DVD Find the Perfect Gift    Send a Gift Certificate
Search 
Home › Children's DVD
Review Fabulous Films Ltd. / Mysterious Cities Of Gold - Complete Series
Actors & Directors
  • Rokurô Naya
  • Mahito Tsujimura
  • Kenichi Maruyama;Edouard David;Kenichi Murakami;Bernard Deyriès
  • Tomoko Ai
  • Sachiko Saitô
  • Tesshô Genda
Release date: 2008-06-23
Run time: 1120 min.
RRP: £54.99
Price: £42.98

Review Mysterious Cities Of Gold - Complete Series / Fabulous Films Ltd.:

It's taken far too long for one of the finest children's television programmes of the 1980s to make its journey to DVD, but thanks to this superb six-disc set, all 39 episodes of The Mysterious Cities Of Gold are finally available. And time has been very kind to it. Don't remember it? Then at the very least, the theme tune is bound to stick (it's easily one of the best title tracks ever). But if you're one of the many who were charmed by this ambitious, epic adventure, then the return of The Mysterious Cities Of Gold will be very good news indeed. Set in the 1532, it follows Esteban on his search to find out the truth about his father, and also on the epic quest to find the cities of the show's title. Joined by Zia and Tao, and fighting against Gomez and Gaspard, it's a weaving, engrossing story, that fully justifies its sizeable running time. What's more, The Mysterious Cities Of Gold holds up incredibly well. The animation may look a little dated, but it harks back to a time in the 1980s when ambitious programmes such as these were filling the childrens' TV schedules. And this was the best of the lot. With a darkness and edge that you simply wouldn't expect, it's a gripping tale, expertly told. [+]
Further icing the cake, the DVD set that The Mysterious Cities Of Gold arrives on is nothing short of majestic, bursting with interesting features and a real care and attention that befits the programme itself. Which goes to make this collection something really very special indeed, not only bringing back a genuine classic from the archives, but doing it with a style that others would do well to match. Brilliant. -Simon Brew.

Review Kipper / Kipper - Treasure Hunt
Release date: 2007-04-09
Run time: 50 min.
RRP: £4.99
Price: £3.53

Review Kipper - Treasure Hunt / Kipper:


Review Warner Home Video / Lassie Come Home / Son Of Lassie / Courage Of Lassie (3 Disc Box Set)
Actors & Directors
  • Fred M. Wilox
  • Donald Crisp
  • Elizabeth Taylor
  • Tom Drake
  • June Lockhart
  • Roddy McDowall
Release date: 2008-06-02
Run time: 271 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £7.50

Review Lassie Come Home / Son Of Lassie / Courage Of Lassie (3 Disc Box Set) / Warner Home Video:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Balamory - Musical Stories
Actors & Directors
  • Rodd Christensen
  • Juliet Cadzow
  • Julie Wilson Nimmo
Release date: 2005-09-05
Run time: 56 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.97

Review Balamory - Musical Stories / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Universal / Shrek [2001]
Actors & Directors
  • Eddie Murphy
  • Mike Myers
  • Andrew Adamson
Release date: 2001-11-12
Run time: 90 min.
RRP: £22.99
Price: £5.15

Review Shrek [2001] / Universal:

