Family Home Theater

FRESH OFF THE BOAT: SEASON 1 (DVD)

October 6, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater TV Comedy Fresh off the Boat review Leave a comment

Grade: A-
Entire family: Yes
2015, 281 min. (13 episodes), Color
20^th Century Fox
Rated G
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Bonus features: C
Trailer
Amazon link

Fresh off the Boat is one of the freshest and funniest family sitcoms since Modern Family. Coincidentally, both come from 20^th Century Fox, but this modern family is set in the past. It’s the story of an immigrant family from Taiwan that comes to America in the 1990s when Shaq was playing for the Orlando Magic. And for young rap-obsessed Eddie Huang, that was more alluring than any of the magic Disney had to offer.

Oldest son and junior-high student Eddie is the point-of-view character who, as an adult, offers a voiceover narration to describe his take on his Chinese American family and their culture-shock transition from Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown to mainstream Orlando suburban life.

Randall Park stars as Eddie’s father, the always smiling, always upbeat Louis Huang, who relocated his family in order to open a Western-themed steakhouse restaurant. We learn this first season that he originally came to Orlando by himself to become a franchise owner, but realizing that he fell way short of the franchise fee he absconded with a copy of the restaurant chain manager’s playbook. Running gags throughout the series involve him emphasizing slight changes in name and decor of his independent and competing restaurant.

As easygoing as Louis is, his wife, Jessica (Constance Wu), is strict and strictly uptight. She makes her children study hard because she wants them to succeed, but she worries constantly that they’re losing touch with their Chinese culture. At the same time, she’s become hooked on American melodramas, rollerblading with the neighborhood women, and American foods and recipes.

The two boys are middle child Emery (Forrest Wheeler), who has a way with the girls that older brother could only wish for, and young Evan (Ian Chen), the perfect son who wants to please his parents and is as determined to do as well in school as Eddie is to just get by. Rounding out the family is the wheelchair-bound Grandma Huang (Lucille Soong), whose comic function is much like Grandpa Simpson in the Fox animated series, though she’s less clueless and more conniving.

The action shifts from Cattleman’s Ranch to home to school, with plots inspired by the 2013 memoir of the real Eddie Huang, a well-known restaurateur and chef. Like the best sitcoms, Fresh off the Boat episodes feel both original and vaguely familiar, with a strong and likable cast that extends all the way through the minor characters. They’re quirky but authentic.

This season Jessica decides to become a realtor and insists on conducting a sexual harassment seminar for Louis’s employees, Eddie works at the restaurant to save money to buy a new Shaq video game, vandals and dash-and-diners cause problems for the Huangs, Eddie tries to impress friends and one particular neighbor girl, and Louis is pressed into coaching Eddie’s basketball team. And in the funniest episode, Jessica gets excited than her old college boyfriend is coming to Orlando, and when everyone expresses surprise that Louis isn’t jealous that he’ll be spending the night she begins to wonder if he doesn’t think she’s “hot” enough to worry about.

Thirteen episodes are contained on two single-sided discs and housed in a standard-size keep case. The only bonus features are a gag reel and trivia track, but so what? This series is laugh-out-loud funny for all ages.

Language: A few mild swear-words spoken in Chinese with subtitles
Sex: Eddie tries to go from a hug to a hand on a woman’s butt
Violence: n/a
Adult situations: Innuendo and mild flirting
Takeaway: Are we entering another Golden Age of television sitcoms?

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Blu-ray combo)

October 4, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater 3D, Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated, Reviews (by Genre), Sci-Fi/Fantasy Avengers Leave a comment

Grade: A-
Entire family: No
2015, 141 min., Color
Marvel/Disney
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action, violence and destruction, and for some suggestive comments/language
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: English DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: A-/B+
Included: Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, Digital HD (DVD sold separately)
Trailer
Amazon link

All superheroes try to save the world. It’s in their contract. But the crisis usually isn’t of their own making, as it is in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The sequel to 2012’s The Avengers is a slam-bang action and special effects movie that requires you to pay attention to pick up the plot points—which means that family members on the low side of the PG-13 rating might be slow to figure things out, though they won’t care a bit. They’ll be happy enough savoring the breakneck action and appreciating the CGI antics of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Captain America (Chris Evans).

