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For ages 4-11 Shirley Temple: Little Darling Universal; G; 82 minutes $20 Available April 19 Introduce your child to the starlet who probably delighted his or her grandparents with this comprehensive look at the ingénue who is credited with saving a movie studio from bankruptcy and bringing smiles to the faces of Depression-wary Americans. The acting and dancing career of Shirley Temple is talked about by the likes of Cesar Romero, Alice Faye and narrator Tommy Tune. She is shown through performance clips from “The Little Princess,” “Poor Little Rich Girl” and “Little Miss Marker.” The collection would not be complete without her signature song, “On the Good Ship Lollipop,” first sung for audiences in her film “Bright Eyes” in 1934. The title has been available on VHS since 1994, but it took a remastering for DVD to truly bring home-viewing justice to America’s first genuine sweetheart. Grade: A For ages 7-14 Racing Stripes Warner Bros.; PG; 84 minutes $30 Available April 26 The movie stalled at the starting gates by taking in only $43 million after its January release, but that isn’t an indicator of the quality of this movie. “Racing Stripes” is a perfectly acceptable family flick about a young zebra who is accidentally left behind by a traveling circus during a dark and stormy night. A retired horse trainer and his daughter adopt the little fella (voiced by Frankie Muniz), now named Stripes. The zebra had an aching to race with the horses, and gets his chance in a prestigious cup event. “Z-Biscuit” might have been a better title for this inspirational comedy that also features the voices of Dustin Hoffman as a pony, Whoopi Goldberg as a goat, Joe Pantoliano as a Mafioso pelican and David Spade as a horsefly. Silly stuff, some of it scatological, but there are solid laughs here for all but the youngest of ages. Grade: B For ages 8-16 Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events Paramount; PG; 113 minutes $30 Available April 26 This critically underappreciated fantasy based on the popular children’s book series offers up another gloriously entertaining performance by Jim Carrey, this time as the Baudelaire orphans’ guardian Count Olaf. What it may lack in terms of an emotional core, it makes up for it with stunning visuals and a deliciously macabre story. This “Jumanji” meets “Mary Poppins” (if directed by Tim Burton) is thoroughly entertaining from the first unfortunate event to the last. Grade: A- For ages 10-14 Golden Blaze Warner; not rated; 87 minutes $20 Available April 26 A new urban superhero emerges to fight evil in this direct-to-DVD animated feature film. The action story follows two young African-American boys whose schoolyard rivalry spirals out of control when in a freak accident their fathers develop superpowers and become puppets in their sons’ war. The multicultural voice cast includes Blair Underwood, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sanaa Lathan and Neil Patrick Harris. Not graded For ages 7-adult The Waltons: Seasons 1 & 2 Warner Bros.; G; 41 hours, $80 Available April 26 Hear “Good night, John-Boy” over and over again now that the first two seasons of the 1970s TV series are on DVD. The Depression-era drama that lasted 10 years captured the hearts of American audiences while spreading family values through hopes, laughs and tears. Only a few times did the schmaltz overtake an episode, which says a lot for the integrity of the program set in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. The first season debuted on DVD last year, but it was the second season, aired in 1973, when the show really took off. My favorite episode of the second season was a two-parter titled “The Thanksgiving Story.” The focus was on John-Boy who is injured in a freak accident and covers up the symptoms in order to study for a scholarship exam. Pure, classic wholesome television that’s so lacking these days. Grade: A |
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