DVD Review Round-Up

Getting Spring fever? Wanna hole up with a new love or a best pal, pop that corn and catch up on movies or TV you missed or gorge on special DVD features on some of your recent favorites? Here are a few titles to fit the bill: "Narnia", Dreamer, King Kong and "South Park: Season 7".

From Walt Disney Home Entertainment

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The witch and The Wardrobe Two-Disc Collector's Edition

Basically, during the WWII air-raids, the four Pevensie children Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy (played by William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley) get sent for safety to a strange professor's home in the country. Lonely and bored, the kids play hide-and-seek and little Lucy goes into a wardrobe to hide. She comes out the back into a magical world called Narnia. This is where animals talk, big lion Aslan rules with kindness but his efforts are squelched by evil witch Jadis(Tidla Swinton). The kids are recruited to fulfill a destiny and fight the witch to free the land from eternal winter.

Video: 2.35:1 Widescreen, is enhanced for 16x9 Televisions. The picture is bright, clean and gorgeous.

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Theater Home Mix, English DTS 5.1 Digital Surround. I'd pick the surround, especially if you have the speaker system. Excellent whether crunching snow, battle action sounds or dialogue.

Special Features: It's worth mentioning the packaging here: delightful case. The inner plastic case is a duplicate of the famous wardrobe. Inside are two concept art postcards and a DVD guide that contains chapter listings, special features summaries and Disc navigation. Really nice!

This two-disc set is great on artwork throughout. Disc 1 contains the film, audio commentaries, Fun Facts, Bloopers reel and trailers. Disc 2 contains a ton of bonus material:

DISC 1 The Bloopers of Narnia – This is a 4½ minute reel of bloopers and boo boos. Not hilarious but lots of fun.

Discover Narnia Fun Facts – Some pop-up trivia about the author C.S. Lewis and Narnia. Informative and worthy info.

Filmmakers' Commentary – Director/co-screenwriter Andrew Adamson, producer Mark Johnson and production designer Roger Ford on the phone talk about making the movie. Not super spunky but interesting especially if you are into the effects.

Director & Kids' Commentary – This track is the director hanging with the four kid stars of the film. This is lots of fun. The kids are spunky and say anything... a really fun track.

DISC 2 Chronicles of a Director - a 38-minute look at director Andrew Adamson's notes on the film. Kind of a diary, documentary and history thingie. You learn how Adamson got the job, cast the film, shot it etc. Good info.

The Children's Magical Journey – This featurette is about 26 minutes and focuses on backstage footage with the kid actors and Adamson goofing off and having fun. You see the casting process and even the wrap party. Good fun!

Evolution of an Epic – This is the four part documentary of the movie from a biopic about C.S. Lewis to interviews with various crewmembers and lots of footage from the film. You get the effects guys, costume designer, production designer, editor, creature guys and music. Really in-depth look at this epic film.

"Anatomy of a Scene: The Melting River" shows you how the scene where the kids fall through ice into a river was made. You see everything from the miniatures of the set to the kids actually filming and CG animals being added later.

Creatures of the World – More on the creatures of Narnia ... described by passages in the book.

Explore Narnia – This is an on-screen interactive map of the world of Narnia. You can chose different locations and get a brief narration on each. It's CG graphics, drawings and clips. Locations are: White Witch's Castle, The Lantern Waste, Battlefield, The Stone Table and Cair Parevel. This gives you a real inside look at the locations.

Legends in Time – This feature is interactive and explains how when an hour passes on Earth, 15 years pass in Narnia. The first film and beyond is covered. Neat.

Wrapping Up: If you loved the books as a kid or the film, this is a amazingly broad coverage DVD. Quality features and great "look". A real keeper for your DVD library of classics.

From DreamWorks Home Entertainment

Dreamer

There's something about girls and horses. Whether you are eight or eighteen, you'll love this wonderfully-acted horse drama.

This inspiring film is based on a real-life horse Mariah's Storm, who, at the age of two, broke a leg but went on to win several races. Dreamer is a horse named Soñador who is saved from being put down after breaking a leg, by down-on-his-luck trainer Ben Crane (Kurt Russell). Ben's daughter, Cale (Dakota Fanning), loves the horse and helps "Sonia" through her recovery. The process brings the family together and gives the Cranes, including Cale's estranged grandfather (Chris Kristofferson) and loving mom (Elisabeth Shue) a second chance at family unity when Cale enters her horse in a big race.

Video: The anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) image is beautiful. The wonderful Kentucky horse country is awesomely green.. Good color balance in day and dark scenes.

Audio: The 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack is well balanced and sounds great. Music is beautiful, dialogue is totally crisp.

Special Features: Commentary track with writer/director John Gatins. He obviously loves his film and is friendly and chatty. Nice track.

Who Is Mariah's Storm? – is a 5 minute intro to the horse that inspired the film and it's inspiring.

On the Set: Working With Thoroughbreds- runs 11 minutes and gives us a look at the movie horse trainers and how several different horses were used to do different Sonador things in the film. Cute Dakota talks about her love of horses. Nice.

Taking Care of Horses- is a 5 minute lesson on grooming a horse with clips from the film. Dakota talks more about horses and the fun she had on the film. Makes you want to go out and buy a horse.

Meet the 'Dreamer' Dream Cast – is 17 minutes with interviews with the cast and behind-the-scenes press kit stuff. Nothing extraordinary but worth one watch.