Full of verve and wit Shrek is a computer-animated adaptation of William Steig's delightfully fractured fairy tale. Our title character (voiced by Mike Myers) is an agreeable enough ogre who wants to live his days in peace. When the diminutive Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) evicts local fairy tale creatures (including the now-famous Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and the Gingerbread Man), they settle in the ogre's swamp and Shrek wants answers from Farquaad. A quest of sorts starts for Shrek and his new pal, a talking donkey (Eddie Murphy), where battles have to be won and a princess (Cameron Diaz) must be rescued from a dragon lair in a thrilling action sequence. The story is stronger than most animated fare but it's the jokes that make Shrek a winner. The PG rating is stretched when Murphy and Myers hit their strides. The mild potty humour is fun enough for the 10-year-old but will never embarrass their parents. Shrek is never as warm and inspired as the Toy Story films, but the realistic computer animation and a rollicking soundtrack keeps the entertainment in fine form. Produced by DreamWorks, the film also takes several delicious stabs at its cross-town rival, Disney. -Doug Thomas, Amazon. [+]
com On the DVD: DVD could have been invented to showcase Shrek's stunning computer animation-admirably served here by 16:9 anamorphic widescreen presentation-while the exuberant soundtrack comes alive in 5. 1 Dolby Digital. There are plenty of extras to choose from on this DVD, from The Tech of Shrek and fake Character Interviews to the amusing Swamp Karaoke Dance Party featuring the whole cast. However, none of these features have much depth, nor do they last long and it would be easy to feel slightly disappointed-were it not for the excellent Shrek's ReVoice Studio. This first-of-its-kind feature requires a computer running Microsoft Windows 98SE or higher, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5. 0 or higher, an Internet connection and a DVD-ROM drive. However, once the DVD-ROM is up and running, the instructions could not be clearer and within minutes the whole family will be dubbing their voices over favourite characters and scenes-rendering the other extras almost irrelevant. -Helen Baker.

Review Walt Disney Home Video / Honey, I Shrunk The Kids [1989]
Actors & Directors
  • Thomas Wilson Brown
  • Joe Johnston
  • Matt Frewer
  • Marcia Strassman
  • Rick Moranis
  • Kristine Sutherland
Release date: 2002-09-23
Run time: 89 min.
Creator: Tom Schulman
RRP: £14.99
Price: £2.98

Review Honey, I Shrunk The Kids [1989] / Walt Disney Home Video:

A deft balance between special effects, comedy and family dynamics made this 1989 film a hit for Disney and spawned both a string of video sequels and a subsequent TV series. Moranis is endearing as the bumbling inventor/father of the Szalinski family. He inadvertently shrinks his own children then throws them out with the trash. They, along with the neighbour kids, must journey back across their own backyard, now an enormous, dangerous distance, to get back to the right height. Much is done with the perils of the lawn, from a wild deluge from the sprinklers to a nasty encounter with the lawnmower and numerous encounters with gigantic insects. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a generally kid-friendly, inventive (no pun intended) and entertaining outing. -Keith Simanton.

Review Uca / Short Circuit 2 [1988]
Actors & Directors
  • Michael McKean
  • Kenneth Johnson
  • Cynthia Gibb
  • Fisher Stevens
  • Jack Weston
  • Tim Blaney
Release date: 2004-04-12
Run time: 106 min.
Creator: S.S. Wilson
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.23

Review Short Circuit 2 [1988] / Uca:


Review Hit Entertainment / The Wiggles - Toot Toot! / Yummy Yummy
Actors & Directors
  • Anthony Field
  • Greg Page
  • Jeff Fatt
  • Murray Cook
Release date: 2005-01-31
Run time: 80 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £10.97

Review The Wiggles - Toot Toot! / Yummy Yummy / Hit Entertainment:


Review Peppa Pig / The Peppa Pig Collection
Release date: 2008-10-27
Run time: 540 min.
RRP: £44.99
Price: £32.56

Review The Peppa Pig Collection / Peppa Pig:


Review Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm / The Incredible Journey [1963]
Actors & Directors
  • John Drainie
  • Emile Genest
Release date: 2006-07-10
Run time: 77 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £8.37

Review The Incredible Journey [1963] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:


Review Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm / Freaky Friday/The Parent Trap [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Natasha Richardson
  • Jamie Lee Curtis
  • Nancy Meyers
  • Dennis Quaid
  • Mark Waters
  • Lindsay Lohan
Release date: 2007-08-20
Run time: 216 min.
RRP: £17.99
Price: £5.57

Review Freaky Friday/The Parent Trap [1998] / Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm:


Review Mgm Home Ent. (Europe) Ltd. / Teen Wolf / Teen Wolf Too [1985]
Actors & Directors
  • Michael J. Fox
  • Christopher Leitch
  • Jason Bateman
  • Rod Daniel
  • James Hampton
  • Susan Ursitti
  • Kim Darby
Release date: 2004-09-06
Run time: 186 min.
Creator: Tim Kring
RRP: £19.99
Price: £2.84

