Ortega, Kenny

Hocus Pocus

You're in for a devil of a time when three outlandishly wild witches -- Bette Midler (BEACHES BIG BUSINESS) Sarah Jessica Parker (HONEYMOON IN VEGAS) and Kathy Najimy (SISTER ACT) -- return from 17th-century Salem after they're accidentally conjured up by some unsuspecting pranksters! It's a night full of zany fun and comic chaos once the tricky 300-year-old trio sets out to cast a spell on the town and reclaim their youth -- but first they must get their act together and outwit three kids and a talking cat! Loaded with bewitching laughs HOCUS POCUS is an outrageously wild comedy that's sure to entertain everyone!Bonus Features Producer David Kirschner came up with the idea for the movie one night while he and his young daughter were sitting outside and his neighbor's black cat strayed by. Kirschner began to unspool a narrative of how the cat was once a boy who was changed into a feline 300 years ago by three witches.Actress Kathy Najimy described her character Mary as "Eddie Haskell as a witch" referring to the character on the classic TV series "Leave It To Beaver." "She sucks up to Winifred [Bette Midler's character] every chance she gets. She wants to be part of the power club and Winifred's got the power." To create the costumes designer Mary Vogt read many historical books about Salem Massachusetts. "I even read diaries of women who were hanged as witches" she says.System Requirements: Runing Time 96 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: PG UPC: 717951003584 Manufacturer No: 01775800

This big, fat theatrical bomb has a lot going for it. There's the three leads, Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker, playing three resurrected witches who wreak havoc on Salem, Massachusetts, 300 hundred years after they were hung. There's music, special effects, and magic. There's a surprisingly horror-filled plot. Whoops, hold up on that last one. It's probably the extremes that this film goes to (displaying a Disney label), such as the witches sucking the life out of a little girl in the first five minutes, that put the brakes on any success for Hocus Pocus. Older children, however, in the 8 and up range should get a kick out of all the weird goings-on. It's a good measure of Halloween thrills and chills. --Keith Simanton

High School Musical 2 (Extended Edition)

It's time to sing and dance because there's so much more to celebrate in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2: EXTENDED EDITION. Experience the movie in a whole new way with a never-before-seen music sequence and rehearsal footage plus sing lead vocals with High School Karaoke. The East High Wildcats are gearing up for big fun as they land the coolest summer jobs imaginable. Troy (Zac Efron) Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) Chad (Corbin Bleu) and Taylor (Monique Coleman) have scored sweet gigs at the Lava Springs Country Club owned by Sharpay and Ryan's family. Sharpay's first rule of business: Get Troy. As Troy experiences a life of privilege he's never known will he give up the Wildcats and Gabriella to rise to the top? Featuring an all-star cast exclusive bonus features hot new songs and awesome dancing HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2: EXTENDED EDITION is way 2 good 2 miss!System Requirements:Running Time: 111 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSIC DVD/DOCUMENTARY Rating: TV-G UPC: 786936740370 Manufacturer No: 05504100

What time is it? Time for High School Musical 2, the sequel to the Disney Channel smash that aired on Aug. 17, 2007 and became the most-watched basic-cable show ever. School is out, and Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) are looking forward to a summer to remember, but Troy also needs to make bank so he can go to college. As it turns out, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), the self-proclaimed primo girl of East High, has her eye set on primo-boy Troy, and gets him a job at the country club her parents own. It looks great for Troy when Gabriella and the rest of the Wildcats are hired also, but when he gets preferential treatment from the club manager (Mark Taylor) and others, it puts all of his relationships in hot water.

