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THE CROODS (Blu-ray combo)

October 11, 2013

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Entire Family, PG rated Leave a comment

CroodscoverGrade:  B+
Entire family:  Yes
Rated PG for “some scary action”
Dreamsworks Animation
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, UV copy
Trailer

Dreamworks Animation has really been pushing Pixar lately, and they’ve done it again with “The Croods.” There are eye-popping allusions to “Avatar” and jaw-dropping sequences of cataclysmic clouds of rubble that rival any of the animation we’ve seen recently. Watching in HD especially, you come away from this caveman comedy feeling slightly awestruck by the visuals.

Pixar still leads in the department of narrative invention, though, as “The Croods” tells a familiar story of a teenage girl who wants to “break out” and lead a life apart from the cocoon-like existence her father has designed. When a boy her age comes into the picture, Dad responds to the threat with all the warmth of a saber-toothed tiger who has a thorn in his paw. His little girl is HIS little girl, and he’s not about to let that change.

But change is on the menu in “The Croods,” which is set in a fictional Pliocene era known as the “Croodaceous” period—a transitional time in the history of the earth when flaming asteroid showers, erupting volcanoes, and shifting geological planes tear the earth apart and thrust mountain ranges high above what used to be an ocean floor. And humans are ready to take a big (comic) step forward in the evolutionary chain.  More

THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989) (3D Blu-ray combo)

October 1, 2013

James Plath, Family Home Theater 3D, Animation, Entire Family, G rated Leave a comment

LittleMermaidcoverGrade:  A-
Entire family:  Yes
1989, 83 min., Color
Rated G
Disney
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Bonus features:  B+
Includes: 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy, 10-song download
Trailer

Though the Disney’s acknowledged Golden Age of animation began in 1938 with Snow White, seven dwarfs, and Nine Old Men—the original team of animators—the studio’s 1989 production of The Little Mermaid launched what could only be called a second Golden Age.

Disney’s 28th animated feature broke new ground by infusing the narrative with Broadway-style songs from composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, whose music theater work included Little Shop of Horrors. The two brought a new energy to Disney animation—it was Ashman’s idea to turn the crab in the screenplay from an English butler type to a Jamaican Rastafarian—and directors Ron Clements and John Musker had a budget to work with that was larger than it had been in decades.  But it’s all in the details, and Disney really ramped up the animation and backgrounds to create an undersea world that was nothing short of spectacular. That successful formula would also be used in Beauty and the Beast two years later, and in The Lion King (1994).

Broadway actress Jodi Benson was chosen to play Ariel, and she brings a wide-eyed innocence and passion to the role—and to Ariel’s signature song, “Part of Your World.” Each song moves the narrative and character development forward, with several big production numbers so rousing (and with characters assuming “Ta da!” poses at the end) that many theater audiences burst into applause.

Viewers could identify with Ariel, too. She was a flawed Disney “princess” who was all the more endearing because of her humanness (uh, fish tail notwithstanding). She disobeyed her father to follow her passion, she was talented but easily distracted and perhaps too trusting—and most importantly, she aspired to a life that was different from the one her father envisioned.  More

ARROW: SEASON 1 (Blu-ray combo)

September 26, 2013

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated Leave a comment

Arrow1coverGrade:  B
Entire family:  No
2012, 972 min. (23 episodes), Color
Unrated (would be PG-13 for violence)
Warner Bros.
Aspect ratio:  1.78:1
Featured audio:  DTS-HD MA 5.1
Bonus features:  C+
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, UV Copy
Trailer

If your family consists of parents and a teenage boy and you’re looking to bond, Arrow can be a good alternative to video games. The series appeals to boys, especially, because it’s based on the DC Comics vigilante Green Arrow, who fights crime in his city but isn’t appreciated by police or the media because of his methods. He doesn’t work within the system. He works from a list of people his father gave him—rich people who have built their fortunes by abusing and taking advantage of others, making the city worse for their wear.

