive footage of the making of Peter Pan.System Requirements:Run Time: 76 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: G UPC: 786936718072 Manufacturer No: 05266500

Peter Pan has a special place in the realm of classic animated Disney films: it instills an element of childlike wonder. The 1953 version of James M. Barrie's story is colorfully told and keeps on the straight and narrow of the book. Barrie's wondrous focus on child's play is the key to its longevity: kids who don't grow up, shadows that run away from their owners, pirates, a fairy, and the magic ability to fly. In short, you can't help wishing the adventure would happen to you. Fueled by a few memorable songs (the stunner being "You Can Fly") and the strong impression of the pixie fairy Tinkerbell and the goofy Captain Hook, Disney's version of this story neither supplants nor lessens the Broadway version with Mary Martin that was produced for television the same decade. Unlike some classics, Peter Pan never ages along the way. --Doug Thomas

Alien Quadrilogy (Alien/ Aliens /Alien 3 /Alien Resurrection)

Four movies tracing Ripley's battle against a deadly alien.
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Media Type: DVD
Artist: ALIEN QUADRILOGY
Title: ALIEN QUADRILOGY
Street Release Date: 10/17/2006
Domestic
Genre: HORROR

The Alien Quadrilogy is a nine-disc boxed set devoted to the four Alien films. Although previously available on DVD as the Alien Legacy, here they have been repackaged with vastly more extras and with upgraded sound and picture. For anyone who hasn't been in hypersleep for the last 25 years, this series needs no introduction, though for the first time each film now comes in both original and "special edition" form.

Alien (1979) was so perfect it didn't need fixing, and Ridley Scott's 2003 director's cut is fiddling for the sake of fiddling. Watch it once, then return to the majestic, perfectly paced original. Conversely, the special edition of James Cameron's Aliens (1986) is the definitive version, though it's nice to finally have the theatrical cut on DVD for comparison. Most interesting is the alternative Alien 3 (1992). This isn't a "director's cut"--David Fincher refused to have any involvement with this release--but a 1991 work-print that runs 29 minutes longer than the theatrical version, and has now been restored, remastered, and finished off with (unfortunately) cheap new CGI. Still, it's truly fascinating, offering a different insight into a flawed masterpiece. The expanded opening is visually breathtaking, the central firestorm is much longer, and a subplot involving Paul McGann's character adds considerable depth to story. The ending is also subtly but significantly different. Alien: Resurrection (1997) always was a mess with a handful of brilliant scenes, and the special edition just makes it eight minutes longer.

The Alien Quadrilogy offers the first and fourth films with DTS soundtracks, the others having still fine Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. All four films sound fantastic, with much low-level detail revealed for the first time. Each is anamorphically enhanced at the correct original aspect ratio, and the prints and transfers are superlative. Every film offers a commentary track that lends insight into the creative process--though the Scott-only commentary and isolated music score from the first Alien DVD release are missing here.

Each movie is complemented by a separate disc packed with hours of seriously detailed documentaries (all presented in full-screen with clips letterboxed), thousands of photos, production stills, and storyboards, giving a level of inside information for the dedicated buff only surpassed by the Lord of the Rings extended DVD sets. A ninth DVD compiles miscellaneous material, including an hourlong documentary and even all the extras from the old Alien laserdisc. "Exhaustive" hardly beings to describe the Alien Quadrilogy, a set that establishes the new DVD benchmark for retrospective releases and looks unlikely to be surpassed for some time. --Gary S. Dalkin

Lady and the Tramp (50th Anniversary Edition)

