Articles
The latest pup-filled releases and more
By Bill DelappPooch power is evident in the latest round of DVD releases. Topping the list is a double-disc “platinum edition” of 101 Dalmatians (Walt Disney Home Entertainment; G), the 1961 animated feature that’s been spruced up with a colorful restoration. Plenty of extras grace the package, such as the jaw-dropping factoid that Disney himself wasn’t a fan of the film’s modernist animation, which went against his fondness for lushly traditional cartooning.
[More]
Video reviews
By Bill DeLappIt seems that the 2007 holiday hype first kicked into gear just after Labor Day, while all-yuletide radio formats commenced on some stations just minutes following Halloween’s Snickers haul. But now viewers should be more in the mood to gather around the boob-tube hearth for a Christmas-y video, and that worn-out tape of a burning yule log just won’t do. To the DVD rescue comes a Santa’s bag jammed with older faves and recent treats, as well as new wrinkles on a certain Charles Dickens warhorse. (Many of these videos, incidentally, are already on store shelves.)
[More]
Neal Pollack's memoir describes a new kind of father.
By Jon Dufort
As my son’s due date approached, I felt like I was cramming for the ultimate pop quiz. I grasped at anything that promised to calm my nerves, allay my insecurities and prepare me to be the perfect father.
[More]
By Bill DeLapp
Elsewhere in this issue, Alan and Kelly Taylor are encouraging families to set aside some together time by occasionally shutting off the television, a laudable ambition to be sure. But when you’re in the mood to fire up that boob tube, there’s probably no better family flick around than Charlotte’s Web (Paramount Home Entertainment; PG; April 3), one of two recent yuletide releases ready for their home-video close-up this month. Animatronic critters inhabit this adaptation of E.B. White’s barnyard classic, with timeless themes concerning life and death intact, and nice voice work from Julia Roberts as the web-slinging Charlotte and Steve Buscemi as Templeton the rat. Kids will eat up this one, while some adults are bound to get a little misty toward the end.
[More]
The Disney archives offer a cornucopia of classic treats on DVD
By Bill DeLappWhen the Disney Channel premiered as a pay-cable network in April 1983, it had a veritable smorgasbord of programming at its fingertips. There were documentaries, dramas and comedies that aired during the long-running Wonderful World of Color TV anthology, as well as animated short subjects from the 1930s to 1950s, such as raconteur-author George Plimpton serving as the tongue-in-cheek host for Mouseterpiece Theater. By the time the network moved into the basic-cable realm, however, the Disney classics were slowly being phased out in favor of newer tween-age series, starting with a revamped Mickey Mouse Club with juvenile talents Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears, and followed later with kid-oriented sitcoms including Lizzie McGuire and That’s So Raven.
[More]
Lullaby versions of rock bands’ music aim to help babies go down
By Nathan TurkPutting kids to bed can be hard work, but the numerous lullaby CDs on the market today suggest we don’t have to wage the battle alone. Baby Rock Records offers what’s probably the hippest of bedtime music options with its Rockabye Baby! series. Tunes by the likes of U2, Pink Floyd and Coldplay—and even more typically thundering groups like Nirvana and Metallica—take the form of surprisingly non-cheesy instrumentals meant to usher your mini-rocker into slumberville.
[More]
By Bill DeLapp
The new year means catching up on video releases that swamped store shelves during the holidays, yielding a veritable smorgasbord of treats. The December bumper crop issued by Walt Disney Home Entertainment weighed anchor with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Johnny Depp’s mega-successful pirate flick and the second salvo in the yo-ho-ho trilogy set for its grand finale next summer. The PG-13 outing is available in single- and double-disc packages.
[More]