The action is top-notch, the acting is solid, and the characters are interesting. There’s graphic violence of the PG-13 sort, but there are also twists.   More

IRON MAN 3 (Blu-ray combo)

September 19, 2013

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated Leave a comment

IronMan3coverGrade:  A-
Entire family:  Yes . . . and no
2013, 130 min., Color
Rated PG-13 for intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief suggestive content
Paramount/Disney
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Bonus features:  C
Includes:  Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy
Trailer

Robert Downey, Jr. makes Iron Man one of the most entertaining superheroes in the Marvel movie universe. He “gets” his character—a mega-rich wunderkind named Tony Stark who is just as quick to dip into an arsenal of deadpan, sarcastic “Who cares?” cuts and comebacks as he is the toolbox that keeps his Iron Man suit on the cutting edge of technology . . . and blockbuster movie action.

Taking his cue from director Shane Black, who penned the screenplays for all four Lethal Weapon films, Downey seems to ramp up the Larry David-like self-absorption and lack of warmth for comic effect in Iron Man 3, which seems to have a more comedy and more action than the previous two films. Depending on how you feel about sci-fi violence, children ages 10 and up might be able to watch it comfortably.

Iron Man 3 soars above first sequel and might even rival the 2008 debut for overall entertainment value. You laugh, you sit on the edge of your seat, and you marvel (yes, Marvel) at some of the visual effects—especially the destruction of Stark’s cliffside mansion, an airplane disaster rescue, and scenes involving explosive, firelit, lava-fleshed creatures called “Extremis.”  More

HIS MAJESTY O’KEEFE (DVD)

September 5, 2013

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Entire Family, PG rated Leave a comment

HisMajestyO'KeefecoverGrade:  C+
Entire family:  Yes, but . . .
1954, 90 min., Color
Not rated (would be PG for some violence)
Warner Bros. Archive Collection
Aspect ratio:  1.37:1
Featured audio:  Dolby Digital Mono
Bonus features: D
Trailer

South Seas. Romance. Those words are almost synonymous, and in His Majesty O’Keefe, a 1954 semi-swashbuckler starring the acrobatic Burt Lancaster, all the color of the islands bursts onto the screen.

Narrated in voiceover by the main character, a 19th-century Yankee sea captain who is determined to get his share of the lucrative copra (dried coconut) market, His Majesty O’Keefe will remind literature students a little bit of Conrad’s Lord Jim or Melville’s heroes from Typee or Omoo. It’s the story of an adventurer’s exploits in an exotic land where beautiful native girls are as plentiful as the islands’ other resources, and dangers lurk not with the elements, but with potentially hostile indigenous people. In the ‘50s, or even a generation ago, that would have been enough to hold the interest of most families. After all, here was a chance to see Fiji (it was filmed mostly on the island of Vitu Levu), and producer Harold Hecht and director Byron Haskin featured real islanders in the film.

But today’s families can just go to Google Earth if they want to see Fiji, and they’re so used to seeing violence and dazzling special effects in action movies that the clashes in this film will seem not-so-adventurous—especially the one-on-one fights where punches that look like glancing blows send a man toppling in a series of backward somersaults. His Majesty O’Keefe has an old-fashioned movie vibe, and the “native” dress and dances suggest more than a touch of Hollywood. So how your family will respond to this depends on how they respond to old-time Hollywood films.   More

WILD KRATTS: WILDEST ANIMAL ADVENTURES (DVD set)

August 29, 2013

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Children's, G rated Leave a comment

WildKrattscoverGrade:  B+
Entire family:  No
2011, 570 min. (20 episodes), Color
Not Rated (for children)
PBS
Aspect ratio:  16×9
Featured audio:  Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Bonus features:  D
Includes:  5 discs in 4 slim keep cases with slipcase
Trailer

It’s not exactly family movie night material, but episodes of Wild Kratts—a half-animated, half-live nature show featuring the brothers who gave us Zoboomafoo—will entertain and inform children ages 3-8.

