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Pokemon Movie - The Rise of Darkrai

The 10th Pokémon movie introduces Dialga and Palkia, two Legendary Pokémon from the "Diamond" and "Pearl" versions of the game. Ash, Brock, Dawn, and Pikachu visit the town of Alamos, which is dominated by two lofty towers that represent space and time. Alamos has been plagued by nightmares and supernatural events that the arrogant Baron Alberto blames on Darkrai, a powerful and elusive Pokémon. Alice, a gentle musician whose grandmother discovered Darkrai, disagrees. Her professor friend Tonio proves the escalating problems are caused by a clash between Dialga and Palkia. Unless the humans find a way to end this battle, the space-time fabric will tear and Alamos will be thrown into another dimension. Ash and Pikachu save the day, with some help from Dawn and Alice. The Rise of Darkrai (2007) is most the elaborate Pokémon feature to date: the CG effects range from the graceful towers to fireworks and energy storms. The drawn characters and computer-generated special effects are better integrated than in the previous features. The results are sure to delight Pokémon fans. (Unrated, suitable for ages 6 and older: cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

Ash may think he's seen everything when it comes to Pokémon, but is he ready to face the mysterious Darkrai in his latest awesome adventure? While touring Alamos Town -home of the Space-Time Tower -with the beautiful Alice, Ash and his friends discover that the town's special garden has been decimated! Baron Alberto, a dashing but arrogant fellow, immediately blames the destruction on Darkrai. As if it just overheard the accusation, Darkrai appears and confronts our heroes!
Who is Darkrai? Is it a friend... or a friend in disguise? And as a battle between Legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia rages directly above Alamos Town-and threatens to tear a hole in the space-time continuum-will Ash and his friends survive this showdown and learn Darkrai's true nature?

Stills from Pokémon Movie - The Rise of Darkrai (click for larger image)

Dragon Ball Z - Season Five (Perfect and Imperfect Cell Sagas)

The Z-Fighters gather their forces in an effort to combat the Android menace that has been set loose upon the planet. But they are about to discover that the Androids are the least of their worries. An even greater threat has risen from the shadows: Dr. Gero's most lethal creation Cell!Born from the genetic material of the greatest warriors ever to walk the Earth Cell is Dr. Gero's ultimate weapon a perfect fighting machine capable of duplicating all of the Z-Fighters' most powerful attacks. Now after years of waiting Cell has begun to unleash his terrifying powers wiping out entire cities as he gathers the energy he needs to fulfill his creator's grand design.Time is short! The Z-Fighters must find a way to stop this monstrous foe before he completes his quest to absorb the other Androids and achieves his invincible Perfect Form!Contains the complete Imperfect and Perfect Cell Sagas (26 episodes).Format: DVD Genre: ANIMATION/ADULT SWIM UPC: 704400022470 Manufacturer No: 0

The artificial humans 17 and 18 who terrorized Earth in Season #4 of Dragon Ball Z were only a preliminary threat: Dr. Gero's ultimate creation, Cell, strikes in Season #5. A bio-entity created from genetic material taken from Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, and Frieza, Cell arrives via the time capsule Bulma built for Trunks. (There are now two of them, somehow.) Although he defeats the merged Piccolo and Kami, Cell remains imprisoned in his "imperfect form," a sort of larval stage. Until he absorbs androids 17 and 18, he can't attain his ultimate power. Vegeta and Trunks train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber at Kami's palace, which enables them to undergo the equivalent of a year's heavy workouts at high gravity in one day. Transcending his powers as a Super Saiyan, Vegeta clobbers Cell. When Cell challenges Vegeta to fight his perfect form. Vegeta takes the bait and allows Cell to evolve. The perfect Cell proves so powerful, Trunks has to draw on untapped reserves of power to save Vegeta. Goku plays only a small role in Season #5: he spends the first episodes recovering from the heart virus, then waiting with Gohan for the Hyperbolic Chamber or training in it. One of best-loved stories in the Dragon Ball Z continuity the "Cell Saga" offers plenty of action, with characters punching each other through rock walls and destroying entire islands as they fight. But it ends on a weak note when, instead of killing Trunks, Cell challenges the Z Fighters to a martial arts tournament--the focus of Season #6. The paradoxes of the time travel story, including adult Trunks encountering himself as a baby, don't seem to bother the fans--or the writers. These 26 episodes could have easily fit on five discs or even four, and spreading them over six feels chintzy.(Rated TV PG. suitable for ages 8 and older: violence, tobacco use, ethnic stereotypes) --Charles Solomon

Invader Zim Complete Invasion (3 vol. set)

The Irken armada is poised to conquer the universe, but it would be a lot easier without Invader Zim! Thickheaded, brash, and overzealous, Zim has wrecked Irken plans for the last time. Seizing the opportunity to rid themselves of this nuisance forever, they send Zim on a "secret" mission to a planet far away on the edge of the universe-Earth. Now Earth's only hope rests with a young UFO-hunting paranormal enthusiast named Dib.

