Family Home Theater

This week I’m reminded of an old joke: What’s black-and-white and black-and-white and black-and-white and black-and-white? A penguin rolling down a hill. Well, a nun, actually, but that’s not much of a lead-in to this week’s big title, is it?

The 2014 DreamWorks animated feature Penguins of Madagascar comes to 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD this week, featuring a Cheeto-loving bird and his tuxedoed friends. If you haven’t been following, Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa spawned an animated 2008 TV show called The Penguins of Madagascar—and that was so successful that Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private returned to the big screen as the stars of their own big-concept animated movie. The four penguins live at the Central Park zoo by day, but, like the platypus in Disney’s Phineas & Ferb, have a secret life as secret agents. In Penguins of Madagascar they join forces with a rival undercover organization to stop the evil Dr. Brine from destroying the world. It’s rated PG, which means, of course, that Dr. Brine isn’t as scary as he thinks he is.

For a more obscure film that has a totally different style of animation there’s Song of the Sea, a 2014 Irish fantasy from the same people that gave us The Secret of Kells. Based on a Celtic myth, Song of the Sea tells the story of two children who live in a lighthouse with their father, and the daughter, Saoirse, who finds a shell flute that’s somehow tied to the mother who disappeared years ago. She finds out that she’s a Selkie, a mythical creature that lives on land as a human but transforms into a seal underwater. After the siblings are sent to live with a granny in the city, it takes teamwork and Saoirse’s powers to help them bring the tales their mother told them to life and help them find their way home. Song of the Sea is being released on Blu-ray combo or DVD, and the PG-rated film features the voice talents of Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, and David Rawle.

Cecil B. De Mille’s The Ten Commandments was such a monumental film that director Ridley Scott really gave himself a challenge to retell the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt using today’s high-tech special effects. In Exodus: Gods and Kings, Christian Bale plays the character we all associate with Charlton Heston, while Joel Edgerton is Ramses, the Pharaoh who refuses to let his slaves leave. This version, which also stars John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, and Ben Kingsley, comes to a deluxe edition 3D Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo or DVD on Tuesday. It’s not as compelling a story as the original, but Scott works special effects miracles with the plagues that the Israelite God sent to smite Egypt. It’s more violent and truncated than The Ten Commandments, but also less idealized and corny.

I’m not sure the world needed another version of Annie, but we get one anyway this week. The 2014 PG remake starring Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis, Cameron Diaz, and Jamie Foxx tells the familiar story of a little orphan girl who this time is living with a foster mom. And this time the plot thickens when a New York City mayoral candidate takes her in and tries to make political capital out of her. As with the 1982 version, songs add a little life to a comedy-drama that disappointed critics and audiences.

Finally, if your family likes older sitcoms and you don’t want to spend money on complete series until you sample a taste, this week you can try Season 2 of the ‘70s TV sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, which featured one of the great ensemble casts of the decade and plenty of ‘70s music for the soundtrack. Andy Travis (Gary Sandy) was hired as the new program manager by the seldom-seen mother of station manager Arthur “Big Guy” Carlson. His job: turn the station into a Top-40 rock success, and that meant bringing in DJs Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid) and Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman). Other cast members included a secretary (Loni Anderson) who refused to do anything but answer the telephone, along with a sorta-sleazy ad salesman (Frank Bonner), and a newsman (Richard Sanders) who taped “walls” on the floor around his desk and insisted that people “knock.” Quirky? You bet. Still funny? Yep.

Time to replace that old shag carpeting? For Brady Bunch fans, it might be tempting. On April 7, CBS Home Entertainment will unveil a new (and, some would say, improved) release of The Brady Bunch: The Complete Series.  Back in 2007, CBS rolled out the complete series in shag carpet packaging. Even if there weren’t glue issues, it looked more like SpongeBob than a ’70s carpet from the household of this blended family.  A lot of fans held off buying the set, but if you did, do you replace that old shag? On the one hand, the new collection is easier to store, but on the other hand, some bonus features from the old complete set aren’t included—like A Very Brady Christmas, a couple episodes from The Brady Kids animated 1972 series, and a pilot for “The Brady 500.” I mean, what would Marcia do?