Chris and Martin Kratt’s series, which airs on PBS KIDS GO, is a hybrid that combines the brothers’ nature show activities with a cartoon segment that feels like a cross between The Magic School Bus and a Disney animated series like Kim Possible or Phineas and Ferb.

Each episode of Wild Kratts: Wildest Animal Adventures begins with the real-life brothers in the wild, pointing out an animal with a curious trait—say, for example, the Basilisk lizard that can walk and run on water—and then the brothers morph into cartoon versions of themselves in order to explore the animal’s “powers” and, with the help of a suit that looks a little like a cousin to Iron Man’s, acquire that animal power. It all happens within the animated framework of a story that often involves saving a particular animal from human encroachment, a world problem, or even a Disney-style villain. Though the characters seem unnecessary, there’s also a crew at the computer center in Tortuga helping the brothers once they’ve transformed or are on their way in various animal-shaped vehicles to get a better look. It’s clearly a way to include children of both genders in the show, but they really feel like window dressing, and some children will prefer more nature footage to the Tortuga gang “interruptions.”  More

THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH (Blu-ray combo)

August 28, 2013

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Entire Family, G rated 2 Comments

WinniethePoohcoverGrade:  B+
Entire family:  Yes (but mostly for young ones)
1977, 74 min., Color
Rated G
Disney
Aspect ratio:  1.66:1
Featured audio:  DEHT 5.1
Bonus features:  C-
Includes:  Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy
Trailer

Watching The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is kind of like riding on “It’s a Small World” at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. It’s a ride obviously designed for families with small children, but many adults seem to enjoy it as well. However, if you position yourself atop the bridge and watch the little boats return, you’ll see by the faces of the older children that they’re reluctant passengers. So it will be with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Though Milne said he wrote not for children but for the child within us all, Disney’s “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” is clearly designed for very young viewers, as the bonus features (get up and march along or bounce along) attest. And Pooh is a kinder, gentler cartoon than anything older children are accustomed to seeing on television.   More

RETURN TO NEVER LAND (Blu-ray combo)

August 25, 2013

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Entire Family, G rated Leave a comment

ReturntoNeverLandcoverGrade:  B-
Entire family:  Yes (but mostly for young ones)
2002, 72 min., Color
Rated G
Disney
Aspect ratio:  16×9
Featured audio:  DTS-HD MA 5.1
Bonus features:  D
Includes:  Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy
Trailer

Return to Never Land played in theaters in 2002 rather than going direct-to-video—an indication that Disney thought more highly of this sequel than some of their others. But it’s so similar in structure that if you’ve recently seen the original 1953 animated Peter Pan, you may wonder why this film was even made.

Instead of Wendy being the skeptic, it’s her teenage daughter, Jane, who finds Mother’s stories of Never Land juvenile and utterly inappropriate, given historical events. It’s around 1940, the men have gone off to war, and the young children are being shipped to the country to protect England’s investment in the future. Jane’s siblings are already out of the picture when she is swept away to Never Land, where she discovers it’s all real and learns a lesson about belief.

But there’s one important difference:  Return to Never Land is a much lighter, brighter film.  Instead of a ticking crocodile in pursuit of Captain Hook, it’s an octopus that’s rendered more comically. Hook is up to his hostage-taking ways again, trying to lure Pan to his demise, and once again he’s foiled. But there’s not the same dramatic intensity here. There’s also less emphasis on the Lost Boys being orphans and needing a mother, so there’s correspondingly less potential trauma for young viewers susceptible to separation anxiety. Pan’s resistance to growing up is hardly an issue. Likewise, Tinker Bell is less jealous and malevolent this time around, a much softer character—as if the studio was laying the groundwork for the Tinker Bell Pixie Hollow series that would be launched six years later. And thankfully missing from Never Land this time around are the less-than-politically-correct (“Uggh”?) Indians.  More

