DVD in Stores 2/8/2006

NEW IN STORES:

13 Going on 30 (PG-13) Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Judy Greer, Andy Serkis, Kathy Baker. Affable body-switch comedy. In 1987, Jenna gets humiliated at her 13th birthday party by the older kids and wishes she could be all grown up. The next day, Jenna discovers it’s 2004 and she’s 30-year-old Jennifer Garner. The script could be shaper, but Garner is very good. 98 minutes. DVD INFO: Includes an alternate beginning and an alternate ending; audio commentary from the filmmakers; deleted scenes; two featurettes; plus music videos. Oh, and the DVD box is glitter-studded and bubblegum-scented. How very fun and flirty! —EJO

Bambi II (G) Patrick Stewart, Alexander Gould, Brendon Baerg, Andrea Bowen. Direct-to-DVD animated sequel from Disney tells the story of young Bambi’s coming of age in the period just after he loses his mother and discovers that his father is the revered Great Prince of the Forest. After the initially awkward relationship between the playful fawn and his regal father, they begin a journey to overcome grief and find in each other something wonderful and unexpected: family. 70 minutes. DVD INFO: Includes “The Legacy Continues,” making-of featurette including interviews with director Brian Pimental and stars Stewart, Gould and Bairg; “Thumper’s Hurry & Scurry” game; Disney Sketch Pad; plus Bambi’s Trivia Tracks.

Demon Hunter (NR) Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Drago, Colleen Porch. Horror tale revolving around two demonic beings, one good, and one evil. While a full demon possesses women and makes them bear his children, a demon-human hybrid prepares for the battle to save the world from the more menacing demon’s evil plans. 78 minutes. DVD INFO: Includes audio commentary by writer Mitch Gould and actor Nancy Yoon; behind-the-scenes fight sequence rehearsal; the featurette “Demons Among Us”; plus the theatrical trailer.

Doom: Unrated Edition (NR — R version also available) Karl Urban, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Rosamund Pike, Ben Daniels, Razaaq Adoti. Videogame turned movie. When a Special Ops squadron answers a distress call from a science lab on the planet Olduvai, the investigation reveals that a series of mutant beings are systematically killing off the population there. 100 minutes. DVD INFO: Two separately packaged DVDs are available: One preserves the film in the anamorphic widescreen format, while the other hacks off nearly a third of the picture for the fullscreen (aka pan & scan) version. Shop carefully. Both versions include “Basic Training”; “Rock Formation”; “Master Monster Makers”; “First Person Shooter Sequence”; “Doom Nation”; “Game On!”; plus Doom 3 XBox demo.

Elizabethtown: Special Collector’s Edition (PG-13) Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Bruce McGill, Judy Greer, Jessica Biel, Paul Schneider. Bloom comes to Elizabethtown, Ky., to collect the body of his father and must deal with family, friends and kooky flight attendant Dunst. The latest from writer/director Cameron Crowe (Say Anything, Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) has everything you would expect from the filmmaker: colorful characters, engaging conversations, bold gestures, laughter and tears, great music … you get the idea. Unfortunately, the good stuff is contained within an awkwardly constructed, self-indulgent film that moves with the speed and finesse of an iceberg. 120 minutes. DVD INFO: Two separately packaged DVDs are available: One preserves the film in the anamorphic widescreen format, while the other hacks off nearly a third of the picture for the fullscreen (aka pan & scan) version. Shop carefully. Both versions include the featurette “Training wheels”; meet the crew; extended scenes: Rusty’s learning to listen part 8, “Hanging with Russell in Memphis”; plus a photo gallery. —EJO

Just Like Heaven (PG-13) Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, Jon Heder. Harmless fluff about a perky doctor (Witherspoon) who collides with a truck. Her spirit returns to her apartment only to discover it’s been subleased by a brooding male slob (Ruffalo). Of course, They Don’t Like Each Other. Not psychotic or retarded. So that’s something. This film is hopefully also a phase of Jon Heder’s Napoleon Dynamite deconstruction. 105 minutes. DVD INFO: Two separately packaged DVDs are available: One preserves the film in the anamorphic widescreen format, while the other hacks off nearly a third of the picture for the fullscreen (aka pan & scan) version. Shop carefully. —Matt Socey

The Poseidon Adventure (NR) Rutger Hauer, Steve Guttenberg, Bryan Brown, C. Thomas Howell, Peter Weller, Alex Kingston. TV-movie remake. A cruise ship succumbs to a terrorist act and capsizes on New Year’s Eve. A rag-tag group of survivors, spearheaded by a priest and a homeland security agent, must journey through the upside-down vessel and attempt an escape. 173 minutes. FYI: A big-screen remake of the 1972 original is due May 12, directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Emmy Rossum, Jacinda Barrett, Mike Vogel, Jimmy Bennett, Mia Maestro, Andre Braugher and Richard Dreyfuss. DVD INFO: Two separately packaged DVDs are available: One preserves the film in the anamorphic widescreen format, while the other hacks off nearly a third of the picture for the fullscreen (aka pan & scan) version. Shop carefully. Both versions include interviews with cast members and a featurette involving the director.

Waiting (R) Anna Faris, Ryan Reynolds, Justin Long, Luis Guzman. Absolutely wretched alleged comedy about the rude and crude goings-on within a group of young waiters. If you can find a funny second in this 93 minute exercise in been-there-done-that R-rated humor, drop me a line. Out of the large and unpleasant cast, the smirking Ryan Reynolds is the most repellent. 93 minutes. DVD INFO: Two separately packaged DVDs are available: One preserves the film in the anamorphic widescreen format, while the other hacks off nearly a third of the picture for the fullscreen (aka pan & scan) version. Shop carefully. Both versions include featurettes and deleted scenes; plus bloopers. Oh joy. —EJO

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (G) Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, John Thomson, Peter Kay. Stop-motion animated comedy from England. It’s “vege-mania” in Wallace and Gromit’s neighborhood, and our two enterprising chums are cashing in with their humane pest-control outfit, “Anti-Pesto.” With only days to go before the annual Giant Vegetable Competition, a huge, mysterious, veg-ravaging “beast” begins attacking the town’s sacred vegetable plots at night, and the competition hostess, Lady Tottington, commissions Anti-Pesto to catch it and save the day. 94 minutes. DVD INFO: Two separately packaged DVDs are available: One preserves the film in the anamorphic widescreen format, while the other hacks off nearly a third of the picture for the fullscreen (aka pan & scan) version. Shop carefully. Both versions include featurettes; deleted scenes; and interactive kids’ games and activities.

TV on DVD

BATMAN (animated): SEASON 1, THE BEST OF THE ELECTRIC COMPANY, EMERGENCY: SEASON 2, GROUNDED FOR LIFE: SEASON 1, GROWING PAINS: SEASON 1, HEE HAW 10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, THE MERV GRIFFIN SHOW, MOONLIGHTING: SEASON 3, POLTERGEIST — THE LEGACY: SEASON 1, THE SIMPSONS: KISS AND TELL, SURVIVOR: PEARL ISLAND PANAMA, TEEN TITANS: SEASON 1, WILDFIRE: SEASON 1 and WIRE IN THE BLOOD: SEASON 3. NOTE: Some studios have the nerve to market box sets of TV series containing episodes that were trimmed down by several minutes each for airing in syndication. Before laying down your money, make sure the box set includes the words “original and uncut.”