Everyone's back from the original movie, including Zac's buddy Chad (Corbin Bleu), Sharpay's brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), and Gabriella's friend Taylor (Monique Coleman). And the songs on the hit soundtrack often parallel the originals and are just as catchy: the Troy-Gabriella duet ("You Are the Music in Me," which is later Sharpay-ized into a rock version), the sports-flavored hip-hop number ("I Don't Dance," but this time on the baseball diamond instead of the basketball court), the Gabriella lament ("Gotta Go My Own Way"), the climactic stage duet ("Everyday"), and the mass-ensemble closer ("All for One"). But the sequel doesn't just stick to the status quo. Other songs include a flashy opener ("What Time Is It"), Sharpay's poolside feature ("Fabulous"), a percussive ensemble number ("Work This Out"), and Zac's solo ("Bet On It"), and the dances are even bigger this time around, relentlessly high-energy and often spectacular. In addition, the "let's put on a show" angle ! is only a subplot and the romance is now front and center--which means High School Musical has lost a bit of its innocence. But it's still wholesome viewing for tweens of all ages. Sharp-eyed Disney Channel fans will spot Miley "Hannah Montana" Cyrus as an extra. --David Horiuchi

On the DVD
The extended-edition DVD adds one new scene, in which Sharpay and Ryan perform the Hawaiian-themed "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a," which not only is fun but adds a bit of character development for Ryan. This number (which was on the CD as a bonus track) is incorporated into the movie and also accessible from the bonus-features menu, along with a four-minute blooper reel and music videos for "You Are the Music in Me" (one U.S. version and a Mexican version with Paulina Holguin and Roger) and "Gotta Go My Own Way (Canadian versions in French and English, both with Nikki Yanofsky). A "dance rehearsal cam" shows the choreographers and cast working on nine numbers (36 minutes total). Director-choreographer Kenny Ortega coaches, offers pep talk, and declares, "If it wasn't for Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, we wouldn't be here!" There are two sing-along options, one with English subtitles and a "karaoke" version with English subtitles but no vocals. --David Horiuchi

Beyond High School Musical 2

Our High School Musical Headquarters	High School Musical 2 on Blu-ray	High School Musical 2 soundtrack
High School Musical	High School Musical (Remix Edition)	High School Musical, The Concert: Extreme Access Pass

High School Musical (Encore Edition)

The all-new smash hit Disney Channel Original Movie everyone is talking about is now available for the first time ever on DVD -- with never-before-seen bonus features that will rock your house! Troy (Zac Efron) the popular captain of the basketball team and Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) the brainy and beautiful member of the academic club break all the rules of East High society when they secretly audition for the leads in the school's musical. As they reach for the stars and follow their dreams everyone learns about acceptance teamwork and being yourself. And it's all set to fun tunes and very cool dance moves! Featuring the hottest talent HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL celebrates the power of music in this hip entertaining gotta-get-up-and-dance movie. Own all the excitement and the exclusive extras available only on this Encore Edition DVD.System Requirements:Running Time 98 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: G UPC: 786936693652 Manufacturer No: 04954900

The Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical is a combination of backstage action and Grease without the unwholesome habits. Scoring record ratings at the time of its January 2006 broadcast, it's a smash hit with tween audiences (ages 6 to 10), but appealing for all ages. At a New Year's Eve party, Troy (Zac Efron of the WB's Summerland) has a chance meeting with Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) when they share a karaoke song. Lo and behold, when school resumes, they discover that Gabriella has just transferred to Troy's East High School, a campus divided into tight cliques of jocks, cheerleaders, brainiacs, and skater dudes. Eager to recapture the magic they'd discovered during karaoke, Troy and Gabriella consider auditioning for the school's upcoming musical, much to the dismay of the school's frost queen/theater goddess, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody). Problem is, Troy is also the star of the basketball team and Gabrielle is being recruited to compete in the Scholastic Decathlon. Will they give up their cliques to start something new, or will they do as the show's first big anthem urges and "Stick to the Status Quo"? Well, this is a Disney movie, so maybe the sacrifices won't be that hard, and even the hints of romance are mild.

