DVD & Blu-Ray Review Round-Up

TeenHollywood is mixing it up home entertainment-wise. We'll be reviewing some DVDs but are stepping it up to super high def with new Blu-Ray reviews! This round-up has it all; A recent, popular animated fantasy and an action/adventure/sci-fi flick both on Blu-Ray. On DVD, a hard-driving actioner, a graphic novel come to colorful life, a prom night comedy and a horror-filled shocker. With this line-up, you can have all your buds over. There's something for everyone!

From Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

Race to Witch Mountain - Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Combo pack

This tale of teen aliens on earth is a remake of 1975's Escape to Witch Mountain with an updated motive. The teens are now here overall because their planet is dying of pollution and they must get their hands on something left here in the past that can solve the problem. The aliens, played by Anna-Sophia Robb and Alex Ludwig, are reluctantly aided by Las Vegas cabbie Dwayne the Rock Johnson and there are plenty of effects and chases on the way to "the mountain".

Special Blu-Ray and DVD Features: On the DVD and Blu-Ray, there are four extras; "Deleted Scenes", eight of them intro'd by director Andy Fickman. There are some interesting extended scenes and a few new ones that do add to the story's enjoyment. In one scene original '70's "Mountain" kid alien star Kim Richards' is a waitress who confronts the scary Siphon creature. You get more with The Rock and some funny stuff using the alien teens' telekinesis abilities. There is an extended menace scene at the end. All worth watching.

On the "Bloopers", we get Johnson being silly a lot. Cute but could have used more and different goof-ups.

Exclusive to Blu-Ray, the high def featurette "Which Mountain" has director Fickman featuring all the cameo performances with actors from the original film and other UFO types and well as references to other related Disney faire. It's fun but a behind-the-scenes or making-of featurette might have been more informative. The Blu-Ray picture is amazing. You get your Digital copy of the film as well.

Wrapping Up: This is an enjoyable, escapist popcorn action film with some good special effects and impressive acting especially by Dwayne Johnson and Anna-Sophia Robb. Teens can certainly identify with the alien bro and sis as they feel like strangers in a strange land. Well worth a buy or rental.

From Anchor Bay Entertainment

Bart Got a Room

In the Florida sunbelt, cute Senior Danny is crushin' on hot Sophomore Alice and hopes she'll go to prom with him. His parents, in fact everyone in his world, expect him to ask Camille, his BFF for eight years. When Alice rejects Danny, he's shattered. He's also stuck, or his parents are stuck with a 600 dollar bill for a limo, tux and room! Danny, at the last minute, decides to ask Camille, but is it too late? Will he be dateless? Hey, even dweeb supreme Bart got a room....and a date! Maybe there is something better to do than go to prom on prom night.

Special Features: Just one; a cute running commentary via a "Pop-Up Production Notebook" that lets you watch the movie and read interesting and funny notes from the director on various aspects of the movie. Entertaining.

Wrapping Up: This little film is included in our round-up because it's charming, very relatable and well-acted. Pros William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines play Danny's quirky dad and mom with their usual amazing chameleon talent but newcomer Steven Kaplan is very winning and believable as lead character Danny. You really root for him to get to prom or at least learn something from his decisions. Alia Shawkat, who will soon be seen in Drew Barrymore's female roller derby film Whip It, is both heartbreaking and strong as rejected friend Camille. Whether you went to prom, plan to go, look forward to it or dread it, you'll enjoy the tale of Danny's quest to make the night memorable, even if it's in an unconventional way. Very worth a rental.

From Universal Home Entertainment

Coraline (Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Combo)

In this animated, 3-D fantasy film, tween Coraline is feeling parental neglect. Her family has just moved into a creaky old house and her work-stressed mom and dad are just too busy making a living to pay much attention to her. With no friends, Coraline feels very isolated until she meets weird neighbor boy Wybourne (Wybie), an inventor kid who isn't exactly BFF material.

Boredom leads Coraline to explore the old house and she discovers a tiny door covered with wallpaper that leads to a bizarre parallel universe/land where everyone in her own world exists but in a very tweaked and, on the surface, more perfect version, even though everyone there has buttons for eyes! Coraline experiences several amazing and often frightening adventures in the alternate world before realizing that maybe the grass isn't always greener on the other side and maybe the parents she has are more loving than she realized.

Special Features: First, on the 3D thing, until 3D for TV is perfected, this will never look like it does in the theaters. You've got your purple and green glasses that kind of warp the true vibrant colors in the movie. Worth a watch once for the novelty factor since you can see some depth but it just gives me a headache and you don't need it for enjoyment anyway.

"Feature Commentary with Director Henry Selick and Composer Bruno Coulais" is pretty cool. The guys talk about Neil Gaiman's original fantasy/horror novel and take it to the big screen. You get info on the voice actors and are told how hard it was to get all the like stop-motion maquettes to move perfectly. This method is still used although CGI has the lion's share of the effects market. Very interesting.

The Blu-Ray Disc has a cool feature called "U-Control - Picture-in-Picture" this lets you look at the animatics while the movie is on or get live action interviews or behind the scenes stuff. I'd say watch the movie through first, then, a second viewing with this cool added perk is just great. A lot of this is new stuff Selick didn't talk about the first time. You can see the actors record their voices and then see how it comes together with the animatics. Cool!

"Deleted Scenes" - These are not individual as on most DVDs but are presented in a kind of featurette, all in one with Selick telling you the background info and why it got cut. Liked it a lot. "The Making of Coraline" - This featurette is divided into several segments which you can pick and choose from; Evolution of the Story, Directing the Voice Sessions, Making Puppets, Coraline's Closet, Setting the Stage, I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Fog, The Eyes Have It, It's Alive and Wrapping Up Coraline. This is one of the most complete making-of series of featurettes I've ever seen. Every aspect of the production is included and all are very interesting and fun to watch.

