Pokémon 2000, the second film to spin off the powerhouse child-friendly franchise of the turn-of-the-millennium, consists of the colourful if babyish human-presence free, short Pikachu's Rescue Adventure and the more elaborate feature The Power of One. The main attraction is up to snuff animation-wise, with imaginative settings (an island lair, a huge dirigible) that crossbreed cyberpunk futurism and Jules Verne style retro-fantasy. It even has the germ of an interesting, almost subversive idea, in that the story's wealthy villain is a green-haired fanatic who is as obsessive about collecting Pokémon as the film's target audience-he's after three fabled birds, Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno, but is really interested in the cute Loch Ness Monster-type being Lugia-but his philosophy is so skewed that he is more interested in owning and numbering the fabulous creatures than training or befriending them. A clever pun in a prophecy decrees that in a predestined crisis, "the world will turn to ash"-this turns out not to be a gloomy foretelling of holocaust but the revelation that human hero Ash is a messianic "Chosen One" who can restore the balance of nature when the collector's antics have unleashed worldwide climatic change. Adults might find the whole thing an endurance test for its shrill voicings, with Americanised kids and Japanese baby-talking Pokémon, not to mention the meld of incredibly simplistic storyline with amazingly intricate backstory. A trace of self-awareness comes in a brief snippet from a Weird Al Yankovic's song ("Polka mon") under the crowded end credits. -Kim Newman Video description DVD special features: The nice-looking DVD (letterboxed to 1. 85:1) comes with a "special edition" Pikachu card; trailers for this film and Pokémon 3; video clips of Pokémon-themed songs performed by Dream Street, Alysha Antonio and Youngstown; a snippet-like "making of the soundtrack" featurette, DVD-ROM features that won't play on a Mac (mostly Web-site links and ads for new poképroducts-"for the first time you will be able to discover if your Pokémon are male or female"!); soundtracks in English, French, Dutch, German and Italian with subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Dutch and Arabic.

John Milius charts a decade of social change as three surfing buddies use the sport as a personal touchstone for their lives whilst growing up in the turbulent 1960s. Irresponsible hot-dogging legend Matt (Jan-Michael Vincent),serious and stable Jack (William Katt) and mad misfit Leroy, aka "Masochist" (Gary Busey), are teenage surf bums in 1963, living at the beach in a perpetual summer under the sway of surfboard-maker Bear (Sam Melville), guru, mentor, and keeper of the lore. But times are changing and boys grow up in the shadow of Vietnam while adulthood pushes them into hard decisions. John Milius mixes the nostalgia of American Graffiti with the reverence of a John Ford cavalry drama. Surfing becomes a kind of spiritual quest spoken of in awed mythic tones and photographed with the epic grandeur of a rite of passage. Milius's heavy-handed direction andr everent attitude slows the films and will turn off some viewers but Milius fans will appreciate his macho stylings and philosophical musings, and surfing fans will love the spectacular surfing footage, including the dazzling stylings of world champion Gerry Lopez (who Milius later cast in Conan the Barbarian). Lee Purcell costars as Matt's supportive wife, with Patti D'Arbanville, Barbara Hale and Robert Englund in supporting roles. Look for Ford stock player Hank Worden in a small role and Milius himself in a cameo role selling marijuana in Tijuana. -Sean Axmaker John Milius charts a decade of social change in Big Wednesday as three surfing buddies use surfing as a personal touchstone for their lives while growing up in the turbulent 1960s. Irresponsible hot-dogging legend Matt (Jan-Michael Vincent), serious and stable Jack (William Katt), and mad misfit Leroy, aka "Masochist" (Gary Busey), are teenage surf bums in 1963, living at the beach in a perpetual summer under the sway of surfboard-maker Bear (Sam Melville), guru, mentor, and keeper of the lore. [+]

This CinemaScope treatment of Frank Loesser's hit Broadway musical Guys and Dolls is a deeply rewarding visual and musical experience. Frank Sinatra turns in one of his best screen performances running a close second to Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons, looking adorable and singing sweetly. In essence this is a piece of photographed theatre mounted on a handsome scale. The striking set designs and a brilliantly executed soundtrack are courtesy of two Broadway craftsmen Oliver Smith and conductor Jay Blackton. Photographer Harry Stradling brings a meticulous eye for detail when his camera stationed on the auditorium side of the frame, peers into Miss Adelaide's bathroom cupboard as she views the lines of medicine bottles in her celebrated "lament". Sinatra, in his vocal prime, sings a new number to Adelaide (Vivian Blaine)-arranged by Nelson Riddle-and Brando and Simmons strike chords in all their scenes from their opening duet "I'll Know" through to their evening out at a Havana bistro where she gets pie-eyed on a Bacardi milk-shake, tipsily wondering "If I were a Bell". Stubby Kaye also from the Broadway cast recreates the show-stopping "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat". Michael Kidd's choreography for "Luck Be a Lady" is razor-sharp and superbly captured in the CinemaScope format, though the formalised staging of the opening ought to have been rethought for this medium. The biggest pity is that Loesser amended some of his lyrics and replaced several tunes from his original score with inferior material. On the DVD: The DVD trailer hosted by Ed Sullivan makes much of the $1,000,000 cheque producer Samuel Goldwyn paid for the rights and the previews of the picture he obtained for his weekly television show. [+]