EPIC (Blu-ray combo)

August 22, 2013

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Entire Family, PG rated Leave a comment

EpiccoverGrade:  B
Entire family:  Yes
2013, 102 min., Color
Rated PG for mild action, some scary images and brief rude language
Twentieth Century Fox Animation
Aspect ratio:  2.40:1
Featured audio:  DTS-HD MA 7.1
Bonus features:  C-
Includes:  Blu-ray, DVD, DigitalHD Copy
Trailer

The plot of Epic will strike older family members as yet another mythic kingdom structure, where a world (like Narnia, for example) is dependent upon the balance between good and evil, or at least evil being kept in check. When evil surges and suddenly poses a more urgent threat to the future of all life, hope lies in a chosen one or a youngling or budding new emblem of goodness that needs to be protected until such time as the Good One can assume his/her/its rightful position, and balance (or at least the illusion of it) can be restored.

After her mother passes away, teen Mary-Kate (Amanda Seyfried) comes to live with her eccentric and estranged father, Prof. Bomba (Jason Sudeikis), whose singleminded drive to prove the existence of miniature forest warriors created a distance between him and his family. But after M.K., as she prefers to be called, is magically miniaturized, she learns her father was right all along—that the Leaf Men he sought really do exist, and they ride hummingbirds as they battle the forces of evil in a forest nearby the professor’s Victorian house.

Epic was inspired by a children’s book intended for ages 3-8—The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, by William Joyce—but many scenes also evoke Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The plot is just good enough to get by, and the energy level and forward movement are sufficient to hold even the most easily distracted child’s attention. But the film’s chief strength lies in its depiction of a new and exotic world and appreciating how Fox animators envisioned and created such a world.

Epic is epically gorgeous in its art design and animation.   More

STANDING UP (Blu-ray combo)

August 17, 2013

James Plath, Family Home Theater Drama, Entire Family, PG rated Leave a comment

StandingUpwebcoverGrade:  C+
Entire family:  Yes (but it’s slow)
2013, 93 min., Color
Rated PG for thematic elements including bullying and for brief smoking and language
Arc Entertainment
Aspect ratio:  16×9
Featured audio:  DTS-HD MA 5.1
Bonus features:  D
Includes:  Blu-ray, DVD, Vudu digital copy
Trailer

Standing Up is D.J. Caruso’s film adaptation of The Goats, a popular juvenile novel by Brock Cole that’s been among the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books, according to the American Library Association. I can see why.

Standing Up tells the story of a cruel tradition at a summer camp that has boys luring the weakest among them to an island, then stripping him naked and leaving him there for a while. The girls at camp do the same thing to one of their own—or rather, the one who fits in the least. Marooned most often are the geeks, the nerds, the misfits, the kids who would be made fun, bullied, or shunned during the school year by a different group of insensitive “cool” kids. Camp counselors look the other way so this “tradition” can continue, but this year’s “goats” feel so humiliated and hurt by their experience that they go on the run instead of waiting to be picked up again and taken back to camp.

“Standing up” implies standing up to bullies, which is a brave but not always healthy thing to do. Running is more practical, but not terribly empowering. Also, there’s a single incident when the pre-teen boy comes to the rescue of his companion, yet that involves a blindsided leg sweep like the bad guys did to The Karate Kid. It’s not terribly noble, and in fact strikes me as something a bully might do.

The two kids become to an extent, outlaws on the run, and they model behavior that isn’t exactly what you’d want your kids to do:  they lie, they steal, they scam their way into a motel, and they tell other kids they meet along the way that their names are Bonnie and Clyde—so their lawlessness didn’t escape the author. Yet, curiously, Standing Up proudly bears the Dove Family Seal of Approval. Maybe that’s because of a tone that more closely resembles an indie film than a crime drama, and because Grace (Annalise Basso) and Howie (Chandler Canterbury) are more desperate than they are desperadoes.  More

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