She’d probably go for the new purple box and something groovy, like MacGyver: The Complete Collection, which is also being repackaged in a slimmer, space-saving box. This guy could take the contents of a woman’s purse and make a weapon or an escape tool out of them. Fun and funky! It wouldn’t surprise me if actor Richard Dean Anderson was doing children’s birthday parties now.

Also releasing on April 7:  the sophisticated sitcom Frasier: The Complete Series and Andy Griffith in Matlock: The Complete Series, both with slimmer packaging. Suggested retail price is $129.99 for Matlock and Frasier, $89.99 for MacGyver, and $72.99 for The Brady Bunch. Right now at Amazon.com, the Brady Bunch set is selling for $65.66—which averages out to $13 per season!

This week’s big family title is Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, the third movie in the popular franchise starring Ben Stiller as a night watchman at a museum whose friends—exhibit statues—come to life at night, but only because of an ancient magic tablet. In this 2014 sequel the magic is dwindling, so Larry and the gang go to the London museum to try to find the answers to save their lives. The late Robin Williams stars as Teddy Roosevelt in Secret of the Tomb, which is available on Blu-ray combo, Digital HD, and DVD and is rated PG for mild action, some rude humor, and brief language.

How do you solve a problem like Maria? Uh, what problem? Fifty years later Robert Wise’s film adaptation of the Broadway musical The Sound of Music is still looking good and going strong. Julie Andrews, who won an Oscar for Mary Poppins the previous year, received another Best Actress nomination for her portrayal of Maria, an ill-suited nun-in-training who’s tabbed to be the governess of a widower’s seven children and shakes up the household. Set in Austria just prior to and including the German occupation, The Sound of Music and the Broadway musical that preceded it are based on the true story of the Trapp Family Singers. The film won Best Picture and four other honors at the Academy Awards and features a strong selection of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs: “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” “The Lonely Goatherd,” “My Favorite Things,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Edelweis,” and the title song. The first half is a love story of how Maria warms her way into the families’ hearts, while the second is the story of how the family plots to escape Nazi-occupied Austria before Captain Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) is forced to fight for the German navy. Rated G, it’s available on Blu-ray combo or DVD.

If there are preschoolers in your family, this week you can pick up Blue’s Clues: Get Clued into School Pack, which includes 12 episodes of the popular interactive TV show plus bonus games and materials. That’s close to five hours of educational entertainment on DVD for under $12 (the price now at Amazon). The Nickelodeon series helped children learn shapes, colors, go-withs, letters, and numbers from 1996-2006 and was the highest rated show for preschoolers at one point.

If there are teens in your family you’re probably at that awkward point where the parents know they know about sex and are exposed to all sorts of language and alcohol and drug users, but how do you talk about it? Sometimes movies are a great catalyst. Though it’s R-rated, an entire generation of older teens watched John Hughes’ “Brat Pack” movie about high school students in detention, and The Breakfast Club is being released this week in a 30^th Anniversary Edition. Hughes took basic high school types—the hoodlum (Judd Nelson), the jock (Emilio Estevez), the brainy geek (Anthony Michael Hall), the pampered princess/good girl (Molly Ringwald), the bad girl who’s emotionally unstable (Ally Sheedy)—and threw them into detention together where, without supervision, they’re forced to pass the time together and get to know each other. It’s rated R for language, drug use, and mature content (e.g., talk of sex, suicide).

Finally, Minnie Driver, Morena Baccarin, and Rebecca Ferguson star in the two-part Lifetime miniseries The Red Tent, a 2014 epic drama based on Anita Diamant’s New York Times best-selling novel. It’s the fictionalized biblical story of the 12 tribes of Israel, but told through the eyes of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter. It’s available on DVD only.