Deleted scenes: There are two short deleted scenes and both are really good. You can see that they were cut for time but both really add to the character development. Well worth watching.

Music video "Dreamer," by Bethany Dillon, is pleasant if not top-40 and is worth a listen.

There is a 9 minute feature of Gatins getting interviewed about the film beside a race track. If you listen to his commentary, it's redundant but you see that the guy does know his horse racing and you get to see a complete race.

Wrapping up: This horse drama is all about the characters, including the horse and it is so well-acted that you are sucked in from beginning to end. Lots of heart here in addition to well-filmed action. Well worth a rent if not a buy.

From Universal Studios Home Entertainment

King Kong: 2-Disc Special Edition

Peter Jackson was inspired to make movies by watching the original 1930's version of King Kong. His own vision of the story is a masterpiece.

1930's Depression era NYC: Down-on-his-luck movie director Carl Denham (Jack Black) is gung-ho to finish his safari adventure film but his backers threaten to seize the film and fire him. Denham grabs the film and runs! Lying to a tramp steamer captain (Thomas Kretschmann) to get him to leave port immediately, Denham kidnaps writer Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) so that the script can be finished onboard. Having lost his leading lady, he also tempts starving Vaudeville performer Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) to join his adventure. Already a fan of Jack's writing, Ann is smitten and the two fall in love.

Denham's secret mission is to find a mysterious uncharted island and film the great mystery beast said to live there. This cast and crew are in for the ultimate adventure.

Video: presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. This is a spotless transfer and the picture is totally gorgeous whether in daylight or nighttime moments.

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 with optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles. Wow! Every stomp of Kong's massive feet can be heard along with his breathing. The dinosaur stampede thunders but softer moments come through clear and balanced as well. Dialogue is clear. Really great.

Special Features: Nothing on Disc 1 except the film and a Volkswagen commercial and a trailer for another film. Disc 2 is action-packed with hours of extra fun

Post Production Diaries – These are all the mini-docs that appeared on the "Kong is King" website as weekly updates on the post production process director Peter Jackson went through. It's a wonderful, friendly, fan-oriented feature that shows how much Peter loved making this film. You see all aspects of post production in beautiful New Zealand. Very entertaining and informative.

Skull Island: A Natural History – This is a "fake" nature documentary shot as if Skull Island and giant apes really exist. Really fun spoof of an Animal Planet or Nova-style nature documentary. Fun!

Kong's New York, 1933 – a totally serious look at the Big Apple around 1933 when the original "Kong" was made. You learn about the great Depression, Prohibition, all the skyscraper construction that was going on including the Empire State Building etc. It really sets the scene for the movie. I'd say watch this first...then the movie. Lots of interesting facts and pictures.

Wrapping up – I loved this film, not only for its action epic qualities (there are flaws.. it's too long.. some dialogue is corny, etc) but especially for how it portrays gorillas and the relationship between humans and animals. I cried for Kong, the last of his kind, just as I cry for the great apes hunted mercilessly in Rwanda today. These intelligent creatures deserve better treatment! This film is one for the ages. Collect or definitely rent!

From Paramount Home Entertainment

South Park: The Complete Seventh Season

Okay, time to get irreverent and laugh your booty off!

Fifteen episodes with notable moments like Cartman trying to kill Kyle, Jimmy and Timmy becoming gangsta Crips and the gang trying out "metrosexuality". It's disturbing. It's "South Park"!

Episode synopses: "Cancelled," (one of my faves) shows the boys reliving a rerun of the popular intergalactic reality show titled "Earth". Independence Day and Contact are spoofed. Ratings tank and Earth might be blown up when the intergalactic media execs decide to cut their loses! Other episodes are "Krazy Kripples" (Jimmy and Timmy join the Crips), "Toilet Paper" (a film noir crime drama spoof), "I'm a Little Bit Country" (the anti-war movement vs. the pro war hawks) and "Fatt Butt and Pancake Head" (This one spoofs Bennifer..J-Lo and Affleck back when they were an item..hilarious). "Lil' Crime Stoppers" (the boys start a junior detective agency and take down a meth lab), "Red Man's Greed" (a Native American casino and SARS both come to South Park), "South Park is Gay" (metrosexual culture comes to South Park), "Christian Rock Hard" (Cartman starts a Christian Rock Band while famous musicians protest music downloads) and "Grey Dawn" (South Park's elderly residents all have their driver's licenses revoked). "Casa Bonita" (Cartman fakes Butters' death), "All About Mormons" (hilarious), "Butt Out" (Rob Reiner and anti-smoking activists come to South Park), "Raisins" (a Hooters for kids in South Park)and finally, "It's Christmas Time in Canada" (with a super funny Wizard of Oz spoof!).

Video and Audio: Same as the other SP collections. Three discs with five episodes on each. Original Full Screen format with Dolby Digital sound. Looks and sounds as great as it can for a bunch of flat little cartoon characters.

Special Features: Mini-commentaries from Parker and Stone fill the first act of every episode and it's fun to hear the guys talk about their creation.

Wrapping Up – We would like longer commentaries but with all the Tom Cruise controversy over their episode etc, the "South Park" creators just keep on spoofing show biz, religion, culture and celebs. It's refreshing fun and I say let's have more. For "South Park" fans, you've gotta add this one to your collection. If you've never seen this delightful, raunchy, irreverent series.. rent this set. It is one of the best seasons!

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.