In the pre-title sequence, the Avengers raid a Hydra stronghold in a fictional Eastern European country and recover Loki’s scepter that Hydra scientists were using to experiment on human subjects, including a pair of twins—the now superfast Pietro and mind-manipulating Wanda. But what viewers can see that the Avengers can’t is that Hydra actually wanted them to take that scepter, knowing its power for evil and Tony Stark’s all-or-nothing personality.

Thor is anxious to return the scepter to his world, but trouble ensues when Stark (aka Iron Man) borrows it to upload into his global defense program, dubbed “Ultron,” and the scepter A.I. causes Ultron to go full-blown evil. He eliminates Stark’s A.I., J.A.R.V.I.S., and, like all non-human intelligences, looks around and decides that the world would be a better place without so much bickering flesh and blood. The rest of the film follows the Avengers attempts to track him down—which means a return trip to fictional Sokovia and some pretty cool all-out battles.

I’m giving this an A- only because the special effects are uneven. That long pre-title sequence incorporates shortcuts—sped up shots, wildly sweeping cameras, and quick cuts—to generate the appearance of furious action. Thankfully the rest of the film is mostly devoid of those cheap tricks, and viewers can “marvel” at the action as it plays out. In Avengers: Age of Ultron the characters Hawkeye, The Hulk, and Black Widow get more development, and Samuel L. Jackson returns as Nick Fury, but only for the third act. Ultron is the star of this show, and he’s villainous enough to pull the very best out of the Avengers.

Some viewers might have flashbacks to the 1999 remake of The Mummy, in which an evil one tries to “upgrade” himself from walking skeleton to fully flesh-and-blood villain, because the same thing holds true for Ultron. The opening sequence might also remind viewers of the Star Wars series—particularly the speeder bike sequences from Return of the Jedi—because, even more than the first Avengers film, this one goes full-bore CGI in action, backgrounds, settings, and objects.

But it’s accomplished and it’s as entertaining as popcorn movies get. Because of the complexity, because of the accomplished special effects, it’s a film that ought to get plenty of repeat play. The collector’s edition comes with 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and Digital HD, with more than 45 minutes of exclusive bonus features. The DVD is sold separately, but Blu-ray is the way to go, mostly because the sound is so amazing. The picture has plenty of pop, but it’s the immersive soundtrack that sells it. And if you have 3D capability, the depth and tracking during quick scenes is pretty amazing.

Language: A surprising “s-word” early in the film that’s used as a running joke, but otherwise pretty clean
Sex: n/a
Violence: Plenty of fantasy violence, but no graphic blood-letting
Adult situations: Some innuendo, but that’s it
Takeaway: Marvel and Disney are inching closer into Star Wars territory, and creating a series of movies with just as many connections and complexities.

MODERN FAMILY: SEASON 6 (DVD)

September 27, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Entire Family, PG rated, Reviews (by Genre), TV Comedy Modern Family Leave a comment

Grade: A
Entire family: Yes
2014-15, 556 min. (24 episodes), Color
20^th Century Fox
Not Rated (would be PG for some adult situations)
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Featured audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Bonus features: B
Amazon link

The streak is over. After winning Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series its first five seasons, which tied Frasier for top honors in that category, Modern Family: Season 6 fell short. But it had nothing to do with the quality of episodes. This series remains one of the funniest sitcoms on television, and Season 6 has no shortage of laugh-out-loud moments. It’s every bit as strong as the other seasons.

The success formula for Modern Family is pretty simple: Clever writing, rapid-fire jokes, likable characters, a talented ensemble cast, reality-show cutaway remarks, and comedy that’s truly situation-based, rooted in emotions and scenarios that audiences can often identify with.