Review Teen Wolf / Teen Wolf Too [1985] / Mgm Home Ent. (Europe) Ltd.:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Welcome To Lazy Town [2006]
Actors & Directors
  • Magnus Scheving
Release date: 2006-09-11
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.75

Review Welcome To Lazy Town [2006] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Dreamworks Home Entertainment / MouseHunt [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Lee Evans
  • Michael Jeter
  • Maury Chaykin
  • Vicki Lewis
  • Gore Verbinski
  • Nathan Lane
Release date: 2005-07-04
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.94

Review MouseHunt [1998] / Dreamworks Home Entertainment:

What might have been a one-note family comedy becomes something more thanks to the comic brilliance of co-stars Nathan Lane and Lee Evans, as well as the distinctive, dark-fable look given the film by a little-known director named Gore Verbinksi (could he be the next Tim Burton?). Lane and Evans play idiotic brothers who inherit a house and all but destroy it in pursuit of one small, pesky mouse. The guys are always the butt of the sight gags-most of which are very funny-but their considerable powers as slapstick artists are also at play. The climactic scene at an auction was the funniest scene in any American movie in 1997, the year of Mouse Hunt's release. -Tom Keogh.

Review Walt Disney Home Video / Beauty And The Beast [Disney 1992]
Actors & Directors
  • Richard White
  • Robby Benson
  • Paige O'Hara
  • Jerry Orbach
  • Kirk Wise
  • Gary Trousdale
  • David Ogden Stiers
Release date: 2002-11-02
Run time: 88 min.
Creator: Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
RRP: £15.99
Price: £11.98

Review Beauty And The Beast [Disney 1992] / Walt Disney Home Video:

The film that officially signalled Disney's animation renaissance and the only animated feature to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination, Beauty and the Beast remains the yardstick by which all other animated films should be measured. It relates the story of Belle, a bookworm with a dotty inventor for a father; when he inadvertently offends the Beast (a prince whose heart is too hard to love anyone besides himself), Belle boldly takes her father's place, imprisoned in the Beast's gloomy mansion. Naturally, Belle teaches the Beast to love. What makes this such a dazzler, besides the amazingly accomplished animation and the winning coterie of supporting characters (the Beast's mansion is overrun by quipping, dancing household items) is the array of beautiful and hilarious songs by composer Alan Menken and the late, lamented lyricist Howard Ashman, (winning the 1991 Oscar for Best Song and Menken's score won a trophy as well). The downright funniest song is "Gaston", a lout's paean to himself (including the immortal line, "I use antlers in all of my de-co-ra-ting"). "Be Our Guest" is transformed into an inspired Busby Berkeley homage. Since Ashman's passing, animated musicals haven't quite reached the same exhilarating level of wit, sophistication and pure joy. -David Kronke, Amazon. comOn the DVD: Beauty and the Beast's regular DVD release still offers some special features, but doesn't hold a candle to the Collector's Edition. The "making-of" featurette is informative charting the production from Walt Disney's original idea to the final musical version. [+]
"The Story Behind the Story" shows the origins of many of Disney's adapted fairy tales. The two games are fun, if a little slow to load. Celine Dion's original video is slightly on the dull side, but Jump 5's remixed version of "Tale as Old as Time" is just ridiculous. As always the sing-along track is great fun for all budding Belles or Beasts in the house. The transfer is as pristine as could be expected from a 1991 release. On the DVD: Beauty and the Beast's two-disc Collector's Edition really is the stuff of fairy tales. Disc 1 has three versions of the movie, the best being the "Work in Progress" edition which offers the unfinished film, sketch lines and all. The theatrical cut has a pristine transfer and the sound is immaculate. The director's commentary relies on a lot on name-dropping and you'll find more interesting insight in the "making-of" feature on the second disc. The sing-a-long track (as with all Disney releases) is fantastic, particularly for such a well-loved score. Disc 2 is packed full of information, fun and games. The best of the informative features is "Animation Magic", an intelligent look into the production of Disney cartoons. In the games section you'll need to head straight for the West Wing to continue an adventure with Chip (Tip: finish the game "Maurice's Workshop" first), but get your fingers warmed up as it needs a little remote control action. This disc only really falls down on the slowness of some of its games and the appalling remix video of "Tale as Old as Time". -Nikki Disney.

