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"ELF: ULTIMATE COLLECTOR’S EDITION" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5 stars) Rated PG Available on Blu-ray October 26 Official Warner Bros. Blu-ray site Studio: New Line Cinema Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
One Christmas, a baby climbed into Santa’s sack while he was delivering toys to an orphanage. Instead of returning the kid to the orphanage, Santa lets one of his elves raise the child as his own. However, when the human child grows to a full-grown adult man named Buddy (Will Ferrell), he soon questions whether he is actually an elf at all. Once he learns the truth about himself, he takes a trip to New York City to meet his real father and bring the magic of Christmas back into his life.
WHAT I LIKED
When “Elf” was released in theaters about seven years ago, it was just another Christmas movie. However, now it has grown to be a holiday classic that can be enjoyed by grown-ups and kids alike. Made at the perfect time in Will Ferrell’s career when he was young enough to play early-middle-aged but far enough along that he was a trusted actor to carry a feature, “Elf” captures a freshness that isn’t always found in modern films.
I like Will Ferrell as a comedian, and he is at his prime here. His hyperactive delivery is perfect for the child-like Buddy the Elf. Plus, with some other great performance by the adorable Zooey Deschanel, James Caan and Peter Dinklage, “Elf” is a charming film that thrusts a strong dose of holiday cheer at you.
My kids have seen the film several times, and it has become required viewing during the holiday season in my house. Now, it’s available as a great gift set in a collector’s tin with plenty of goodies.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
I would not recommend “Elf” for a Christmas in July celebration. Rather, this collectable tin makes a good early Christmas present, allowing you to enjoy the movie during the right time of the year. I’m afraid that watching it outside of the month of December would be like listening to a Christmas music station in March.
With as much love as I have for this film, I will admit that there are some pretty cheesy moments, including a corny ending that threatens to be too sweet. Fortunately, director Jon Favreau pushes the film right up to that line of corniess but doesn’t quite cross it (unlike the saccharine sequels to “The Santa Clause”).
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The Blu-ray looks great, and it is included in this package, complete with the same encoding and special features from the original release. This includes commentary by Will Ferrell and Jon Favreau, plus a set of deleted an alternate scenes. There’s also “Elf Karaoke,” which allows you to sing along with traditional carols and the theatrical trailer.
There’s also a feature-length compilation of behind-the-scenes featurettes: “Tag Along with Will Ferrell,” “Film School for Kids,’ “How They made the North Pole,” “Lights, Camera, Puffin!,” “That’s a Wrap,” “Kids on Christmas,” “Deck the Halls,” “Santa Mania” and “Christmas in Tinseltown.” These featurettes don’t just cover the production of the film, but also takes a look at how people decorate for Christmas, how Christmas is celebrated in Hollywood and what kids really think about Santa Claus.
Included in the collectable tin is a set of present labels, a magnetic picture frame with Buddy the Elf on it, a soundtrack sampler CD and a elf-themed stocking, suitable for hanging so the big guy can fill it on Christmas Eve.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Fans of the modern Christmas movie.
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"PEANUTS: DELUXE HOLIDAY COLLECTION" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Available on Blu-ray October 5 Official Peanuts DVD site Studio: Warner Bros. Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
To celebrate the holidays, Warner Bros. has released the Blu-ray edition of “Peanuts: Deluxe Holiday Collection.” Already available on DVD, this three-volume collection includes “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Also included in each volume is the DVD of the same program.
WHAT I LIKED
I love these classic holiday specials from the Peanuts gang. The original is the last one in the set, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” which started the ball rolling for decades of Peanuts cartoons. Equally as charming is “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” which is easily one of the most identifiable television specials over the years.
Rounding out the batch is “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,” which is one of the weirdest episodes of all. Not only does Woodstock partake in eating the turkey (which still prompts cries of cannibalism from viewers), but it’s the only special in which Peppermint Patty is voiced by a boy.
Still, all three of these specials are fun to watch, and with the most current format of Blu-ray, it makes the shows available to share at any time with your kids. I make it a point to watch them with my kids, and that is one way I can share my childhood with them.
While there’s nothing new on these discs compared to the DVD box set released a couple years ago, you get both formats with one of them in animated high definition.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Nothing, really. I love these animated specials, which marked the holiday season as much as the dates on the family calendar.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
Each disc includes a second related episode. “It’s Magic, Charlie Brown” is attached to “The Great Pumpkin,” which I remember most as being the only time Charlie Brown actually kicks the football. “The Mayflower Voyagers” is tagged on the Thanksgiving special, which features Linus narrating about the first Thanksgiving. Finally, “It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown” is the second Christmas episode included on the Christmas disc.
The same bonus features are available on each disc, with “We Need a Blockbuster, Charlie Brown” about the bringing the Great Pumpkin to life, “Popcorn and Jellybeans: Making a Thanksgiving Classic” which chronicles the Thanksgiving episode and “A Christmas Miracle: The Making of A Charlie Brown Christmas” which tells how the first Peanuts special came to be.
The only thing missing from this box set that was in the DVD set is the CD music sampler which includes several of the songs from the Charlie Brown library.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Peanuts fans and anyone who wants to share these classics with their kids for years to come.