What makes this family “modern” is that it includes non-traditional models that are common today. The gruff businessman patriarch of the Pritchett clan (Ed O’Neill) has remarried a Colombian “hottie” (Sofía Vergara) 20 years his junior who has a son named Manny (Rico Rodriguez), whom Jay tries to toughen up. Jay’s two children are Claire, an OCD who married a doofus (Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, the self-proclaimed “fun dad”) that Jay couldn’t stand, and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), his gay son now married to the flamboyant Cam (Eric Stonestreet). Mitchell and Cam have adopted a Vietnamese orphan named Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons), while Claire and Phil have three biological children: the flirtatious and carefree Haley (Sarah Hyland), the studious Alex (Ariel Winter), and not-too-bright Luke (Nolan Gould).

That core group collectively has 27 Outstanding Supporting Actor/Actress nominations and six Primetime Emmy wins. There isn’t a weak link among them. In all cases, the actors and writers manage to create characters that are totally believable, both individually and in relation to the others. You accept them as couples, in-laws, steps, fathers and sons, brothers and sisters. There are also degrees of exaggeration that help to create the comedy, but without ever edging too close to the kind of over-the-top humor that too many sitcoms depend upon. And there’s no annoying laugh track to prod viewers.

This season new neighbors feud with Claire and Phil, Cam and Mitchell think about adding another child to their family, and Jay seems to be growing more sensitive about his age. He’s also worried his young son Joe is playing with too many “girlie” things, and it doesn’t exactly help his psyche to pretend to be gay in order to fill in for one of the bowlers on Cam’s team. Haley tries to get Alex to loosen up a bit this season, and the writers attempt a clever (some might say “gimmicky”) episode that’s told entirely from Claire’s laptop as she’s stranded at the airport. Despite the non-standard narrative format, they still manage laughs, and that’s saying something. Apart from an episode in which little Joe might be allergic to Jay’s beloved dog (shades of a Brady Bunch episode), what elevates this show is the originality of the plots from week to week . . . and the way those plots still incorporate ways to connect with viewers. In one Season 6 episode Jay takes a pottery class in order to make a clay bunny for his “Bunny” for their anniversary, but Gloria treats it like a piñata, wondering what he put inside. Anyone who’s ever made or received a personally crafted gift can identify with Jay, and common elements pop up in just about every episode.

Like most good sitcoms, Modern Family is addictive. Buy this season and you’ll probably feel the impulse to pick up the earlier ones. It’s that funny. Twenty-four episodes are included on three single-sided discs and housed in a standard-size keep case, with plastic “pages” to keep the discs from getting scratched.

Language: None, really
Sex: Same here—just some innuendo
Violence: Again, nothing here
Adult situations: A gay man tries to flirt with Jay, and that’s pretty much typical of how tame the adult situations are in this series. It’s all about comedy of character, and viewers are focused so much on the characters that everything else seems secondary.
Takeaway: A well-written sitcom is a thing of beauty.

CINDERELLA (2015) (Blu-ray combo)

September 26, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Entire Family, PG rated, Reviews (by Genre), Romance Leave a comment

Grade: A-/B+
Entire family: Yes
2015, 105 min., Color
Disney
Rated PG for mild thematic elements
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Featured audio: English DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: B+
Included: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Trailer
Amazon link

Only Disney would have the audacity to attempt a live-action remake of an animated classic, and to play it fairly straight as a romantic drama—with even less comic relief than the original. And only Disney could pull it off.

Everyone knows the story of Cinderella, so it’s really a matter of how the story is told. I think the studio made the right call. They decided to craft an origin story: to fill in the information gaps, to flesh out the characters, and to focus on the romance. The devil is in the details, but details—and devilish characters, for that matter—have always been Disney’s strong suit. Cate Blanchet plays the stepmother with the same complexity as Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent, the backgrounds are as striking as anything you’ve seen in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the interiors of this live-action feature rival what we saw in Disney’s animated Beauty and the Beast. I wouldn’t say the CGI elements are seamless—you can certainly tell that the lizards and mice are computer-generated—but they’re cute as the Dickens.