The Machine Girl

Ami (Minase Yashiro in her film debut) is a tough but otherwise average high school girl trying to lead a normal life. Her world comes crashing down when her brother and his friend are killed by ruthless bullies. As Ami tracks down the ringleader she is surprised to discover the bullies' association with a sinister ninja yakuza family. When she goes after her revenge she soon finds herself in over her head and minus her left arm. Barely surviving Ami escapes and seeks out shelter from two kindly garage mechanics. They take pity on her fitting her with a high-powered machine gun where her arm used to be. She then teams up with the chainsaw-wielding mother (Asami) of her brother's slain friend and together they unleash an unholy non-stop over-the-top kill fest against the equally creative machinery (drill bra flying guillotine) of their relentless ninja enemies.System Requirements:Running Time: 96 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/CRIME Rating: NR UPC: 631595073980 Manufacturer No: TSDVD0739

Naruto Uncut Box Set, Volume 8

Naruto and Jiraiya's journey climaxes in all-out war with Orochimaru and his skilled right-hand man Kabuto. Naruto must perfect the Rasengan in time to save the future Hokage but when Naruto himself needs saving Tsunade must overcome her fear and join Jiraiya in beating down Orochimaru.The legendary Sannin engage in the ultimate Summoning battle with their lives and the Leaf Village's future on the line. Will Naruto succeed in bringing back the Fifth Hokage and her supreme medical skill to heal the Village Hidden in the Leaves?Contains episodes 93-106.System Requirements:Running Time: 350 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ANIMATION/ANIME UPC: 782009238041 Manufacturer No: DNRBS8

The 8th set of the hit ninja-fantasy Naruto spans the end of Season Four (2004) and the start of Season Five (2004-2005). The first episodes conclude the battle between Jiraiya, Lady Tsunada (who will become the Fifth Hokage), and Naruto on one side, and Orochimaru and his henchman Kabuto on the other. The combatants invoke numerous jutsu and summon three animals often linked to supernatural warriors in Japanese folklore: a toad, a snail or slug, and a serpent. This duel between good and evil includes some of the most dynamic fight sequences in the Naruto continuity. A subsequent visit to a hot spring turns into a farce as Jiraiya lives up to his nickname of "Pervy Sage," and Naruto mistakenly tries help a pair of would-be bill collectors. The battle against Orochimaru has left the Hidden Leaf Village short of trained ninja: Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are sent to protect a runner in a high-stakes race in the Land of Tea without Kakashi-sensei to supervise them. Naruto proves his growing strength and maturity, not through his use of battle techniques or magical jutsu, but by demonstrating his dedication to his friends and to completing his mission. Everyone's favorite ninja-in-training remains a knucklehead, but he's a knucklehead with some admirable qualities. It all adds up to one of the most satisfying installments in this popular series. (Rated T+ Older Teen; suitable for ages 12 and older: violence, toilet humor, grotesque imagery, tobacco and alcohol use) --Charles Solomon

Spirited Away

The highest grossing film in Japanese box-office history (more than $234 million), Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (Sen To Chihiro Kamikakushi) is a dazzling film that reasserts the power of drawn animation to create fantasy worlds. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and Lewis Carroll's Alice, Chihiro (voice by Daveigh Chase--Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch) plunges into an alternate reality. On the way to their new home, the petulant adolescent and her parents find what they think is a deserted amusement park. Her parents stuff themselves until they turn into pigs, and Chihiro discovers they're trapped in a resort for traditional Japanese gods and spirits. An oddly familiar boy named Haku (Jason Marsden) instructs Chihiro to request a job from Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), the greedy witch who rules the spa. As she works, Chihiro's untapped qualities keep her from being corrupted by the greed that pervades Yubaba's mini-empire. In a series of fantastic adventures, she purges a river god suffering from human pollution, rescues the mysterious No-Face, and befriends Yubaba's kindly twin, Zeniba (Pleshette again). The resolve, bravery, and love Chihiro discovers within herself enable her to aid Haku and save her parents. The result is a moving and magical journey, told with consummate skill by one of the masters of contemporary animation. MPAA Rated: PG ("Some scary moments") --Charles Solomon

From one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animated cinema comes the most acclaimed film of 2002. Hayao Miyazaki's latest triumph, filled with astonishing animation and epic adventure, is a dazzling masterpiece for the ages. It's a "wonderfully welcoming work of art that's as funny and entertaining as it is brilliant, beautiful, and deep" (Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal). SPIRITED AWAY is a wondrous fantasy about a young girl, Chihiro, trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free herself and return her family to the outside world. An unforgettable story brimming with creativity, SPIRITED AWAY will take you on a journey beyond your imagination. "To enter the world of Hayao Miyazaki is to experience a kind of lighthearted enchantment that is unique to the world of animation" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). It's a fantastic tale the whole family will want to experience over and over again.