In "Voicing the Characters" you get the light-hearted version of the film's voice actors including Dakota Fanning. Very cool and fun. In "Creepy Coraline" author Neil Gaiman talks about what varies between his novella and the film. Kinda neat if not as cool as it could have been.

Wrapping Up: If you liked Nightmare Before Christmas, the Wallace and Gromit films or any other stop motion film, Coraline is a must. The movie has a great look and feel and is just otherworldly all around. The voice actors are great and the Blu-Ray is amazingly crisp. You must see this film and this great DVD/Blu-Ray combo is the way to go. Great to collect and watch again and again.

Fast and Furious- 2-Disc Special Edition

The Fast and the Furious back in 2001 introduced us to very fast car races happening on L.A. streets very late at night. Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) was an undercover cop infiltrating the racers and Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) was their leader. O'Conner fell for Vin's younger sis played by Jordana Brewster and Dom was crushin' on fellow racer Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). Well, the whole gang is back in 2009's Fast and Furious which picks up several years later. Brian and Dom are still of different sides of the law but have to work together to bring down a drug lord who is responsible for Letty's death. A ton of impossibly fast car chases ensue.

Special Features: Quite a few. On disc one, you get the full-length commentary track with director Justin Lin which is interesting and a "Gag Reel" with a lot of Paul and Vin messing up while pretending to be driving against green screen. Disc Two is loaded with featurettes. First one is actually a short film written and directed by Vin called "Los Bandoleros" which features Dom and Letty's illegal activities down in the Dominican Republic before Fast and Furious starts. It's a nice addition, filling in gaps in their relationship. Enjoyed it.

Production featurettes concentrate on the cars, the chases, the stunts, filming in Mexico and how the original cast got back together. Vin goes to driving school and "Shooting the Big Heist" focuses on the opening action sequence, a pretty amazing stunt on a James Bond film scale. A pretty complete how-they-did-it featurette showcase. You also get a music video for "Blanco" by Pitbull featuring Pharrell and you get a digital copy of the movie.

Wrapping Up: This heavy action, popcorn movie will hold your attention and the stunts, both real and CGI-faked, are fun and impressive. Some attempt is made at character development but most of the acting is very wooden. Most of the characters are morally messed up so we don't care about them much. But, for mindless entertainment and for car buffs or action junkies, the film is certainly watchable.

The Unborn - Unrated

In this horror/thriller, Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman) is having violent dreams she doesn't understand. A weird little boy named "Jumby" keeps appearing to her and turns out, her dead mom was haunted by the same nightmares before she killed herself. Casey enlists the help of her grandmother who is a holocaust survivor and a rabbi played by Gary Oldman. Her hot boyfriend played by Cam Gigandet of Twilight is at first skeptical of supernatural elements but has to believe when he sees for himself. Will Casey avoid the family demon curse or die trying?

Special Features: You get a few "Deleted Scenes" with just a bit more tension and suspense. More about a pregnancy are revealed.

Wrapping Up: The Unborn is okay to add to your Halloween horror fest marathon but the story or backstory is a bit complicated throwing in everything from Nazi concentration camp experiments to Hebrew demons and exorcism. There are some weird visuals worth a watch and this "Unrated" version adds a bit more gore to the PG-13 rating. Again, worth a rental for a horror at home marathon.

From Warner Brothers Home Entertainment

Watchmen: Director's Cut: 2-Disc Special Edition

Standard synopsis goes: In an alternate 1985 America, costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the "Doomsday Clock", which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union, is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion, a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers, Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity...but who is watching the watchmen?

Special Features: I didn't get the Blu-Ray version of the movie but the extras on the DVD two-disc Director's Cut are few but kinda cool. In "The Phenomenon." you have cast and crew chatting about what they thought of the original graphic novel and how they got involved in the movie. There is a talk with the publisher of the novel and its co-creator and artist Dave Gibbons. This will catch you up on the craze for the original material that launched the "impossible to tell" on screen story.

"Watchmen Video Journals" is eleven short "making-of" segments that were originally seen online. They are informative but really short.. like a teaser and we could have used a full, how-they-made-it documentary but this may be on the DVD or Blu-Ray release that is coming later in the year. You also get a music video for My Chemical Romance's cover of Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row." A digital copy of the cut of the film originally in theaters is also included.

Wrapping Up: Seems like you are either a rabid Watchmen fan or you aren't but, although I'd not read the graphic novel, I was sufficiently entertained by this alternate reality super-hero flick to give it a thumbs up. There is something here for superhero fans, romance fans, action fans and cerebral Sci Fi fans and the performance of Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's portrayal of Edward Blake, The Comedian are just amazing. Billy Crudup also does a notably great job playing Dr. Manhattan, a supernatural being who is so Godlike that he is desperately holding on to just the last shred of humanity. It's in his voice, since he's mostly all blue and glowing in the film (the poor actor was actually wearing a silly bunny-feet like pajama motion capture suit.. try acting through that!).

Although the film will mean more to lifelong fans of the graphic novel, newbies will still find something enjoyable and thoughtful to watch. It might be a good idea to read the still available graphic novel first, then rent the film to see if you want to collect it. This "Director's Cut" might explain a bit more of the story than the theatrical version but, for uber-fans, a 5-disc version of the film is supposed to be on the way so you might want to hold off on collecting.