It's still one of the sweetest kisses onscreen, up there with Bergman and Grant, Bogey and Bacall: the moment when pampered purebred Lady and streetwise mongrel Tramp, sharing a moonlit plate of spaghetti in an alley behind an Italian café, unknowingly slurp the same strand, and suddenly find their mouths meeting in surprise and tenderness. Ah, puppy love. Lady and the Tramp is a delight of animation and surprisingly deep character development, given that the stars are all dogs. Lady, an adorable Cocker Spaniel, feels neglected when her owners become distracted by the pending birth of a baby. But the last straw is clueless Aunt Sarah's appearance with her conniving Siamese cats (among Disney's most creatively evil villains), who wreak havoc on Lady's blissful home life. Soon Lady is off on an adventure in the streets, where the savvy Tramp takes her under his paw. The lessons of friendship and loyalty, of integrity--not to mention trusting in the kindness of strangers--ring true to delighted children and adults alike. And unlike many Disney films, there's no real violence, only challenges that smart dogs (including a tough-talking vamp named Peg, voiced sublimely by Peggy Lee, who also wrote the songs), banding together, can tackle. The animation is terrific; the scene where we first meet Tramp shows him rinsing off under a pipe, and his subsequent shaking-off of the water follows the detailed rippling up and down his back that any dog lover will recognize. And is there any song more romantic than "Bella Notte"? Bellissima! --A.T. Hurley

Walt Disney's LADY AND THE TRAMP, filled with memorable music and purebred fun, now shines like never before with an all-new digital restoration! Embark on a thrilling adventure with the most unforgettable characters: Lady, a lovingly pampered cocker spaniel; Tramp, a mutt from across the tracks with a heart of gold; Jock and Trusty, Lady's best friends; and Si and Am, two of the most devious cats to prowl across the screen. The happiest of endings takes place on a lovely bella notte as Lady learns what it means to be footloose and leash-free. Unleash all the fun and excitement in this 2-Disc Special Edition, including never-before-seen deleted scenes, 5.1 Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, all-new games, making-of secrets, and much more!

Short Circuit 2

The Lord of the Rings - The Motion Picture Trilogy (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition)

This critically acclaimed epic trilogy follows the quest undertaken by the hobbit Frodo Baggins and his fellowship of companions to save Middle-earth by destroying the One Ring and defeating the evil forces of the Dark Lord Sauron. With new and extended scenes carefully added back into the film the 12-disc set also includes hours of bonus features.Running Time: 785 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY UPC: 794043734724

The extended editions of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings present the greatest trilogy in film history in the most ambitious sets in DVD history. In bringing J.R.R. Tolkien's nearly unfilmable work to the screen, Jackson benefited from extraordinary special effects, evocative New Zealand locales, and an exceptionally well-chosen cast, but most of all from his own adaptation with co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, preserving Tolkien's vision and often his very words, but also making logical changes to accommodate the medium of film. While purists complained about these changes and about characters and scenes left out of the films, the almost two additional hours of material in the extended editions (about 11 hours total) help appease them by delving more deeply into Tolkien's music, the characters, and loose ends that enrich the story, such as an explanation of the Faramir-Denethor relationship, and the appearance of the Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor. In addition, the extended editions offer more bridge material between the films, further confirming that the trilogy is really one long film presented in three pieces (which is why it's the greatest trilogy ever--there's no weak link). The scene of Galadriel's gifts to the Fellowship added to the first film proves significant over the course of the story, while the new Faramir scene at the end of the second film helps set up the third and the new Saruman scene at the beginning of the third film helps conclude the plot of the second.

To top it all off, the extended editions offer four discs per film: two for the longer movie, plus four commentary tracks and stupendous DTS 6.1 ES sound; and two for the bonus material, which covers just about everything from script creation to special effects. The argument was that fans would need both versions because the bonus material is completely different, but the features on the theatrical releases are so vastly inferior that the only reason a fan would need them would be if they wanted to watch the shorter versions they saw in theaters (the last of which, The Return of the King, merely won 11 Oscars). The LOTR extended editions without exception have set the DVD standard by providing a richer film experience that pulls the three films together and further embraces Tolkien's world, a reference-quality home theater experience, and generous, intelligent, and engrossing bonus features. --David Horiuchi