Scottish actor Richard Madden (Klondike, Game of Thrones) plays the Prince, but Lily James (Downton Abbey) is even more charming as Ella, nicknamed “Cinderella” by her stepmother after she’s found lying next to the hearth to keep warm. It’s easy to become as captivated by Ella as the Prince is, enthralled by her fresh optimism and live-by mantra: to have courage and to be kind. In other words, Cinderella has an inner strength and beauty to complement her physical good looks, and Disney drives home the point that what’s inside matters more. The screenwriters also are mindful of the Disney princess “brand” as they suggest that while little Ella wasn’t royalty, she was a princess to her mother and father, who loved her very much. And Disney being Disney, death is handled matter-of-factly. “Way of all flesh, boy,” a dying father tells his offspring.

If there’s a surprise, it’s that the live-action stepsisters (Sophie McShera, Holliday Grainger) aren’t as broadly comic as they’re often played, and that the fairy godmother is played a little more comically by the incomparable Helena Bonham Carter, who has as much fun with this role as she did playing Disney’s Red Queen in the live-action Alice and Wonderland.

In this version of Cinderella there’s much more development of the Prince and his relationships. We see him interacting with a captain of the guard (Nonso Anozie), a manipulative Grand Duke (Stellan Skarsgard), and his father, the King (Derek Jacobi). Collectively those interactions make the pair’s coming together more satisfying, and more than anything else the live-action Cinderella is a grand romance that does for this fairy tale what Neuschwanstein Castle—the inspiration for Disney’s theme-park castles—did for all of them: it celebrates the magic, the majesty, and the happily-ever-after ending that everyone, deep down inside, still craves.

The characters, the story, and the wonderful details will make this a repeat play, no matter how familiar it is. Don’t hesitate to add it to your collections. You may know the story, but, like Hoosiers, it’s somehow rousing every time you watch. Get it in Blu-ray combo pack to enjoy a flawless and room-filling DTS-HDMA 7.1 soundtrack (which, surprisingly, is song-free except for one number that Ella and her mother sing) and a gorgeous-looking 2.39:1 widescreen presentation that really pops in HD.

Language: n/a
Sex: n/a
Violence: None, really
Adult situations: Characters die off-screen
Takeaway: Disney is still king when it comes to bringing grand romances and fairy tales to life on the big screen.

PITCH PERFECT 2 (Blu-ray combo)

September 13, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Comedy, Musical, PG-13 rated, Reviews (by Genre) Leave a comment

Grade: B
Entire family: No
2015, 115 min., Color
Universal Pictures
Rated PG-13 for innuendo and language
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Featured audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Bonus features: B+
Included: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Trailer
Amazon link

Pitch Perfect (2012) and this 2015 sequel aren’t as solid or compelling as the first few seasons of Glee, but they’re still a lot of fun for a cappella lovers. Perfectly pitched at teens, Pitch Perfect 2 barely wriggles under the PG-13 limbo bar, and you don’t have to wait long to see why:

Nothing graphic is shown, but there’s plenty of innuendo. What sets this musical-comedy plot in motion is a Janet Jackson-style wardrobe malfunction that involves the character Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson). Her southern exposure is enough to disgrace the Barden Bellas, costing them a publicity tour and a ban them future competition—except, conveniently, Internationals, which a U.S. group has never won. It’s a tried-and-true formula we’ve seen in every fraternity-on-probation screenplay, combined with the standard underdog-in-competition story.

With that kind of fallback plot and a group of über a cappellists from Germany that are perhaps a little too smugly Master Race, Pitch Perfect 2 isn’t quite as good as the first film—at least not to a film critic trying to be objective. But it doesn’t miss the mark by a lot, and my teenage daughter and wife liked it every bit as much as the first movie. In other words, it’s a title that’s certainly worth adding to your family movie collection if you have junior high and high school age children. More

THE BEGINNERS BIBLE: VOLUME 4 (DVD)

September 2, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Children's, Reviews (by Genre) 1 Comment

Grade: B+
Entire family: No (ages 6 and under only)
1995, 120 min. (4 stories), Color
Time Life/StarVista
Not rated (would be G)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Featured audio: English mono
Bonus features: 4^th story is considered “bonus”
Amazon link

On the heels of Volume 3 comes The Beginners Bible: Volume 4, though it’s not really labeled as such. It simply says “4 complete stories”: “The Story of Joseph & His Brothers,” “The Story of Daniel & the Lion’s Den,” “The Story of the Battle of Jericho,” and one that’s offered as a “bonus,” “The Story of Jonah & the Whale.”