Yes, that is Bill Paxton as Ilan Mitchell-Smith's militaristic big brother. And that's Robert Downey Jr. as one of the in-crowd jerks who makes nerds Mitchell-Smith and Hall's lives miserable. Fortunately, this is a John Hughes comedy and our smart nerds create the perfect woman, Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), using a computer and voodoo. Lisa is a willing sex toy, has magical powers, and just wants to help the boys get even and meet nice babes. She even cleans up. The fantasy ebullience of Hughes is given full rein here and that's good and bad (mostly good). It's all aimed at a certain kind of hormone-addled, 16-year-old sensibility; but who doesn't have a little bit of that in them? -Keith Simanton.

Like giant monuments to good old-fashioned star quality, Funny Girl (1968) and Funny Lady (1975) hark back to the golden days of American vaudeville, while essentially celebrating one of the great, egotistical show-business talents of all time. Viewed end to end, these two films, which tell the story of Ziegfeld comedienne Fanny Brice, run for almost five hours. That's a lot of biopic. But with the greatest of respect to Brice, undoubtedly a formidable star of her time, the talent really in the spotlight here belongs to Barbra Streisand. Streisand created the role of Fanny Brice in the 1964 Broadway stage musical and her performance for the big screen is a tour de force, fully deserving the Best Actress Oscar which she received. As a biopic, Funny Girl is superior fare, full of sumptuous production numbers. Brice's glory days are explored against the background of her turbulent private life with her flawed playboy husband Nicky Arnstein (a sympathetic performance from Omar Sharif) with considerable attention to the details of her inner turmoil. More rambling and less cohesive, Funny Lady finds Fanny divorced but still in love with Arnstein (Sharif also revisiting his role), drifting into marriage number two with uncouth songwriter and impresario Billy Rose (the excellent James Caan), her successful career again juxtaposed with a less than happy personal life. Combined, both films measure Streisand's rise to greatness. In Funny Girl, the bravura of the performance as a whole masks occasional gaucheness, while if Funny Lady is the less impressive picture overall, it still marks how far she has developed as a screen actress. [+]

Meet the Parents found such tremendous success in the chemistry produced by the contrasting personalities of stars Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller that the film's creators went for broke with the same formula again in Meet the Fockers. This time around, Jack and Dina Byrnes (De Niro and Blythe Danner) climb into Jack's new kevlar-lined RV with daughter Pam (Teri Polo), soon-to-be son-in-law Gaylord (Stiller), and Jack's infant grandson from his other daughter for the trip to Florida to meet Gaylord's parents, Bernie and Roz Focker (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand in a casting coup). The potential in-laws are, of course, the opposite of Jack, a pair of randy, touchy-feely fun-lovers. The rest of the movie is pretty much a sitcom: put Bernie and Roz together with Jack, and watch the in-laws clash as Gaylord squirms. As with the original, there is a sense of joy in watching these actors take on their roles with obvious relish, and the Hoffman-Streisand-Stiller triumvirate is likeable enough to draw you in. But the formula doesn't work as well in Fockers mostly because much of the humor is based on two obvious gimmicks: Gaylord Focker's name, and the fact that Streisand's character is a sex therapist. As a result, the movie itself is more contrived and predictable, and a lot less fun than the original. The casting is grand, but one wishes more thought was put into the script. -Dan Vancini, Amazon. com.

A film about society's attitude to sexuality, with a lighthearted dig at political correctness gone mad, The Closet is French farce in the tradition of Moliere: a man pretends to be something he's not, people begin treating him differently, his lie escalates out of all proportion, and comedy ensues. Francois Pignon (Daniel Auteuil) is a dull, divorced accountant in a French rubber-processing factory whose primary product is condoms. The morning of the company photograph he overhears he is going to be fired. After half-heartedly trying to kill himself, he meets his new next-door neighbour who suggests a plot that will keep him from losing his job: he should pretend he's gay, and the neighbour will doctor the photographs and send them to his boss to prove it. The comedy springs from people's reactions to Pignon's alleged homosexuality. The managing director puts him on a Gay Pride parade float with a condom on his head, his estranged son suddenly thinks he's cool, his female boss catches on to the scam and begins to think that Pignon is not as banal as she first thought, and the homophobic, macho personnel director-a great performance from Gerard Depardieu-discovers his sensitive side. It's well directed by Francis Veber (writer of the original Three Fugitives), who moves the gentle action along masterfully, providing some laugh-out-loud moments and getting some great performances from his ensemble cast. Overall, it's an uplifting comedy about prejudice and how a Mr Nobody becomes a somebody. -Kristen Bowditch.