The bestselling soundtrack is catchy in that Disney-pop kind of way, mixing in a dash of hip-hop ("Getcha Head in the Game," punctuated by squeaky basketball shoes and other sound effects), salsa ("Bop to the Top"), and the endearingly hammy ("What I've Been Looking For" performed by Sharpay and her brother, Ryan, played by Lucas Grabeel). It's not hard to imagine High School Musical becoming a semi-staple for high school groups to perform themselves. DVD bonus features include sing-along subtitles; a 9-minute featurette discussing casting, recording sessions, and rehearsals; a multi-angle look at a rehearsal of "Bop to the Top"; and music videos for "We're All in This Together" and a song that didn't make it into the final film, "I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You," performed by Efron, Hudgens, Tisdale, and Gabreel. --David Horiuchi

Newsies (Collector's Edition)

Except for feature-length animation, the musical has gone the way of the dinosaur. The Walt Disney company took a stab at reviving the live-action musical in 1992 with Newsies, a throwback picture with a curious subject. In 1899, the pint-sized newsboys delivering the New York papers go on strike against the unfair practices of news magnates Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The production is heavy on kiddie humor, although Christian Bale (the child star of Spielberg's Empire of the Sun) is charismatic as one of the older leaders of the revolt. The adult stars don't fare as well, with Robert Duvall doddering around as Pulitzer and Ann-Margret and Bill Pullman doing decorative duty. The film was not well received when first released, but hindsight reveals its charm (and allowed the young target audience to catch up with the picture on video). The first-time director is Kenny Ortega, the choreographer of Dirty Dancing, who brings plenty of energy to the action. --Robert Horton

Starring Academy Award(R)-winner Robert Duvall (Best Actor -- TENDER MERCIES, 1983) and screen favorite Ann-Margret, here's the true story of a courageous group of newsboys who become unlikely heroes when they team up to fight an unscrupulous newspaper tycoon. Determined to make their dreams come true, they find the courage to challenge the powerful! Critically acclaimed from coast to coast -- if you're looking for must-see, feel-good entertainment, NEWSIES delivers!

High School Musical 2 Deluxe Dance Edition

The phenomenal Disney Channel Original Movie is bigger and better than ever with awesome exclusive bonus features that will get you up out of your seat! Think you have the moves to groove with the East High Wildcats? Let the stars show you what they've got in an interactive dance-along that lets you control the action, and relive your favorite parts of the movie with an incredible virtual scrapbook! It's the movie you love and so much more! High School Musical 2: Deluxe Dance Edition brings you inside the world of the Wildcats with "Bigger, Better, Best" bonus features including deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes special and a first look at the highly anticipated big-screen bash High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

The Cheetah Girls 2 (Cheetah-Licious Edition)

More moves more music and more growl power are packed into the sensational Disney Channel Original Movie THE CHEETAH GIRLS 2. And this Cheetah-licious Edition DVD has 2 versions of the movie -- the exclusive extended version and sing-along version. Best friends Galleria (Raven-Symon ) Chanel (Adrienne Bailon) Dorinda (Sabrina Byran) and Aqua (Kiely Williams) A.K.A. the girl band "The Cheetahs" get the opportunity of a lifetime when they strut their way to Barcelona Spain to perform in an international music festival. Along the way the "amigas Cheetahs" learn that although their paths are not the same they are lucky to have one another for the journey. Directed and choreographed by Kenny Ortega (HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL) THE CHEETAH GIRLS 2 will have you movin' and groovin'! Catch all the excitement and never-before-seen bonus features in this all-new Cheetah-licious Edition DVD.System Requirements:Running Time: 96 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: TV-G UPC: 786936704761 Manufacturer No: 05062200

The hot girl rock group The Cheetah Girls is about to discover just how important dreams and true friendship are as they head to Barcelona for an exciting summer vacation. When Chanel's (Adrienne Bailon) mother announces a trip to Barcelona to meet her current boyfriend's family, Chanel is distraught at being separated from the Cheetah Girls for the summer and worries that her mother may decide to move to Barcelona permanently. Galleria (Raven-Symoné) soon cooks up a plan that lands all of the Cheetah girls in Barcelona for a music festival, but once there, the girls' individual interests in music, dance, fashion design and even romance sweep them in so many different directions that there's little time for rehearsing together. Add in some very real competition from Barcelona's favorite upcoming singer Marisol (Belinda Peregrin) and her conniving mother and a lack of familiarity with the music festival rules, and the Cheetah Girls chances of winning the contest begin to fade. Galleria soon realizes that she must let each of her friends go in the direction their dreams take them, even if it means the end of the Cheetah Girls. In the end, all the girls learn a vital lesson about the importance of tolerance, friendship, and dreams. This production is bursting with tight music and awesome dance segments choreographed by High School Musical's choreographer Kenny Ortega. Bonus features include a sing-along version of the movie, the music video "Dance With Me" performed by Drew Seeley featuring Belinda, and tips from the Cheetah Girls on how to be "Cheetah-licious" in everything from fashion and makeup to friendship and diversity. (Ages 8 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

