![Review ITV DVD / Thunderbirds: Volume 5 [1965]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510EJ5HJZML._SL160_.jpg)
Release date: 2004-07-19
Run time: 197 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.69
Review Thunderbirds: Volume 5 [1965] / ITV DVD:"Filmed in VIDECOLOR [explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax] and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a) the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here. As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audiences' affections to their cool machines-the real stars of the show-while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catch phrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company. ) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nail-bitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood. On this DVD: The four episodes are: "The Man from MI5", "Cry Wolf", "Danger at Ocean Deep" and "Move and You're Dead".
![Review Fremantle Home Entertainment / The Complete Chorlton & The Wheelies - Series 3 [1978]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51N06BW0XTL._SL160_.jpg)
Release date: 2001-09-17
Run time: 144 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.97
Review The Complete Chorlton & The Wheelies - Series 3 [1978] / Fremantle Home Entertainment:
Release date: 2006-10-09
Run time: 65 min.
RRP: £4.99
Price: £1.98
Review Muppets Magic / Pegasus Entertainment:
Release date: 1999-02-01
Run time: 61 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £11.79
Review Fireman Sam - Fireman Sam's Big Video / 2 Entertain Video:
![Review Walt Disney Home Video / 101 Dalmatians [1961]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5174YT9JRDL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Betty Lou Gerson
- Cate Bauer
- Rod Taylor
Run time: 76 min.
RRP: £16.99
Price: £1.68
Review 101 Dalmatians [1961] / Walt Disney Home Video:
Release date: 2006-11-06
Run time: 372 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £8.42
Review The Ultimate Tweenies Christmas Collection / Tweenies:
Release date: 2007-11-19
RRP: £9.99
Price: £6.98
Review Postman Pat - Christmas Eve / Postman Pat:
![Review Walt Disney Home Video / The Little Mermaid 2 - Return To The Sea [2000]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KYMKSY04L._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Samuel E. Wright
- Jodi Benson
- Brian J. Smith
Run time: 72 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £9.90
Review The Little Mermaid 2 - Return To The Sea [2000] / Walt Disney Home Video:Ariel and her husband, Prince Eric, have a little problem with their daughter, Melody, in The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea, the sequel to Disney's landmark The Little Mermaid. Melody is threatened by Morgana, the evil sister of the sea witch Ursula (both voiced by Pat Carroll). Before you can say "Briar Rose", Melody's parents decide to keep their daughter's roots a secret, forbidding her to learn about the ocean while Morgana is around. Now the budding teenager secretly frolics in the sea with Ariel's old friends, Sebastian and Scuttle. When she learns the truth from Morgana, Melody becomes an unknowing pawn in her scheme-and Mum has to take to the sea again to help. As with Disney's other made-for-video sequels, The Little Mermaid 2 looks and sounds wonderful (and reunites much of the same vocal talent). Four to nine-year-olds who grew up with the original will certainly enjoy seeing the friends again. A new set of artists has come up with four catchy tunes and some fun new characters, including Tip and Dash, a pensive penguin and his blubbery walrus friend. Yet where Beauty and the Beast had a deliberate Christmas-themed sequel and Pocahontas told the tale of her historical trip to England, the plot here is somewhat forced. It is pretty much a rehash of the first film with different characters. [+]Tip and Dash are a reincarnation of Timon and Pumbaa and Morgana is exactly like her sister, except thinner. Besides the stellar music, this unneeded sequel also misses another important aspect of the original-heart. -Doug Thomas, Amazon. com.
![Review Touchstone / Disney / Good Morning, Vietnam [1988] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BXFQJNB4L._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Chintara Sukapatana
- Forest Whitaker
- Tung Thanh Tran
- Barry Levinson
- Robin Williams
- Bruno Kirby
Run time: 121 min.
Price: £3.88
Review Good Morning, Vietnam [1988] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Touchstone / Disney:Good Morning Vietnam is a more than usually human take on America's most controversial war, an often poignant and always entertaining fictionalisation of the Vietnam years of DJ Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams). Cronauer is employed as the voice of the US Armed Forces radio in South East Asia, but it soon emerges that his idea of entertaining the troops and the Army's are poles apart. This isn't a biopic-director Barry Levinson doesn't give any detail of Cronauer's life before Vietnam-instead it's about Cronauer discovering a better understanding of the war, the people and himself. Interspersed with the radio sequences is a gentle plot which follows Cronauer as he teaches English to some Vietnamese kids, falls for a local girl and narrowly misses being killed in a terrorist attack. However, it is the sheer frenetic genius of Williams' largely improvised radio monologues that account for the film's box office success. On the DVD: Good Morning Vietnam gets the special edition DVD with digitally remastered audio and picture. Extras include a couple of previews-both the theatrical and a teaser trailer-as well as a production diary which contains interviews with director Levinson, crew and the real Cronauer. But the best feature by far is the "Raw Monologues": introduced by Levinson, this featurette shows the process that Robin Williams went through to improvise the radio slots and is a valuable insight into the comedic talents of the film's star. -Kristen Bowditch.
Release date: 2007-10-01
RRP: £12.99
Price: £8.72
Review Witch Series 1 Vols 1-3 / W.I.T.C.H.:
Actors & Directors
- Tate Donovan
- Michael T. Weiss
- French Stewart
- Olivia D'Abo
- James Woods
Run time: 92 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.29
Review Disney Heroes - Tarzan / Hercules / Walt Disney Home Video:
Release date: 2003-10-06
RRP: £15.99
Price: £2.19
Review Winnie The Pooh - Halloween / Walt Disney Home Video:
![Review ITV DVD / Thunderbirds: Collection Part 2 (Vols 5 - 8 ) [1965]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BE8WCZB8L._SL160_.jpg)
Release date: 2004-07-19
Run time: 788 min.
