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The Ballad Of Rango

Insight’s latest Art Of book is an engrossing trawl through the developmental work created by director Gore Verbinski and ILM for their collaboration Rango, and a fine companion to that unique film.

Batman – The Brave And The Bold: Season One, Part Two

Another 13 episodes from one of the greatest comic book cartoons ever.

Tales From Earthsea

Hayao Miyazaki’s son took the reins for this critically drubbed film. Is it as bad as you heard, or a gem in the rough?

Jabberjaw: The Complete Series

Warner Archive presents more classic 1970s Hanna-Barbera . The premise of a shark in a teen band touring underwater in the future is enough of a hook to seperate the show from other Scooby knock-offs of the era.

Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind

Miyazaki’s early masterpiece comes to Blu-ray. The upgrade may not be worth it to some, but anyone who doesn’t already own it needs to consider a purchase.

All*Star Superman

The award-winning comics masterpiece comes to animation. Though some chapters are dropped, the film captures the comic’s spirit, providing a captivating portrait of the Man Of Steel as he deals with the success of Luthor’s brilliant final plan against him.

Tom And Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures Vol.1

Advertised as over an hour of fun, this collection lacks the epic game of cat and mouse, giving screen time to side characters and a random assortment of toons from the Hanna-Barbera and Chuck Jones days.

Stop-Motion Marvels!

Thunderbean gives us one of their oddest, most fascinating collections yet. Marvel at the wonder of Kinex films, plus more delights you never knew you wanted to see. This one is full of surprises!

Bambi: Diamond Edition

If Love Is A Song that never ends, then Bambi’s Blu-ray melodies will have you falling for Walt Disney’s enthralling classic all over again, even if the supplements are essentially pulled over from what we have seen before.

Stronger Than Spinach

Olive Oyl sexy? Bluto a better man than Popeye? This book dares to be contrary, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into a good read.

The Looney Tunes Treasury

The design of the book is beautiful, but once you get past that the vault seems surprisingly empty.

A Charlie Brown Valentine

This 2002 special makes for a nice viewing if you’re a Peanuts fan, though the bonus special is better. There is less here than on the old Paramount disc, and the presentation is decidedly no-frills.

Space: 1999: Season One

The former puppet master, Gerry Anderson, created this show about the moon being blasted off into outer space. The science is sketchy, but the stories range from thought-provoking to zany, with a dash of metaphysics.

SWAT Kats – The Radical Squadron: The Complete Series

Even if it may be a little too reminiscent of the toy-inspired franchise fad, as the series goes it only gets better. Characterization takes a backseat to action, but the zany plots are what cartoons are all about.

Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales

This series of Christmas vignettes is really the more minor of the two specials on the disc. Is This Goodbye, Charlie Brown? is certainly more remarkable, offering a more serious storyline that shakes things up and gives new insight into the characters.

Yogi Bear’s All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper

Two specials show the beginning and end of the classic Hanna-Barbera period. The headliner is a little-known gem, while a 1960s birthday special shows just how good Yogi and the gang could be back in the day.

Yogi’s Great Escape

Yogi Bear takes Boo Boo and three orphan cubs with him on a cross-country dash to avoid facing being transferred to a zoo. The 1987 telefilm is a modest charmer that relies heavily on nostalgia for Yogi and some special guest stars.

Scooby-Doo: Where Are You! The Complete Series (Mystery Machine Edition)

Fans with previous Scooby-Doo sets will probably not need to buy again for the new bonus disc, but – zoinks! – the quality packaging might be enough to tempt them!

Young Justice

Although it would benefit from giving its female characters more to do, this latest DC cartoon series has more depth than expected, with cliche-free teen heroes and a lot of potential.

Peanuts Deluxe Holiday Collection

Charlie Brown finds the true meaning of Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween— all in hi-def! Does Warner make the most of the upgrade opportunity, or do they put a rock in our treat bag?

Fantasia / Fantasia 2000

Perhaps the most anticipated release of the year, a variety of poor choices easily make this the most disappointing too, even if it’s nice to finally own Destino and see the documentary that we’ve been teased for years among some technical quality issues.

Walt & El Grupo / The Boys / Waking Sleeping Beauty

Take a wonderful trip back in time to witness three periods in Disney Studios’ history, via a trio of excellent documentary features accompanied by a fantastic supplemental selection of Disney treasures.

Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III

Star Wars returns to the Robot Chicken universe for a longer, fluidly stop-motion animated special that, although occasionally resorting to lazy crudities, is otherwise high on laughs.

Tangled

Disney is finally able to untangle itself from the story problems of its recent past with this beautiful and very enjoyable retelling of the Rapunzel classic.

Scooby-Doo / Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed Double Feature

Scooby swaps limited television animation for full-blown CG, in a pair of fun live-action films that stay true to the original cartoons, particularly in the inspired casting.

‘Twas The Night Before Christmas: Remastered Deluxe Edition

A young mouse must rectify a mistake which ended up seeing Santa boycott his town. The classic Rankin-Bass special gets a superb video upgrade, but falls short on bonus material for a so-called “deluxe” edition.

Firebreather

Cartoon Network’s debut television movie mixes some formulaic aspects in with much teen angst, but the result is an interesting plot and an entertaining translation of the original comic books.

Disneynature: Oceans / The Crimson Wing: Mystery Of The Flamingos

While I don’t think Pierce Brosnan’s narration for Oceans could get any more waterlogged or mundane, The Crimson Wing gets back to what made the Disney nature films of old so enjoyable.

Superman/Shazam!: The Return Of Black Adam

It’s a spectacular slugfest when Superman helps Captain Marvel against his mortal enemy. The other shorts and TV episodes on the disc are even better, though it is recycled material.

Warner Archive: The Green Slime

Brilliantly bonkers slice of sixties sci-fi kitsch that actually disguises some solid story points, even if the unintentionally hilarious script and rubber monsters derail the fear factor! The disc is pricey, however, for an average transfer and zero extras.