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"THE GOONIES: 25th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5 stars) Rated PG Available on Blu-ray November 5 Official Warner Bros. Blu-ray site Studio: Warner Bros. Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
On the wrong side of the tracks in a seaside town, a land developer is ready to tear down a series of houses and the famous docks in order to build a golf course. The kids who live in the neighborhood, who call themselves the Goonies, are sad to see their childhood homes go and an end to their adventures. However, when they find a treasure map leading to the lost treasure of One-Eyed Willy, they embark on a final adventure to find riches.
WHAT I LIKED
I was just a year or two too old to love “The Goonies” as a kid. I was graduating to bigger action films at the time, but like classics like “The Monster Squad,” I can watch these films now and enjoy them with my kids.
“The Goonies” is classic mid-1980s Spielberg. It has PG-level adventure with just enough peril to make the younger viewers nervous. The cast of characters is pretty solid in this movie, helped along by a cast of fantastic child actors. As a grown-up, I can appreciate this movie for what it is to my kids and what it was to the generation just a hair behind me.
In the end, “The Goonies” is fun and perfect for the tween boy in all of us.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
“The Goonies” is a neat little film, but it does fall on the waning end of Spielberg’s quality work of the 80s. Gone were the days of “E.T.” and the first “Indiana Jones” films. He was ushering in the times of him slapping a producing credit on a movie to call it his own. In the following years, we got sub-standard movies like “*batteries not included.”
So the biggest problems I have with “The Goonies” include feeling like we were dropped into the end of a series (I’m can’t be the first one who would have loved to see a prequel to this film) as well as the “Scooby Doo” quality of the story.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The Blu-ray includes all the bonus material from the previous DVD and Blu-ray releases. This includes “The Making of the Goonies” featurette, outtakes, Cyndi Lauper’s extended music video of “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough” and the theatrical trailer. Exclusive to the Blu-ray releases is an embedded video commentary with director Richard Donner and selected original cast members.
The 25th Anniversary Collectors Edition box set includes some pretty impressive physical items. There’s an envelope filled with movie stills and storyboards. Also included is a mini reprint of “The Goonies” souvenir magazine with 150 photos as well as a reprint of Empire Magazine’s 20th Anniversary article on the film.
But the coolest part of this box set is “The Goonies” board game, which works as a race for 2 to 4 players to get to the end of the treasure map with One-Eyed Willy’s gold. I played this with my kids, and it was surprisingly fun and easy to do (with a minor adjustment in the rules by us).
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Anyone who was a tween in the mid-80s and wants to share this with their kids.
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"THE SOUND OF MUSIC: 45th ANNIVERSARY EDITION" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5 stars) Rated G Studio: 20th Century Fox Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Based on a true story, the classic musical “The Sound of Music” follows a woman named Maria who is struggling with the restrictive life in an Austrian convent that she chose for herself. To help her find direction in life, the nuns send Maria to be the governess for the von Trapp children, whose mother had died several years before. She soon connects with the seven misbehaved kids and charms their father, opening them up to a new world of music. With the Nazi threat overrunning Europe, Captain Georg von Trapp is expected to join the Navy of the Third Reich, but he wants to leave the country with his family.
WHAT I LIKED
It’s been quite a few years since I have seen “The Sound of Music,” and when I had, it was on a crappy black-and-white television in my parents’ house, or across a crowded room at a holiday dinner in the past. Revisiting the film in high definition is a great thing and probably as close as anyone will get to a true theatrical experience.
The movie is still charming after all these years, and even with the near three-hour running time, it plays well and doesn’t bog down too much. The music is, of course, fantastic with the soundtrack producing many pop culture hits over the past 45 years.
My wife and I made a point to show this movie to our kids. Surprisingly, they didn’t get antsy or want to turn it off, showing the a film like “The Sound of Music” can connect with audiences of all different ages even today.
Additionally, the movie looks fantastic on Blu-ray, showing off the gorgeous scenery of the Alps and the countryside. Just watching the first five minutes of the film will show any viewer the majestic scenery, and it’s something you haven’t seen until you’ve seen a projected print or the restored 1080p Blu-ray version.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Like any epic film prior to 1970, “The Sound of Music” was made for an audience who saw going to the movies as a special occasions. Movies like this have the need for an Intermission and an entr’acte. So for the viewer with modern Michael Bay inspired ADHD, this movie will seem slow-moving. That’s not a complaint for myself, but rather for the modern viewer who just doesn’t know any better.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The 45th anniversary Blu-ray includes a nice assortment of special features on two high definition discs. The feature disc includes the film with “Your Favorite Things: An Interactive Celebration,” which includes behind-the-scenes images, on-screen lyrics, a trivia track and a location quiz. There’s a sing-along feature that allows the viewer to participate in the songs as they play in the film. There’s also an audio commentary with Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer and director Robert Wise.
The second Blu-ray disc includes a long-form documentary called “Musical Stages: Creating The Sound of Music.” This includes a back lot tour, a look at the songs and the stage show, plus a spotlight on the sound restoration and a look at the real von Trapp family. Additional features include “A City of Song” which is a virtual map of the filming locations, vintage Rodgers & Hammerstein programs, screen tests, interviews and photo galleries.
Also included in this set is a DVD of the film with the sing-along feature and the featurette “The Sound of Music Tour – A Living Story.”
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Fans of the classic mid-20th-century musical.