RRP: £63.99
Price: £22.00
Review Thunderbirds: Collection Part 2 (Vols 5 - 8 ) [1965] / ITV DVD:
![Review 2 Entertain Video / The Animals Of Farthing Wood - Part 3 - On To White Deer Park [1992]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71VMHJM8V1L._SL160_.gif)
Release date: 1993-11-01
Run time: 85 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.21
Review The Animals Of Farthing Wood - Part 3 - On To White Deer Park [1992] / 2 Entertain Video:
![Review ITV DVD / Thunderbirds: Volume 7 [1965]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51C44KME79L._SL160_.jpg)
Release date: 2004-07-19
Run time: 197 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £3.00
Review Thunderbirds: Volume 7 [1965] / ITV DVD:"Filmed in VIDECOLOR [explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax] and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a) the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here. As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audiences' affections to their cool machines-the real stars of the show-while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catch phrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company. ) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nail-bitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood. On this DVD: The four episodes are: "The Cham Cham", "Security Hazard", "Atlantic Inferno" and "Path of Destruction".
![Review Walt Disney Video / Around the World in 80 Days [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513PYGN9NKL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Ian McNeice
- Jim Broadbent
- Roger Hammond
- Robert Fyfe
- Kathy Bates
- Frank Coraci
Run time: 120 min.
Creator: Trevor Jones
Price: £4.66
Review Around the World in 80 Days [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Walt Disney Video:The 2004 version of Around the World in 80 Days is an entertaining hodge-podge of adventure, comedy, and scenery from across the globe. Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan, 24 Hour Party People), an obsessively precise inventor, bets that he can circumnavigate the planet in 80 days-considered impossible in the Victorian era. In this version, Jackie Chan plays a Chinese peasant who retrieves a stolen idol from the Bank of England, then convinces Fogg to hire him as a French valet so that Chan can get back to his village. Chan supplies numerous spectacular fights against the forces trying to stop Fogg or get the idol, while Coogan is both funny and a surprisingly appealing romantic lead (he flirts with a fetching French painter who joins them). The various episodes-featuring cameos by Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Cleese, Owen Wilson, and Sammo Hung-are uneven, but a goofy good cheer prevails. -Bret Fetzer.
Actors & Directors
- Donald Duck
- Mickey Mouse
- Goofy
Run time: 62 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.01
Review Extreme Music Fun / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:
![Review Walt Disney Home Video / Lady And The Tramp 2 - Scamp's Adventure [2000]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RVMF975TL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Jeff Bennett
- Alyssa Milano
- Jodi Benson
- Scott Wolf
- Chazz Palminteri
- Jeannine Roussel
- Darrell Rooney
Run time: 66 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £17.94
Review Lady And The Tramp 2 - Scamp's Adventure [2000] / Walt Disney Home Video:One of the remarkable things about making an animated sequel is that actors don't age. It took Disney 46 years to make a sequel to its 1955 hit Lady and the Tramp, yet the events of this made-for-video sequel take place only six months later. Lady and Tramp are getting along fine with their human family, the Darlings, and they have four new puppies. The three girl puppies take after mum, the boy, Scamp, has a lot of dad in him. Scamp dreams of "being a real dog", and that means living on the street as a member of the Junkyard Dogs. Despite his dad's warnings, Scamp (voiced by Scott Wolf) runs off and goes through the trials of a mutt, including run-ins with Junkyard leader Buster (Chazz Palminteri); the dogcatcher (Don Knotts); and a fellow stray, Angel (Alyssa Milano). The formula here is the same as other Disney direct-to-video sequels for The Lion King and The Little Mermaid, and the justification to return to a classic movie is flimsy at best. To its credit, Disney has made a quality effort in the animation department, adapting sets and characters from the original with great success. But the story is never engaging, the songs are forgettable, and the impact unsustainable (and at 62 minutes, quite trite). Nevertheless, a Disney kid should dig Scamp's rough-and-tumble adventures and the cute tale of puppy love (Scamp and Angel even revisit the Italian diner). [+]-Doug Thomas, Amazon. com.
Release date: 2006-05-08
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.91
Review Jo Jo's Circus - Take A Bow / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:
![Review Baby Einstein / Baby's First Sounds: Discoveries for Little Ears [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NbAj%2BzqNL._SL160_.jpg)
Release date: 2008-03-11
Run time: 33 min.
Price: £7.76
Review Baby's First Sounds: Discoveries for Little Ears [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Baby Einstein:
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Models & Brands:
Thunderbirds: Volume 5 [1965], The Complete Chorlton & The Wheelies - Series 3 [1978], Muppets Magic, Fireman Sam - Fireman Sam's Big Video, 101 Dalmatians [1961], The Ultimate Tweenies Christmas Collection, Postman Pat - Christmas Eve, The Little Mermaid 2 - Return To The Sea [2000], Good Morning, Vietnam [1988] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Witch Series 1 Vols 1-3, Disney Heroes - Tarzan / Hercules, Winnie The Pooh - Halloween, Thunderbirds: Collection Part 2 (Vols 5 - 8 ) [1965], The Animals Of Farthing Wood - Part 3 - On To White Deer Park [1992], Thunderbirds: Volume 7 [1965], Around the World in 80 Days [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Extreme Music Fun, Lady And The Tramp 2 - Scamp's Adventure [2000], Jo Jo's Circus - Take A Bow, Baby's First Sounds: Discoveries for Little Ears [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC) |