Princess Mononoke

This epic, animated 1997 fantasy has already made history as the top-grossing domestic feature ever released in Japan, where its combination of mythic themes, mystical forces, and ravishing visuals tapped deeply into cultural identity and contemporary, ecological anxieties. For international animation and anime fans, Princess Mononoke represents an auspicious next step for its revered creator, Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service), an acknowledged anime pioneer, whose painterly style, vivid character design, and stylized approach to storytelling take ambitious, evolutionary steps here.

Set in medieval Japan, Miyazaki's original story envisions a struggle between nature and man. The march of technology, embodied in the dark iron forges of the ambitious Tatara clan, threatens the natural forces explicit in the benevolent Great God of the Forest and the wide-eyed, spectral spirits he protects. When Ashitaka, a young warrior from a remote, and endangered, village clan, kills a ravenous, boar-like monster, he discovers the beast is in fact an infectious "demon god," transformed by human anger. Ashitaka's quest to solve the beast's fatal curse brings him into the midst of human political intrigues as well as the more crucial battle between man and nature.

Miyazaki's convoluted fable is clearly not the stuff of kiddie matinees, nor is the often graphic violence depicted during the battles that ensue. If some younger viewers (or less attentive older ones) will wish for a diagram to sort out the players, Miyazaki's atmospheric world and its lush visual design are reasons enough to watch. For the English-language version, Miramax assembled an impressive vocal cast including Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup (as Ashitaka), Claire Danes (as San), Minnie Driver (as Lady Eboshi), Billy Bob Thornton, and Jada Pinkett Smith. They bring added nuance to a very different kind of magic kingdom. Recommended for ages 12 and older. --Sam Sutherland

Claire Danes (THE MOD SQUAD), Minnie Driver (GOOD WILL HUNTING), and Billy Bob Thornton (ARMAGEDDON, SLING BLADE) head a cast of hot Hollywood stars who lend their talents to this exquisitely animated, overwhelmingly acclaimed adventure epic! Inflicted with a deadly curse, a young warrior named Ashitaka (Billy Crudup -- WITHOUT LIMITS) sets out for the forests of the west in search of the cure that will save his life. Once there, he becomes inextricably entangled in a bitter battle that matches Lady Eboshi (Driver) and a proud clan of humans against the forest's animal gods, who are led by the brave Princess Mononoke (Danes), a young woman raised by wolves! Also starring Gillian Anderson (THE X-FILES) and Jada Pinkett Smith (SCREAM 2), this monumental struggle between man and nature will have you transfixed as stunning artistry blends with epic storytelling to create a uniquely entertaining motion picture!

My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro is that rare delight, a family film that appeals to children and adults alike. While their mother is in the hospital, 10-year-old Satsuki and 4-year-old Mei move into an old-fashioned house in the country with their professor father. At the foot of an enormous camphor tree, Mei discovers the nest of King Totoro, a giant forest spirit who resembles an enormous bunny rabbit. Mei and Satsuki learn that Totoro makes the trees grow, and when he flies over the countryside or roars in his thunderous voice, the winds blow. Totoro becomes the protector of the two sisters, watching over them when they wait for their father, and carrying them over the forests on an enchanted journey. When the children worry about their mother, Totoro sends them to visit her via a Catbus, a magical, multilegged creature with a grin the Cheshire Cat might envy.

Unlike many cartoon children, Satsuki and Mei are neither smart-alecky nor cloyingly saccharine. They are credible kids: bright, energetic, silly, helpful, and occasionally impatient. Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki makes the viewer believe the two sisters love each other in a way no American feature has ever achieved. My Neighbor Totoro is enormously popular in Japan, and some of the character merchandise has begun to appear in America. The film has also inspired a Japanese environmental group to buy a Totoro Forest preserve in the Saitama Prefecture, where Miyazaki's film is set. --Charles Solomon

Critically acclaimed as one of the most delightful and charming family films ever, MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is a stunning animated treat full of magical adventure from Hayao Miyazaki. Follow the adventures of Satsuki and her four-year-old sister Mei when they move into a new home in the countryside. To their delight, they discover that their new neighbor is a mysterious forest spirit called Totoro, who can be seen only through the eyes of a child. Totoro introduces them to extraordinary characters -- including a cat that doubles as a bus! -- and takes them on an incredible journey. Full of wonder and heart, this spectacular 2-disc set features the voice talents of Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning. MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is a magical experience for the whole family! © 1988 Nibariki • G