High School Musical (Two-Disc Remix Edition)

Gabriella Montez is a shy studious new student at East High School; but that all changes when she is forced to sing at a karaoke contest with Troy Bolton the captain of the school's basketball team. After spending time with each other both realize they share a passionate love for music and singing. But will they retain this love when their school is telling them they cannot be together?System Requirements:Run Time: 98 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: PG UPC: 786936722918 Manufacturer No: 05327300

The Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical is a combination of backstage action and Grease without the unwholesome habits. Scoring record ratings at the time of its January 2006 broadcast, it's a smash hit with tween audiences (ages 6 to 10), but appealing for all ages. At a New Year's Eve party, Troy (Zac Efron of the WB's Summerland) has a chance meeting with Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) when they share a karaoke song. Lo and behold, when school resumes, they discover that Gabriella has just transferred to Troy's East High School, a campus divided into tight cliques of jocks, cheerleaders, brainiacs, and skater dudes. Eager to recapture the magic they'd discovered during karaoke, Troy and Gabriella consider auditioning for the school's upcoming musical, much to the dismay of the school's frost queen/theater goddess, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody). Problem is, Troy is also the star of the basketball team and Gabrielle is being recruited to compete in the Scholastic Decathlon. Will they give up their cliques to start something new, or will they do as the show's first big anthem urges and "Stick to the Status Quo"? Well, this is a Disney movie, so maybe the sacrifices won't be that hard, and even the hints of romance are mild.

The bestselling soundtrack is catchy in that Disney-pop kind of way, mixing in a dash of hip-hop ("Getcha Head in the Game," punctuated by squeaky basketball shoes and other sound effects), salsa ("Bop to the Top"), and the endearingly hammy ("What I've Been Looking For" performed by Sharpay and her brother, Ryan, played by Lucas Grabeel). It's not hard to imagine High School Musical becoming a semi-staple for high school groups to perform themselves. --David Horiuchi

On the DVD
The two-disc Remix Edition of High School Musical retains all the bonus features of the original DVD and adds a Spanish audio track and 34 minutes of new features. Following a couple minutes of red-carpet interviews from the DVD release party, "High School Reunion" (6 min.) gathers the cast for some more interviews, glimpses of their other Disney Channel credits, and appearances on the Teen Choice Awards and in London and Sydney. The longest feature is the dance-along, in which the cast teaches the choreography for "Get'cha Head in the Game" and "We're All in This Together." At 16 minutes, it allows for move-by-move instruction followed by half- and full-speed runthroughs, though they're facing the camera, so home participants will have to figure out the mirror image or simply ignore the left-right directions and do it backward. And because this is the Remix Edition, there are videos of the remixed versions of "Breaking Free" and "We're All in This Together" as well as a video of "Eres Tu," a Spanish version of "What I've Been Looking For" (the Ryan and Sharpay version) by Mexican band Belanova. Retained from the original DVD are the sing-along subtitles, the making-of featurette, the "Bop to the Top" rehearsal, and the music videos for "We're All in This Together" and "I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." Not included in this version: the trivia-packed "pop-up edition" that debuted on the Disney Channel on Thanksgiving weekend 2006. So even if the Remix Edition is a little thin for two discs, fans will enjoy the new stuff while they wait for High School Musical 2. --David Horiuchi

Ally McBeal - Ally on Sex and the Single Life

When Ally McBeal premiered on the Fox network in 1997, the series was already riding high on critical praise, with its upscale mix of savvy humor and hot-topic legal drama. Created, produced, and written entirely by the amazingly prolific David E. Kelley, the show immediately found an appreciative audience of women drawn to the title character's frank perspectives on dating, sex, and career objectives, and men lured by a cast full of attractive, outspoken women with vibrant personalities and flattering wardrobes. (If you think that's a sexist observation, you haven't tuned in to the show's brilliant balance of male chauvinism, feminist attitude, and hilariously turbulent office politics.)