Like the other installments in this series, these animated Bible stories are really well adapted, with writing and dialogue that aim to be both contemporary and accessible for the target age group combined with animation that takes a page from Saturday morning cartoons. Any menace is softened and any didacticism is made more interesting with bright colors, rounded forms, and big eyes. Disobedient sheep smile, uh, sheepishly, and the whale looks cute as a bathtub toy—even smiling with big bright eyes as he descends to the deep with Jonah inside his belly. With a face like that, how can you expect a harsh end to poor Jonah—especially when Jonah voluntarily jumps overboard when the storm hits his ship and the crew thinks he’s brought them bad luck, rather than the men tossing him over the sides. In other words, anything that might seem harsh is somehow softened. The bright and cheery music helps, too.

And the prophet himself? In the marketplace Jonah comes upon a fish merchant and says, “You know how much I love eating fish,” which sets up a clever irony that shows the writers aren’t just going through the motions or talking down to the kids. Then, when Jonah sees a pigeon waiting for crumbs to fall, he tells the peddler, “And I’ll take a bag of peanuts. I see somebody just as hungry as I.”

The writers and filmmakers take such liberties as they add humanizing details to make the characters seem more interesting for youngsters, or to better explain and contextualize the stories. Joshua tells the king he defeats at Jericho, “When I told you God would give us this land, you called me a fool. Who’s the fool now?” There’s a little bit of “Nyah-nyah” in there that kids can identify with. The characters’ reluctance to obey God in the first place is often given more interpretive context: “I can’t do something to help my enemies,” Jonah says when God tells him to go preach to the Ninevites. “How can I preach to the enemies of the Israelites?” Some parents/purists might object, but making such connections more obvious and adding humanizing elements really does make the stories more palatable for the target age group.

Of these four, “Jonah & the Whale” and “Daniel & the Lion’s Den” are the most accessible to all ages because they are simple stories about a man’s faith in God being tested. It gets a little more complicated in “Joseph & His Brothers” and “The Battle of Jericho,” though the writers really do an excellent job of explaining the basics or slightly altering the motivations of the characters so that their actions make more sense to today’s children. It’s hard to believe that brothers would be so jealous of Joseph that they would want to kill him or sell him into slavery, and so their intent is reduced to a “Wouldn’t it be funny if we sold Joseph to those merchants?” Then laughter, and a pause. “Why not?”

Like the other volumes in this series, The Beginners Bible: Volume 4 is a winner because the filmmakers really adapt the stories well for young contemporary viewers: removing the violence and softening the harsh elements, changing the vernacular to be more contemporary, adding humanizing and fun animated details, and helping children to not just understand the stories but to understand the characters’ emotional responses. Yes, they take liberties, but ultimately their decisions pay off. They really hit the mark for their target audience.

THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW: THE LOST EPISODES (DVD)

September 1, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Entire Family, G rated, Reviews (by Genre), TV Comedy Leave a comment

Grade: B+
Entire family: Yes, but…
1967-73, 1255 min. (16 shows), Color
Time Life/StarVista
Not rated (mostly G, some PG sketches)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Bonus features: B+
Includes: 6 discs, color booklet
Amazon link

The Carol Burnett Show is a tough one to review because it’s a variety show, and that brand of television is nearly extinct—TV-land’s dinosaur. It’s like trying to assess a pterodactyl, even though this particular old bird won 25 Emmys, eight Golden Globes, and three People’s Choice Awards.

Now TV is dominated by reality shows and snarky talk and news shows, but during TV’s golden age the variety show was king. The Ed Sullivan Show, which ran from 1948 to 1971, preserved the vaudeville format almost exactly, televising animal acts, circus acts, magicians, mind readers, musical acts, dancers, musical acts, and comedians. But it was Sid Caesar in Your Show of Shows (1950-54) and Caesar’s Hour (1954-57) who pioneered sketch comedy as the meat-and-potatoes of future variety shows, and that’s the direction that Carol Burnett took.

