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For ages 11-18 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith 20th Century Fox; PG-13; 140 minutes $30 Available Nov. 1 The “Star Wars” saga ends on a high note. Filmmaker George Lucas’ generosity with aerial battle scenes the opening 23 minutes are as eye-popping as anything from the original trilogy is outdone only by the abundant light saber fights, each more gloriously choreographed than the next. General Grievous vs. Obi-Wan is pure eye candy, Yoda vs. Darth Sidious is epic, but Anakin vs. Obi-Wan, the one that earned the series’ first PG-13 rating, is one of the ages, and sets the stage for the defeated to don a certain black costume we haven’t seen since, well, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The missing pieces to the “Star Wars” puzzle are perfectly placed: Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) crossing over to the Dark Side to become Darth Vader and the birth of twins Luke and Leia are the most critical, with somewhat lesser importance put on the souring between brothers-in-arms Anakin and his Jedi master mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), the presumed death of Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), Yoda’s exile and the unveiling of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) as Darth Sidious. In terms of ranking, “Revenge of the Sith” is No. 3 among the six movies. It’s not as dark, deep and fun as personal-favorite “Empire Strikes Back” (Episode V) and close No. 2 “A New Hope” (IV), but Lucas and company achieved an almost-perfect balance of visual effects, story, characters, acting and tone. Grade: A For ages 3-7 The Yogi Bear Show: The Complete Series Warner; G; 792 minutes $45 Available Nov. 15 Yogi was billed as smarter than the average bear, so it’s only right that his DVD collector’s set is better than average. All 33 episodes from the series are remastered and restored, doing justice to Hanna-Barbera Production’s first breakout superstar. Yogi, accompanied by his reluctant best friend Boo Boo, would often try to steal “pic-a-nic” baskets from campers in Jellystone Park, much to the chagrin of Park Ranger Smith. Always in tow was Yogi Bear’s best bruin buddy Boo Boo. The set boasts a cavalcade of cartoon characters, including Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Augie Doggie and my favorite, the happy-go-lucky Shakespearian mountain lion Snagglepuss. The animation is woefully poor, even for 1961 standards, but who cares? Grade: A- For ages 5-9 Madagascar Universal; PG; 86 minutes $30 Available Nov. 15 The age-old “fish out of water” concept got the modern touch in this wildly successful and generally entertaining computer-animated tale about four zoo animals that are taken from a safe, pampered life to the African jungle where they are set free. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada-Pickett Smith and David Schwimmer lead the voice cast as a lion, zebra, hippo and giraffe, respectively. It lacks the magic of the best computer-animated movies, but I can see many small children replaying this DVD at least half as many times as, say, “Toy Story,” “Ice Age” and “Monsters Inc.” Grade: B For ages 7-14 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Warner Bros.; PG; 115 minutes $30 Available Nov. 8 Whereas my childhood memory of the beloved 1971 classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” recalls a movie-motivated run on Milk Duds, Raisinettes and other candies at the snack bar, Tim Burton’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s book mostly failed to arouse any of my human senses, gastric or otherwise. Undersized like Wonka’s hard-working Oompa Loompas on creativity, wonder and amusement all the things we’ve grown to expect out of Burton and his frequent leading man Johnny Depp the colorful, yet drab fantasy is a bummer. Grade: D+ David Dickstein is a regular contributor. |
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