Review Universal Pictures UK / Beethoven: The Pooch Pack
Release date: 2006-06-26
Run time: 437 min.
RRP: £29.99
Price: £12.75

Review Beethoven: The Pooch Pack / Universal Pictures UK:

Put Charles Grodin together with a 200-pound Saint Bernard and you're likely to come up with some good laughs. In this popular family comedy from 1992 Grodin plays a beleaguered dad who reluctantly lets his kids keep the lost puppy they've adopted. The dog quickly grows into the huge and clever hound named Beethoven. In a marked departure from his nice-guy roles in several Disney comedies from the 1960s and '70s, Dean Jones plays the villainous veterinarian who abducts Beethoven to be a subject in his sadistic animal experiments. The kidnapping sets the stage for a raucous rescue and, of course, an inevitable sequel. Innocuous but harmlessly entertaining, Beethoven is one of those movies that some kids can't get enough of. -Jeff Shannon.

Review MGM Entertainment / Prancer [1989]
Actors & Directors
  • Cloris Leachman
  • Michael Constantine
  • Sam Elliott
  • John D. Hancock
  • Abe Vigoda
  • Rutanya Alda
Release date: 2006-11-06
Run time: 98 min.
Creator: Raffaella De Laurentiis
RRP: £7.99
Price: £3.99

Review Prancer [1989] / MGM Entertainment:

A reindeer doesn't have to fly to be magical to someone, and Prancer proves the point in an unassuming and plainspoken way. This 1989 family film stars Rebecca Harrell as nine-year-old Jessica, a motherless schoolgirl raised (and largely ignored) by her bereaved and embittered father (Sam Elliot), an apple farmer. While Jessica's dad struggles to keep food on the family table, the little heroine worries over the fate of a wounded reindeer she meets and wistfully identifies as a member of Santa's sled crew. The story may sound overly precious, but the film is grittier and more realistic than that. Far more concerned with wobbly family relationships than gilded escapism, Prancer is a rare family film that can entertain without invoking fluffy enchantment. It was followed 12 years later by a sequel, Prancer Returns. -Tom Keogh.

Review Hit Entertainment / The Wiggles - Hoop Dee Doo / Wiggly Wiggly World
Actors & Directors
  • Rolf Harris
  • The Wiggles
Release date: 2005-09-12
Run time: 122 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.70

Review The Wiggles - Hoop Dee Doo / Wiggly Wiggly World / Hit Entertainment:


Review Hit Entertainment / Pingu - Pingu Forever
Actors & Directors
  • Marianne Noser
  • Otmar Gutmann
Release date: 2003-08-18
RRP: £6.99
Price: £2.28

Review Pingu - Pingu Forever / Hit Entertainment:


Review Momentum Pictures / Creature Comforts, Series 1 Part 2 [2003]
Actors & Directors
  • Nick Park
  • The Great British Public
Release date: 2004-04-05
RRP: £17.99
Price: £5.01

Review Creature Comforts, Series 1 Part 2 [2003] / Momentum Pictures:


Browse Children's DVD:

Models & Brands:
Mysterious Cities Of Gold - Complete Series, Kipper - Treasure Hunt, Lassie Come Home / Son Of Lassie / Courage Of Lassie (3 Disc Box Set), Balamory - Musical Stories, Shrek [2001], Honey, I Shrunk The Kids [1989], Short Circuit 2 [1988], The Wiggles - Toot Toot! / Yummy Yummy, The Peppa Pig Collection, The Incredible Journey [1963], Freaky Friday/The Parent Trap [1998], Teen Wolf / Teen Wolf Too [1985], Welcome To Lazy Town [2006], MouseHunt [1998], Beauty And The Beast [Disney 1992], Beethoven: The Pooch Pack, Prancer [1989], The Wiggles - Hoop Dee Doo / Wiggly Wiggly World, Pingu - Pingu Forever, Creature Comforts, Series 1 Part 2 [2003]

Top headlines:
Search 
DVD Rental: try it for free