The Carol Burnett Show ran for 11 seasons, tying her with Milton Berle for eighth all-time among variety shows, and it was as popular as TV gets. But to watch her show now just isn’t the same as watching it then. So many of the sketches were parodies of TV shows, movies, and commercials, and topical humor loses its edge. Plus, as SNL fans know, sketch comedy is hit or miss. Amazingly, many of the sketches in this six-disc collection still work. In fact, I’d say that there are more “hits” here than the current SNL group manages to muster in an average week.

“Interactive” is a big buzzword now, but Burnett interacted with her audience from the time her show debuted. Instead of doing a monologue, Burnett strode out onto the stage and took questions from the audience for a full three to four minutes. Sometimes she was quick to crack jokes, while other times the questions prompted more serious responses. But can you see a studio allowing a live audience to interact with stars today? Stars would be a nervous wreck, and network honchos would be that times 10. So it’s a fascinating part of every show, and half of Burnett’s weekly traditions.

As for the other half, Bob Hope had his “Thanks for the Memories” theme, and Burnett often closed her shows by singing the words to her own theme song:

I’m so glad we had this time together
Just to have a laugh or sing a song
Seems we just get started and before you know it
Comes the time we have to say, So long.

In between there was song and dance and performing guests. But anchoring the show were the comedy sketches, starring, at first, Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence and Lyle Wagoner, and later Tim Conway, after Wagoner left the show to do “Wonder Woman.” Guest stars got in the act too, and the talents on these 16 episodes are Chita Rivera, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Mel Tormé, Nanette Fabray, Jim Nabors, Bing Crosby, Paul Lynde, Tim Conway, Eydie Gorme, Burt Reynolds, Lesley Ann Warren, Don Adams, Lucille Ball, Bobbie Gentry, Phyllis Diller, Gwen Verdon, Nancy Wilson, Andy Griffith, Bernadette Peters, Cass Elliot, Flip Wilson, Vicki Carr, Carol Channing, Steve Lawrence, Jack Jones, and Ruth Buzzi. I suspect that the more of these celebrities you recognize, the more likely you will be to appreciate The Carol Burnett Show. It’s suitable for families, but children and a new generation of viewers may find the musical numbers especially dated, though the sketches are still funny, and Burnett is as likable as ever. More

AMAZING SPACE: AN AUDIO/VISUAL MEDITATION ON THE COSMOS (Blu-ray combo)

August 23, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater G rated, Meditation Leave a comment

Grade: B
Entire family: No, for meditation
2015, 52 min., Color
Not rated (would be G)
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Bonus features: B-/C+
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, CD
Trailer
Amazon link

Amazing Space: An Audio/Visual Meditation on the Cosmos is as advertised: a slideshow of images from the Hubble telescope that fade in, fade out, and rotate slightly in a modified Ken Burns style, set to New Age music by composer-performer Kristin Hoffman.

Film Chest Media Group bills it as a “companion and guide to meditation, yoga, dance, dreaming or just relaxing.” That is, this one isn’t for family movie night. It’s for Mom or Dad, locked in a room alone and trying to unwind from the day’s stresses.

Those who find inspiration in music and images will discover that the first seven minutes or so, with its time-lapse photography of everyday life, is vaguely reminiscent of Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance—the 1982 documentary by Godfrey Reggio that featured striking cinematography by Ron Fricke and music from Philip Glass. The big difference is that in Koyaanisqatsi each new set of images was intended to provoke a reaction or insight. Here, the earthbound images are just a jumping-off point for a series of images that are designed to do just the opposite: to clear your mind.

Hoffman’s compositions—featuring piano, synthesizers, drum programming, strings, percussion, sarod, marimba, chimes, and vocals—seem magical all on their own, the proof being that you can close your eyes and feel just as relaxed and transported, especially when Hoffman’s vocals take flight. The images of earth and space almost feel like a bonus, even though they served as inspiration for her eight compositions: “Root of All,” “Elixer Field,” “Starlight,” “The Galactic Beat,” “Universal Voice,” “Celestial Sight,” “Amazing Space,” and “Cosmic Consciousness.”

