Sales Rank:537 List Price: $32.99 Lowest New Price: $18.29 Lowest Used Price: $16.99 MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format:
AC-3
Animated
Box set
Collector's Edition
Color
Dolby
Dubbed
DVD-Video
NTSC
Original recording remastered
Widescreen
Director(s):
Actor(s):
L. Peter Callender
Randy Crenshaw
Judi M. Durand
William Hickey
Edward Ivory
For those who never thought Disney would release a film in which Santa Claus is kidnapped and tortured, well, here it is! The full title is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, which should give you an idea of the tone of this stop-action animated musical/fantasy/horror/comedy. It is based on characters created by Burton, the former Disney animator best known as the director of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and the first two Batman movies. His benignly scary-funny sensibility dominates the story of Halloweentown resident Jack Skellington (voice by Danny Elfman, who also wrote the songs), who stumbles on a bizarre and fascinating alternative universe called ... Christmastown! Directed by Henry Selick (who later made the delightful James and the Giant Peach), this PG-rated picture has a reassuringly light touch. As Roger Ebert noted in his review, "some of the Halloween creatures might be a tad scary for smaller children, but this is the kind of movie older kids will eat up; it has the kind of offbeat, subversive energy that tells them wonderful things are likely to happen." --Jim Emerson
Sales Rank:1083 List Price: $16.95 Lowest New Price: $8.85 Lowest Used Price: $10.82 MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format:
Color
Compilation
DVD-Video
NTSC
Director(s):
Actor(s):
For the first time in its 75-year history, America' s favorite holiday show comes alive on DVD! The Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes has been a family tradition since the 1930s. Time Life is proud to offer this amazing holiday tradition to the home market for the very first time, bringing the sights and sounds of this cherished show right into living rooms across America. This special 75th Anniversary DVD features all the best-loved performances including: The Dance of the Nutcracker, Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, Santa' s Toy Headquarters, the Living Nativity and the arrival of Santa. Home viewers will now get it all signature high kicks and astounding precision choreography, dramatic theatrical lighting effects, breathtaking imagery and an array of glamorous costumes, leaving no doubts about the magic of Christmas at Radio City.
Sales Rank:153 List Price: $29.99 Lowest New Price: $16.75 Lowest Used Price: $21.24 MPAA Rating: G (General Audience)
Format:
AC-3
Animated
Color
Dolby
Dubbed
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NTSC
Special Edition
Widescreen
Director(s):
Actor(s):
Jodi Benson
Pat Carroll
Max Casella
Stephen Furst
Buddy Hackett
Ariel and her husband, Prince Eric, have a little problem with their daughter, Melody, in the sequel to Disney's landmark The Little Mermaid. Melody is threatened by Morgana, the evil sister of the sea witch Ursula (both voiced by Pat Carroll). Before you can say "Briar Rose," Melody's parents decide to keep their daughter's roots a secret, forbidding her to learn about the ocean while Morgana is around. Now the budding teenager secretly frolics in the sea with Ariel's old friends, Sebastian and Scuttle. When she learns the truth from Morgana, Melody becomes an unknowing pawn in her scheme--and Mom has to take to the sea again to help.
As with Disney's other made-for-video sequels, The Little Mermaid II looks and sounds wonderful (and reunites much of the same vocal talent). Four- to nine-year-olds who grew up with the original will certainly enjoy seeing the friends again. A new set of artists has come up with four catchy tunes and some fun new characters, including Tip and Dash, a pensive penguin and his blubbery walrus friend. Yet, where Beauty and the Beast had a deliberate Christmas-themed sequel, and Pocahontas told the tale of her historical trip to England, the plot here is very forced. It is pretty much a rehash of the first film with different characters. Tip and Dash are a reincarnation of Timon and Pumbaa, and Morgana is exactly like her sister, except thinner. Besides the stellar music, this unneeded sequel also misses another important aspect of the original--heart. --Doug Thomas
Sales Rank:443 List Price: $39.99 Lowest New Price: $17.49 Lowest Used Price: $16.50 MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format:
AC-3
Anamorphic
Animated
Collector's Edition
Color
Dolby
Dubbed
HiFi Sound
Original recording remastered
Surround Sound
THX
Widescreen
Director(s):
Actor(s):
L. Peter Callender
Randy Crenshaw
Judi M. Durand
William Hickey
Edward Ivory
For those who never thought Disney would release a film in which Santa Claus is kidnapped and tortured, well, here it is! The full title is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, which should give you an idea of the tone of this stop-action animated musical/fantasy/horror/comedy. It is based on characters created by Burton, the former Disney animator best known as the director of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and the first two Batman movies. His benignly scary-funny sensibility dominates the story of Halloweentown resident Jack Skellington (voice by Danny Elfman, who also wrote the songs), who stumbles on a bizarre and fascinating alternative universe called ... Christmastown! Directed by Henry Selick (who later made the delightful James and the Giant Peach), this PG-rated picture has a reassuringly light touch. As Roger Ebert noted in his review, "some of the Halloween creatures might be a tad scary for smaller children, but this is the kind of movie older kids will eat up; it has the kind of offbeat, subversive energy that tells them wonderful things are likely to happen." --Jim Emerson
