New Releases, 08 Nov 2005
Welcome back to the weekly look at new DVD releases. The full list is over here.
50 Cent: Refuse to Die
Backyardigans: The Snow Fort
Beavis & Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection: Vol. 1 (3-disc set)
How did the Backyardigans get between those two? Weird.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Deluxe Edition (2-disc set) (widescreen) (2005)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (widescreen) (2005)
This is probably going to be the best-selling release of the week, so I should note it. Didn’t see it this summer. Heard mixed reviews. Not really anxious to see it, though, so I have no problem skipping it.
If you’re a Tim Burton fan, though –
Big Fish: Special Edition (+bonus book) (2003)
Edward Scissorhands (Collectible Tin) (1990)
– you’ll be happy to see those.
Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
Bombs away!
The Complete History of the New York Knicks
Is it any surprise that the thing fits on a single disc?
Ducktales: Vol. 1 (3-disc set)
The release of the week. DUCKTALES ruled daytime television in the late 80s, and deservedly so. For more information and an amazing cast “photo,” check out the Wikipedia entry for the series. This was also the first TV show I ever decided I wanted a library of. I think I got the idea in the letters column of the DUCKTALES comic book at the time. I have stacks of old VHS tapes that this set will be replacing now. Life is good.
Fans of Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers can also delight in that series’ first volume of episodes. Like the DUCKTALES release, it doesn’t include the original five part (four?) mini-series that formed the origin movie, but it does have a host of good episodes. I liked the series, but not nearly enough to buy it today. TALESPIN, on the other hand, would be an easy purchase.
Hall & Oates: Our Kind of Soul Live
There has to be one musical release worth mentioning here every week, right? Hall and Oates get that marker this time around.
Jeopardy! An Insider’s Look at America’s Favorite Quiz Show
I’m a game show nut. Having recently discovered that I do have easy access to the Game Show Network (sorry, “GSN”), I’ve been indulging in a lot of them lately. Those are worthy of a post or two on their own, but this disc intrigues me with its behind the scenes look at JEOPARDY! and the Ken Jennings run.
Jumanji: Deluxe Edition (2-disc set) (1996)
Don’t forget ZATHURA, in theaters soon!
Live 8 DVD Set (4-disc set)
The original was cool because I knew all the bands and singers. This one seemed tedious and worthless because I didn’t know half the acts at first sight, and I know the politics behind it all better.
Remington Steele: Season Two (4-disc set)
More 80s fun.
Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
What a way to end the releases, eh? With friggin’ ROCK-A-DOODLE. Don’t remember it? Lucky you. When Disney was breaking back out in its post-LITTLE MERMAID era, everyone else thought there was a gold mine in animated movies. There are some bad ones from the early- to mid-90s, like THUMBELLINA, ROCK-A-DOODLE, COOL WORLD (for the adults), PEBBLE AND THE PENGUIN, A TROLL IN CENTRAL PARK. OK, maybe it was just Don Bluth getting money from Hollywood to pursue too much crap. I hear ANASTASIA wasn’t all that bad, though.
That’s it for this week. Next week, though, gives us THE COMPLETE BUFFY (40 discs!), MADAGASCAR, and SCRUBS Season Two, amongst others.
We should have a podcast up tonight for the DVDs. Maybe tomorrow night. We’ll see.
November 8th, 2005 at 11:55 am
so do you know if the ducktales ‘valley of the golden suns’ is/will be available as a stand-alone move?… that was one of my favorite stories!
November 8th, 2005 at 12:39 pm
I must say that I like the release list at DVD Verdict if only because of the cover gallery for the coming week(s).
http://www.dvdverdict.com/upcoming/index.php
November 8th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
It was also the best animated of the series. I think TMS handled the overseas production. It had to be them.
No word yet on its release, but I’m still betting a separate single disc. There’s also word of a Disney DVD Club that’s offering the LOST LAMP movie already to its club members, so we’ll likely see that next year at some point in a separate release.
November 8th, 2005 at 2:36 pm
Bill - that’s a nice job they do with all the cover scans, but it would drive me buggy to have to sort through all 300+ releases each week to come up with this list and the podcast. Plus, I get a bit weirded out by sites that act as Amazon Associates. There’s just something less.. savory about it. It’s slightly unfair of me, but there you have it.
November 8th, 2005 at 4:35 pm
What’s unsavory about Amazon Associates? If you’re going to be talking about the product anyway, and people who click through don’t pay a different price, why not get a referal fee?
Bandwidth ain’t free and it just gets worse the more popular you get.
November 8th, 2005 at 11:03 pm
Anastasia was OK, but nothing special: a Disney-type animated musical adventure romance, just not quite as good as standard Disney. (Or maybe I’m still upset that they all but wasted Hank Azaria.) Rock-A-Doodle was indeed very bad (the phrase “train wreck” comes to mind), but it might be the only animated movie in the “so bad it’s good” category. And any animation using the voices of Phil Harris and Sandy Duncan isn’t a complete waste of time.
The only Don Bluth movies I could recommend, though, are his first and (apparently) last, The Secret of NIMH and Titan A. E.
November 8th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Beau — Those sites seem to be more in it for the sake of the referral fees than providing any service. Pardon my occasional hippy stance on the world wide web. I don’t mind people linking via Amazon Associates when discussing a product they’re reviewing or something, but DVDVerdict is an Amazon Associates farm.
November 9th, 2005 at 3:26 am
The only Bluth film I’d recommend PERIOD is “The Secret of NIMH.” Nice family film, great production values. A bit soppy in the sentimentality department, but ultimately with a story that’s much more together than Bluth’s other films.
Bluth is an excellent animator, but only a so-so director in my honest opinion.
I felt Titan A.E. was so derivative of about every major science fiction film in the past twenty years BEFORE it was released. It’s also by far the ugliest-looking Bluth film with nasty CG/2-D animation compositing and character acting that makes the last 3 Star Wars films look like
Shakespeare.
I also felt that film had the ugliest character designs of all the Bluth films.
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Zathura basically looks like a retread of Jumanji. I guess the kids will like it, but everybody else over 12 who’s already seen Jumanji will probably skip this film.
Seriously, I think families would be better off seeing Chicken Little or the next Potter film than this one.
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The Big Fish Special Edition is just the same DVD that came out last year with a book. Nothing new other the book and slipcase.
I got a chance to compare the new slipcase edition with the last year’s DVD and can just about 100% confirm that the DVDs are IDENTICAL.
Now, the new Edward Scissorhands DVD is another story. I really don’t know that anything was changed from the 10th Anniversary Edition other than the cover on the DVD case and the collector’s tin. The extras are IDENTICAL between the 10th and 15th Anniversary Editions and as far as I know it’s the same transfer Warners did 5 years ago for this film. I really haven’t heard anything about a new video transfer for the new Scissorhands DVD….
November 9th, 2005 at 3:28 am
Disney hasn’t said anything about the Ducktales movie, Treasure of the Lost Lamp, yet.
I imagine it’s only a matter of time before that film comes out on DVD. Certainly, the film would get fast-tracked for release IF the Ducktales TV sets sell well.
It, along with Song of the South, is one of only a few Disney animated feature films that haven’t been released on DVD as of yet…
November 9th, 2005 at 8:33 am
Info on LOST LAMP:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4455
November 10th, 2005 at 10:37 am
George,
Zathura is in essence a sequel to Jumanji, so it make sense that it wouldhave a similar story line. I think it looks like a fun movie!