I do not meditate regularly, nor do I have a meditator’s mindset. Though I found the movements of Hoffman’s compositions to be nicely synchronized with the images and melodic enough to be relaxing, the minute that Amazing Space told me I was looking at the Milky Way, I found myself wondering throughout the rest of the 52-minute film what space phenomena I was witnessing.

I checked the bonus features, but none of the interviews told me in any detail what shots from the Hubble telescope I was watching. While I realize such an impulse makes me the anti-meditator, I do think that when you’re dealing with spectacular (yes, I’d use that word) images of space you’re going to have at least some people like me who, before or after trying to use the film as intended, would appreciate a few answers. I hope that future editions of this title incorporate a list of images and some information about them, or an option to watch with subtitles that identify what is being seen. Then it might actually do double duty: work to help Mom or Dad unwind, and also provide a teaching moment. Couple that with a show-and-tell piece of meteorite that you buy on the Internet (they’re plentiful) and it would be a great mini-lesson for home schoolers or families who enjoy learning together.

Amazing Space is a three-disc set that includes a Blu-ray, DVD, and CD soundtrack.

BARK RANGER (DVD)

August 19, 2015

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

Grade: B-/C+
Entire family: No (ages 10 and under)
2014, 82 min., Color
Lionsgate
Rated PG for rude humor
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 widescreen
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Stereo
Bonus features: B+/A-
Includes: DVD, Digital Copy
Trailer
Amazon link

I’m no fan of talking dog movies, but then I’m not the target audience. This family film is aimed at children ages 10 and under. By the time kids get to 6^th grade, they’ll feel the 10 to 11-year-old boy and girl leads are too young for them to tag along with on their little adventure—especially since Bark Ranger is a mash-up of so many familiar plot devices. It’s a treasure hunt, a bumbling crooks caper, a we’re-gonna-lose-our-home-unless-someone-can-raise-big-money story, a divorced parent relocating the kid venture, a dealing with bullies tale, and a boy-meets-girl over summer vacation saga. Oh, and a dog saves the day story.

Jon Lovitz provides the sarcastic voice for Ranger, the canine narrator whose commentary is actually funny at times. He’s not just a talking dog, either. He’s semi-omniscient as well, narrating the story of what happened in the recent past with precise knowledge, even when it involves two bumbling brothers who steal a safe full of gold bullion from a small town sheriff’s office when the dog is nowhere to be seen.

There’s no massive manhunt for these guys, even though they have a safe full of gold bars, and it’s not clear why those gold bars were just sitting around in a tiny resort-town safe or how these guys knew the gold was there. Then again, Marty Adams and Jason Blicker aren’t there for logic. As the Festrunk brothers they’re the main source of comedy, and director exaggerates it for all it’s worth—as if they were auditioning for an over-the-top Disney Channel series. Some of the gags go on too long, but this mixture of potty jokes, physical comedy, and “I know you are but what am I” verbal jousting will amuse a target age group that’s gotten used to seeing bumbling crooks. If they weren’t bumbling, of course, then the eventual confrontation with the kids might be too intense. But it’s not. In fact, there really aren’t any intense moments in this film, because the mash-up of plot devices IS so recognizable and everything is played with a light touch.

Lucius Hoyos and Zoe Fraser are cute and compatible as the park ranger’s son, Jack, and the dippy Tai Chi/Chi Tea divorced mom’s daughter, Chloe. You don’t mind spending time with them because, frankly, their acting is more natural than the adults who play their parents (Ari Cohen, Alexandra Castillo, Trenna Keating). Then again, that’s clearly the way director Duncan Christie wanted it.

Once you get used to the dog narration and the artificial-looking lower jaw that’s an unfortunate by-product of live-action talking dogs, it’s pretty easy to just lie back and roll with this unoriginal but still entertaining feature. Parents may enjoy it right along with their little ones, though, as I said, older children will probably wander off or toss off sarcastic comments.

