Family Home Theater

At Movie Metropolis, which became defunct today when the CEO shut it down without explanation, I wrote a weekly “This Week” column alerting readers to new releases. I had no idea when I posted this morning’s “This Week” column that the site would be shut down permanently today, but I plan on continuing that feature here at Family Home Theater. For Movie Met readers who have found your way to my blog, Family Home Theater is devoted to “stuff the kids can see,” or at least some of the kids. Sometimes it will be the older kids, sometimes just the younger. Mostly I’ll cover PG-13, PG, and G releases, though an occasional R-rated film that’s an award winner or something older teens might want to see may also find its way into the site, if it’s rated R mostly for language that the kids hear on the playground anyway. But the emphasis is on family movie nights.

There’s always an anniversary in TV and Movie Land, and this week it’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which celebrates its 10^th with the release of a Blu-ray. Unless you’re wedded to the original Gene Wilder film, which seems more dated these days, this Tim Burton version of the Roald Dahl story will probably hold your kids’ attention better—even though some of you might feel more nostalgic toward the “Wilder” version. Charlie is rated PG-13, which is what you’d expect from Burton and Depp.

This week the Warner Bros. musical comedy Calamity Jane comes out on Blu-ray as a single title for the first time and as part of a four-film Blu-ray collection that also includes Kiss Me Kate 3D, The Band Wagon, and Singin’ in the Rain. This isn’t the Calamity Jane you saw in HBO’s Deadwood. In this cheery 1953 film, Jane may own a saloon, but it’s only to give Day a chance to sing. If your family loves musicals, this one isn’t a classic, but Day’s character is infectious. And it’s rated G.

If you have younger children, girls especially, their “please please” radar will bleep in the direction of two new releases this week. Disney has been promoting the heck out of Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Neverbeast, and I have no problem with that kind of marketing blitz. As long as they continue to crank out above-average, G-rated, high production-value installments in this Pixie Hollow Fairies series, I’m good with it—even though it seems to be a revisionist take on the 1953 version of Tinker Bell, who was petty, jealous, self-centered, and vindictive. The reimagined Tinker Bell has a much better image—almost as squeaky clean as Doris Day’s persona. That’s good, because these Disney movies are all about modeling positive behaviors and teaching lessons in attitude adjustment. Look for Neverbeast on Blu-ray or DVD.

The other kiddie-pleaser coming out on both formats this week is Barbie in Princess Power. Universal hasn’t been able to keep this franchise as fresh as Disney, and all you have to do realize that is recall the funny and inventive Pixar shorts featuring Barbie and Ken. Princess Power looks like another retread from tires we’ve already kicked and drives we’ve already taken. But that won’t stop little girls from enjoying it.