Winnie the Pooh
We wonder why todays kids have no attention span, yet watching even the opening sequence of some of todays animated programs can be overwhelming. (Why are Diego and Dora always yelling?) Disneys new animated adventure, Winnie the Pooh, is a salve for overworked little minds, offering the deceptively simple story (narrated by John Cleese) of a bear who has run out of honey, and a donkey who has lost his tail. Yes, all the old characters are back, in a new story that finds the pals trying to rescue Christopher Robin from a perceived threat. Winnie the Pooh doesnt pander, using regular-sized words to tell its tale, and it never, ever shouts at you. One of the years best films for children comes with a sing-along extra, deleted scenes, animated shorts and a making-of featurette.
Barbie: A Perfect Christmas
A glass-shattering squeal went up in my house when this title was discovered, so beware. Mattel and Universal Studios Home Entertainment bring you a holiday adventure tale involving Barbie and her sisters Skipper, Chelsea and Stacie. When the girls plane is caught in a snowstorm and rerouted to the little town of Tannenbaum, they learn all about hospitality, giving and the true meaning of Christmas. A Barbie camping short is included on the special features, along with music video, outtakes and trailers.
Art of the Western World
Being dragged for several hours around an art museum is right up there with eating root vegetables on a childs not-to-do-list. Try this engaging, stealthily informative art history lesson for all ages, a nine-part series originally broadcast on PBS. Art historian Michael Wood visits more than 150 locations in eight countries, covering everything from early Greek architecture, through Roman fresco techniques (did you know there were three types?), the Paris Salon, impressionism, those crazy cubists, and art in advertising, among much, much more. Put in historical context, and filmed like a lush travelogue, Art of the Western World is a wonder. The biographies of major artists are included on the three-disc sets special features.
African Cats
After teaching kids about the circle of life in the animated The Lion King (recently re-released in theatres, and out last week on blu-ray 3D for the first time), Disneynature returns to the African savanna for real with an up-close look at the lives of big cats. Theres Mara, a lion cub who grows up fiercely loyal, refusing to leave her ailing mother; Fang is a snaggle-toothed king of the jungle who must protect his pride from three male lions across the river; and Sita is a single-mom cheetah trying to protect her cubs from hyenas and hungry males. Just enough realism for kids, without traumatic close-ups of big-cat mealtime. Interactive behind-the-scenes footage is included on the blu-ray disc, plus more.
Also from Disney is the Diamond Edition of Beauty and the Beast, packed with an amazing selection of special features, including four games, eight musical features, celebrity interviews (Donny Osmond, Nick Jonas and more), new making-of features, deleted scenes and three versions of the film. Hot on its heels are the releases of Beauty and the Beast: Belles Magical World and Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