If that happens, tell them to hold their tongues and they’ll be rewarded with four French-made animated shorts (5 min. each) that remind you of Disney-Pixar productions. These bonus features are clever, well animated, and (if truth be told) a notch or two above the main feature. In one, dragonflies go after a single ladybug in scenes that incorporate natural backgrounds and the same laws of attrition that we saw in the Ewok/Speeder Bike sequence. The twist is that more ladybugs show up, and then more dragonflies. In another sweet short, two worms in adjacent apples on a tree hit it off, but when one of the apples is harvested and sent to market, the other inches all the way to the market to be reunited. The remaining two concern a black beetle who sees his/her reflection in a mirror. They’re all clever and entertaining for a wider age range than the main feature. But the feature ought to be a winner with parents who have younger children.

THE BEGINNERS BIBLE (Volumes 2, 3) (DVD)

August 18, 2015

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

Grade: B+
Entire family: No (ages 6 and under only)
1995, 90 min. (3 stories), Color
Time Life/StarVista
Not rated (would be G)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 (full screen)
Featured audio: English mono
Bonus features: Spanish versions
Amazon link (Old Testament Stories)
Trailer

Time Life has taken over the distribution of The Beginners Bible, a DVD series from 1995 that should please parents who want to introduce their youngsters to Bible stories without exposing them to stilted language or the adult implications of those stories. It’s a really well made series of DVDs, each of which features three 25-30 minute animated stories geared for children age six and under. As of today, families can add two more volumes (sold separately) to their home video collections.

I reviewed the first installment—The Story of Easter, The Story of The Nativity, and The Story of Moses—in February, and on June 9 a second volume appeared featuring The Story of Noah’s Ark, The Story of Creation, and The Story of David and Goliath.

The third volume gets back to the New Testament with The Story of Jesus and His Miracles, The Story of the Good Samaritan, and The Story of the Prodigal Son. As with all the characters, Jesus is both humanized and contemporized. Though the dress is still tunic and sandals, the beard is fluffy and rounded and the speech is everyday. Jesus turns water into wine, walks on water, brings fish to his struggling fishermen-disciples, heals the sick and lame, and raises Lazerus from the dead. He is recognized as the Son of God. But at times the Son of Man also shows through—as when a woman asks him if he can help when the wedding runs out of wine, and he says it is not yet time for him to reveal himself. But she persists. Please? And like any good friend, he agrees.

All the animated entries in this series have a sunny palette and characters drawn with a lot of rounded curves rather than harsh angles. The eyes are big and round, which emphasizes the cartoon nature rather than an animated attempt at realism.

The other stories in this volume are parables that Jesus used to teach lessons. While the Bible emphasized that a man had been beaten and robbed and left in bad shape, the focus on this stranger in need is his location: Now the road is on a cliff, and the man is lying at the bottom. I’ve always wondered, though, why it wasn’t more emphasized that the Samaritan was actually someone outside of the tribes of Judah, while those who passed him by were considered of the same faith. The real moral of this story is helping people who are different from you, but of course children are led to the simple conclusion that helping people in need rather than passing them by is a good thing to do. Meanwhile, The Story of the Prodigal Son doesn’t dwell on the wickedness that the prodigal fell into when he left his family. Here it’s the story of someone who refuses to work the family farm and goes off to see the world and experience the temptations of the city. When he returns, the moral is framed thusly: His joyous welcome reminds us of God’s great love for everyone. The Bible, of course, emphasizes that those who have sinned and came back to the “path” are to be celebrated just as much if not more than those who have always stayed the course. But that gets a little heady for a preschooler, doesn’t it? Tweaks like these make this series something that little ones can absorb more readily.

The June 9 release offers stories that are more familiar and which will, in truth, hold more appeal for very small children. There’s more that they can relate to, with plenty of animals to fill out the screen. The Story of Noah’s Ark is well known: how God commanded Noah to build an ark and take on board all the animals, two by two, in order to survive a great flood that God would send to cleanse the earth of wickedness. The Story of Creation features the devil in serpent’s form tempting Eve and Adam to sample the only fruit God had forbidden. And David and Goliath is a story that resonates with any kid who’s come up against a bully or someone larger.

The picture quality is decent and the volumes are priced to sell: $9.95 SRP. The Noah’s Ark DVD is currently available at Amazon for $6.99, while the Jesus stories haven’t appeared yet.