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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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‘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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Sherlock: Season One
The Doctor Who team’s excellent contemporary updating of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s brilliant detective, with the disc also surprising in its solid technical and supplemental aspects. |
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Legends Of The Superheroes
Adam West and Burt Ward return to the roles that made them famous in a disco-era romp that brings live action superpersons into conflict. Polyester meets camp as collectors are treated to both a Challenge and a Roast that you have to see to believe. |
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Secret Origin: The Story Of DC Comics
Though casual comic book fans may find much interest in this general-audience pleasing exploration, collectors and geeks could struggle to discover many new revelations, and the disc is as super-barren as they come. |
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A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens’ century-plus classic gets rebooted into the digital age, by way of motion-capture that, in parts, breaks away from the restrictions of before. This disc does away with the 3D aspects, but offers a fascinating look into the process. |
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The Addams Family: The Complete Series
The 1973 animated version of these creepy characters came out at a time when Hanna-Barbera wasn’t doing its best work; but there’s still a real charm to this kooky clan. |
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Toy Story 3
This closing chapter of the Story may well be perfect family entertainment, but an over-familiarity and a lack of genuinely awesome originality has set in third time around, even if the disc package still manages to fill the toybox. |
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He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special
He-Man and She-Ra commemorate Christmas for the first time when two children from Earth accidentally end up on Eternia on this release of the 80s animated Christmas special. |
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Have A Laugh! Volumes 1 and 2
While the cartoon selection isn’t always great, and the remixing and “Blamming” of footage pointless, the real treasure here are the pristine restorations of some real classics, including Goofy’s latest! |
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The Essential Bugs Bunny
Bugs’ 70th anniversary is (un)marked with this so-so collection of previously released shorts and new to DVD television specials, though the added featurette is certainly not a reason to buy again. |
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She-Ra: Princess of Power – Season 1, Volume 1
With the magical Sword of Protection, Adora invokes the grace of Castle Greyskull and becomes She-Ra, Princess of Power! Now she’s back on DVD. |
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Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Season One, Volume Four
Four classic episodes and one episode from a newer version are featured in this budget-priced compilation. You can’t go wrong with an alien astronaut ghost, pirates, and a zombie! |
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Thundarr The Barbarian: The Complete Series
Warner Archive does fans a huge favor by putting out this 1980 gem of a show from Ruby-Spears, which featured contributions by comic book legends Steve Gerber, Alex Toth, and Jack Kirby. |
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It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
The classic special is as great as ever, but can Blu-ray make it better? |
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Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
A bad comic becomes a mediocre movie, but there’s lots of action and some decent bonus features, including a fun Green Arrow short. |
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Bugs Bunny’s Howl-Oween Special
The 1970s Looney Tunes compilation specials are always nostalgic fun, but Warners need to pack more quantity and quality on these releases to make them good value. |
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The Secret Of Kells: Special Edition
I’m afraid despite the widespread acclaim, Oscar nomination and beautifully stunning visuals, I struggled to engage with The Secret Of Kells’ story and characters, but the disc treatment is first class and many may find the film worth a look. |
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He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown: Remastered Deluxe Edition
Snoopy is sent to obedience school, but ends up with Peppermnt Patty in this special’s second DVD in just over a year. The bonus is good too, but this double-dip’s best part is the extra on Charles Schulz’s ice arena. |
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Danger Man / Secret Agent: The Complete Collection
If you’re a Prisoner fan, then it’s well worth going back to see what Patrick McGoohan was doing as the day job, before waking up in the Village, in this classic spy show. |
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Beauty And The Beast: Diamond Edition
Although we still don’t get the original version of the film, Disney’s almost 20 year-old classic gets the top-drawer treatment in an excellent package that is certainly more Beauty than Beast! |
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Warner Archive: Atlantis: The Lost Continent / The Power
Two of animator-turned-director George Pal’s underrated works come to the Warner Archive, and what the discs lack in quality, the films manage to overcome with their sheer entertainment value. |
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Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare
Scooby-Doo and the rest of the Mystery, Inc. gang go to Camp Little Moose to relive Freddy’s old camp stories and end up in the middle of a mystery involving a a scary campfire ghost. |
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Rudolph / Frosty / Santa Claus: The Original Christmas Classics
Christmas arrives early with this Blu-ray collection of Rankin/Bass’ classic holiday specials, almost vanilla discs but for a surprise CD extra and unexpectedly very good HD transfers. |
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Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
Unfortunately living up to its box-office reputation, Disney and Bruckheimer’s visual effects blockbuster dud is ultimately a waste of time, even if it looks perfectly fine in both HD format and on the included DVD. |