This two-disc compilation of episodes from the show's first season is aptly titled, because Ally McBeal--a Boston lawyer played by Calista Flockhart--is defined by her seemingly perpetual singlehood, her sexual and emotional yearnings, her professional passions, and--by one of Kelley's creative masterstrokes--her flights of imagination (often visualized via amusing computer-generated effects) that give the series a constant, unpredictable edge of humor and emotional depth.

These well-chosen episodes offer a comprehensive summary of the first season's major developments, including the emotional history shared by Ally and her now-married colleague Billy (Gil Bellows); the notorious "dancing baby" (in "Cro-Magnon") symbolizing the insistent ticking of Ally's biological clock; the amiable quirks of John "the Biscuit" Cage (Peter MacNicol); and the dubious pearls of wisdom known as "Fishisms." Here we witness the sublime chemistry of the ensemble cast, and each member is given ample time in the spotlight. Regular guest star Dyan Cannon is strongly featured in "Silver Bells," prior to the second-season addition of Nelle (Portia DeRossi) and Ling (Lucy Liu). That leaves plenty of room to establish Ally McBeal as the lively focus of the series--confused, opinionated, sexy, neurotic, frustrated, ecstatic, intelligent, emotional... and never, ever boring. --Jeff Shannon

THEME OF LIFE-Ally agrees to see Dr. Tracy Clark(Tracey Ullman), John Cages therapist. Not only does Dr. Clark tell Ally to go ahead with her scheduled kickboxing match with Georgia, but she tells her to get a theme song, "something with bounce." Will this help relieve Ally's stress over a "real" case, defending an attractive doctor from a malpractice suit? Or is it just another chance to fantasize? THE PLAYING FIELD-Dr. Tracy Clark (Tracey Ullman) tells Ally, "You can't stand being liked for your sex appeal and you can't stand not being liked for it." Then she tells Ally to get rid of the dancing baby. Unfortunately, Ally kicks a 'little person' by mistake thinking it's her dancing baby.

Hocus Pocus [Region 2]

This big, fat theatrical bomb has a lot going for it. There's the three leads, Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker, playing three resurrected witches who wreak havoc on Salem, Massachusetts, 300 hundred years after they were hung. There's music, special effects, and magic. There's a surprisingly horror-filled plot. Whoops, hold up on that last one. It's probably the extremes that this film goes to (displaying a Disney label), such as the witches sucking the life out of a little girl in the first five minutes, that put the brakes on any success for Hocus Pocus. Older children, however, in the 8 and up range should get a kick out of all the weird goings-on. It's a good measure of Halloween thrills and chills. --Keith Simanton

Newsies [Region 2]

Except for feature-length animation, the musical has gone the way of the dinosaur. The Walt Disney company took a stab at reviving the live-action musical in 1992 with Newsies, a throwback picture with a curious subject. In 1899, the pint-sized newsboys delivering the New York papers go on strike against the unfair practices of news magnates Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The production is heavy on kiddie humor, although Christian Bale (the child star of Spielberg's Empire of the Sun) is charismatic as one of the older leaders of the revolt. The adult stars don't fare as well, with Robert Duvall doddering around as Pulitzer and Ann-Margret and Bill Pullman doing decorative duty. The film was not well received when first released, but hindsight reveals its charm (and allowed the young target audience to catch up with the picture on video). The first-time director is Kenny Ortega, the choreographer of Dirty Dancing, who brings plenty of energy to the action. --Robert Horton