Dragon Ball Z - Season Three (Frieza Saga)

This popular anime series follows the skilled warrior Goku and his band of Z-fighters as they search for the powerful Dragon Balls. The adventures continue with every episode from the series' third season.Format: DVD Genre: ANIMATION/ADULT SWIM UPC: 704400022456 Manufacturer No: 1-4210-0007-5

The third season of the popular shonen (boy's) show Dragon Ball Z continues the adventures of Goku and Gohan on Namek, Piccolo's home planet. Goku, who has been in a regeneration tank since the end of season 2, recovers just in time to challenge the sniggering Frieza, one of the most grating villains in anime history. Having defeated Gohan, Krillin, Vegeta, and Piccolo, Frieza takes on Goku in a protracted duel. When he begins to doubt his ability to overcome Goku, Frieza destroys the core of Namek, ensuring it will explode in a matter of minutes. Enraged by the death of Krillin and so many others, Goku transforms into the one thing Frieza fears: a Super Saiyan, a legendary warrior who appears once every 1,000 years. As the seconds tick away, the two most powerful individuals in the universe duke it out. While they're beating the soba out of each other, King Kai hatches a plan to use the Dragon Balls of Earth and Namek to ensure a happy ending. As the battle between Goku and Frieza intensifies, the kicks and punches fly, producing titanic explosions. But the duel goes on for more than 20 episodes: With only a limited budget and crude special-effects techniques at their disposal, the filmmakers have to recycle footage endlessly. Dragon Ball Z: Season 3 is more entertaining when the viewer allows a few days to elapse between episodes, rather than indulging in a Super Saiyan marathon. (Rated TV PG. suitable for ages 8 and older: violence, brief nudity, tobacco use, ethnic stereotypes) --Charles Solomon

Dragon Ball Z - Season Two (Namek and Captain Ginyu Sagas)

In the version that is shown on YTV in Canada the story begins mid-way through the Dragon Ball Z series. Raditz Gokuus brother has traveled to Earth to find out why Gokuu has not yet destroyed the planet as he was supposed to do. But while as a baby Gokuu was dropped (down a huge cliff) and forgot his real mission. Kakarot Gokuus real name battles his brother Raditzs along with former enemy Piccolo and friend Kurilin. Meanwhile Gohan; Gokuus son reveals his hidden powers against Raditz and nearly kills Raditz. However Gokuu is killed in the end but Raditz is eventually defeated by Piccolo. Before he dies he tells them that two evil-saiyans even more powerful then he is are on route to Earth. The remaining fighters Kurilin Yamcha Tein and Chatsu begin their training to battle the evil saiyans while Piccolo takes off with Gohan to train him in using his new found power. Meanwhile Gokuu has to make his way back on Snake Way to King Kais where he trains himself in the secret art of Kaoken. Can Gokuu make it back in time to help his friends? Watch and find out!Run Time: 835 minutesFormat: DVD Genre: ANIMATION/ADULT SWIM Rating: PG UPC: 704400022449 Manufacturer No: 1-4210-0006-7

The second season of the wildly popular Dragon Ball Z comprises the "Namek" and "Captain Ginyu" sagas. Gohan, Krillin, and Bulma travel to the planet Namek to find an even more powerful set of Dragon Balls that can restore the lives of Tenshinhan, Yamucha, Chaozu and Piccolo, who were killed by Vegeta during the first season. (Their souls continue to train with King Kai in the Other World.) All is not well on Namek: the arch-villain Frieza, who looks and sounds a bit like Truman Capote, also desires the Dragon Balls. If he uses them to obtain eternal life, he'll rule the universe forever. With a cadre of lieutenants that includes Vegeta, he slaughters the Namekians to gain the supernatural orbs. After his injuries have been healed by a magic senzu bean, Goku heads to Namek. En route, he trains at 100 gravities, raising his powers enormously. Vegeta believes Goku may be the legendary Super Saiyan that appears once a millennium--except he lacks the requisite love of battle. This version of Goku is less aggressive, and he uncharacteristically uses his brain (never his greatest asset) to defeat Ginyu, Frieza's second-in-command. Unlike Season 1--Vegeta Saga, Season 2ends on a cliff-hanger. Skeptics may find Goku's adventures needlessly protracted, over the top, and even silly. But for millions of boys, they provide the special blend of comradeship, martial arts training, and take-no-prisoners battles they love. The newly remastered edition includes the original Japanese dialogue for the first time. (Rated TV PG. suitable for ages 8 and older: violence, minor risqué humor, brief nudity, tobacco and alcohol use) --Charles Solomon