Sales Rank:619 List Price: $18.98 Lowest New Price: $11.72 Lowest Used Price: $11.70 MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format:
Color
NTSC
Widescreen
Director(s):
Actor(s):
Chloe Agnew
Lisa Kelly
Mairead Nesbitt
Orla Fallon
Meav Ni Mhaolchatha
Celtic Woman, the PBS sensation, returns for 2007 in A New Journey: Live at Slane Castle, Ireland. Most of the elements return as well: vocalists Chloe, Meav, Lisa, and Orla; fiery fiddler Mairead; music director David Downes; chorus and orchestra; and the New Age-y Celtic and traditional music. New for this show is New Zealand vocalist Hayley Westenra, a picturesque outdoor location, and an almost entirely new song list. Chloe sings "The Prayer" (made famous by Josh Groban) and "Panis Angelicus"; Lisa covers "Caledonia," "The Blessing," and "The Voice"; Orla sings "Newgrange" and accompanies herself on harp for "Carrickfergus"; Meav sings "Dulaman"; Mairead plays "Granuaile's Dance" and "Shenandoah: The Pacific Slope"; and Hayley sings "Scarborough Fair" by herself and duets with Mairead (Handel's "Lascia Ch'io Pianga") and Meav ("The Last Rose of Summer"). Then of course the group performs together ("The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun," "Over the Rainbow," "Beyond the Sea," "At the Ceili," "Sing Out!", "Spanish Lady," "Mo Ghile Mear"). Encore performances from the original show are Enya's "Orinoco Flow," "Danny Boy," "Somewhere," and "You Raise Me Up." Hayley proves to be an excellent fit among the beautiful voices, and Lisa seems to emerge as the talent most deserving of attention, but overall the show lacks some of the fresh sparkle of the original. The song list isn't quite as strong, and some of the "primp and pose" choreography is just silly. But Celtic Woman is never less than charming, and at its best can be quite stirring. --David Horiuchi
Sales Rank:972 List Price: $29.99 Lowest New Price: $7.50 Lowest Used Price: $6.70 MPAA Rating: G (General Audience)
Format:
AC-3
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Full Screen
NTSC
Director(s):
Actor(s):
Joe Jonas
Demi Lovato
Nick Jonas
Kevin Jonas
Meaghan Jette Martin
Camp Rock is a Disney Channel original movie about a rockin' teen summer camp that's highly appealing to tweens and young teens despite the movie's failure to favorably compare with truly great Disney Channel movies like High School Musical. Joe Jonas (of the Jonas Brothers stars as Shane Gray, a member of the rock band Connect 3, who is compelled to serve as an instructor at Camp Rock in order to counteract his increasingly negative public image. Tess Tyler (Meaghan Jette Martin) is the camp diva whose self-absorption defies description, Caitlyn (Alyson Stoner) is a past Tess groupie who's now ostracized from the popular kids at camp, and Mitchie (Demi Lovato) is a camp newcomer whose mother is the camp cook. Caitlyn initially befriends Mitchie, but the friendship wanes when Mitchie makes up an elaborate story about her family to get accepted into Tess's exclusive clique. As Mitchie struggles to maintain her façade around camp, Shane begins to reform his bad-boy ways and find his own personal voice and he and Mitchie become friends--unfortunately, their new relationship is based partially on Mitchie's lies. In the end, Mitchie's deception is exposed as is Tess' true villainy and the perfect summer camp experience threatens to turn into the worst summer ever for everyone involved. Camp Rock is infused with lots of energy, fun choreography, and a ton of good, if not particularly memorable, music. Add in the cast of generally unlikable characters with extreme characteristics whose changes of heart at the end of the film are not particularly believable, and Disney's got an entertaining film for tweens and teens that adults might just as well skip. --Tami Horiuchi
Sales Rank:412 List Price: $26.98 Lowest New Price: $8.69 Lowest Used Price: $8.00 MPAA Rating: G (General Audience)
Format:
AC-3
Anamorphic
Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Special Edition
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC
Director(s):
George Cukor
Suzie Galler
Actor(s):
Audrey Hepburn
Rex Harrison
Stanley Holloway
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Gladys Cooper
Hollywood's legendary "woman's director," George Cukor (The Women, The Philadelphia Story), transformed Audrey Hepburn into street-urchin-turned-proper-lady Eliza Doolittle in this film version of the Lerner and Loewe musical. Based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady stars Rex Harrison as linguist Henry Higgins (Harrison also played the role, opposite Julie Andrews, on stage), who draws Eliza into a social experiment that works almost too well. The letterbox edition of this film on video certainly pays tribute to the pageantry of Cukor's set, but it also underscores a certain visual stiffness that can slow viewer enthusiasm just a tad. But it's really star wattage that keeps this film exciting, that and such great songs as "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Could Have Danced All Night." Actor Jeremy Brett, who gained a huge following later in life portraying Sherlock Holmes, is quite electric as Eliza's determined suitor. --Tom Keogh