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Review Universal Pictures UK / Raymond Briggs' The Snowman
Actors & Directors
  • Dianne Jackson
  • Raymond Briggs
  • David Bowie
  • Peter Auty
Release date: 2000-11-13
Run time: 26 min.
Creator: John Coates
RRP: £10.99
Price: £8.49

Review Raymond Briggs' The Snowman / Universal Pictures UK:

Two Raymond Briggs' animated classics, The Snowman and Father Christmas are here sensibly paired for maximum yuletide delight. Based on Briggs's classic children's book and crafted in a coloured-pencils-on-paper look, like fluffy, hand-drawn illustrations, The Snowman is a gentle fable of friendship and the power of imagination. It's the story of a small boy whose lovingly constructed snowman comes to life and takes him flying over the white-blanketed landscapes, in a beautiful rotoscoped (traced) sequence based on live-action flying footage. Part of the charm of the film is the gentle, everyday quality of its fantasy adventures: the snowman is invited in to try on clothes and play with the Christmas decorations, then plays host to the boy at a party in the woods, at which his snowy relatives do country dances. -David Chute In Father Christmas, an irreverent Santa breaks from tradition in many ways. He has no Mrs, owns only four reindeer and decides to convert his sleigh into an airborne motor home for a pre-Christmas holiday. He finds France too snooty, Scotland too cold and Las Vegas just right. Tanned and rested, he returns to the North Pole in time to sort through the mail, pack up the toys and hit the skies. He also narrates his own story (splendidly voiced by Los Angeles stage actor William Dennis Hunt), but fans of the 1973 book will find the animated version far less cranky than the original. Although the book was aimed at children between the ages of 4-8, this may have a wider appeal, depending on how you feel about the children seeing Santa gambling at the casino tables, dreaming of bikini-clad babes and suffering a bout of diarrhoea. [+]
-Kimberly Heinrichs.

Review Warner Home Video / The Charge of Light Brigade [1936] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Michael Curtiz
  • Nigel Bruce
  • Jack King
  • B. Reeves Eason
  • Lloyd French
  • Patric Knowles
  • Errol Flynn
  • Olivia de Havilland
  • Henry Stephenson
Release date: 2007-03-27
Run time: 115 min.
Creator: Alfred Lord Tennyson
Price: £8.98

Review The Charge of Light Brigade [1936] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Pathe Distribution / James And The Giant Peach [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Pete Postlethwaite
  • Joanna Lumley
  • Richard Dreyfuss
  • Simon Callow
  • Henry Selick
  • Paul Terry
Release date: 1999-10-01
Run time: 76 min.
Creator: Steve Bloom
RRP: £5.99
Price: £1.85

Review James And The Giant Peach [1996] / Pathe Distribution:

Roald Dahl's modern classic for children becomes a delightful combination of live action and stop-motion animation by the team that made The Nightmare Before Christmas: director Henry Selick and producers Tim Burton (Batman) and Denise Di Novi. The story concerns young James (played for real and through voice-overs by Paul Terry), who is orphaned and left in the charge of two cruel aunts (Miriam Margolyes, Joanna Lumley). Rescued by a mysterious fellow (Pete Postlethwaite), James ends up inside a giant peach, drifting over the Atlantic Ocean in the company of a gentleman grasshopper (voiced by Simon Callow), a fast-talking centipede (Richard Dreyfuss), an anxious earthworm (David Thewlis), a matronly ladybug (Jane Leeves), and a sexy spider (Susan Sarandon). The collection of actors and their creepy-crawly alter egos are a delight, especially when some of the song-and-dance numbers (tunes are written by Randy Newman) get everyone going. -Tom Keogh.

Review Blackhorse Entertainment / The Blue Gardenia [1953]
Actors & Directors
  • Fritz Lang
  • Richard Conte
  • Raymond Burr
Release date: 2007-04-02
Run time: 87 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £6.85

Review The Blue Gardenia [1953] / Blackhorse Entertainment:


Review Sony Pictures / The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 2: 1937-1939 (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Curly Howard
  • Larry Fine
  • Moe Howard
Release date: 2008-05-27
Run time: 415 min.
Price: £13.54

Review The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 2: 1937-1939 (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Sony Pictures:


Review Warner Home Video / Justice League: Season Two (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Release date: 2006-06-20
Run time: 30 min.
Creator: Robert Kanigher
Price: £21.71

Review Justice League: Season Two (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Walt Disney Video / Cinderella III: A Twist in Time [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Jennifer Hale
  • Russi Taylor
  • Susan Blakeslee
  • Frank Nissen
  • Tami Tappan Damiano
  • Christopher Daniel Barnes
Release date: 2007-02-06
Run time: 74 min.
Creator: Robert Reece
Price: £11.80

Review Cinderella III: A Twist in Time [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Walt Disney Video:


Review Sony Wonder / Sesame Street: Sing Yourself Silly! [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • James Taylor
  • Sesame Street Gang
Release date: 2005-02-01
Run time: 30 min.
Price: £4.24

Review Sesame Street: Sing Yourself Silly! [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Sony Wonder:


Review Warner Home Video / A Little Princess [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Liam Cunningham
  • Alfonso Cuarón
  • Arthur Malet
  • Eleanor Bron
  • Liesel Matthews
  • Rusty Schwimmer
Release date: 1998-02-09
Run time: 93 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £2.74

Review A Little Princess [1996] / Warner Home Video:

After the critical success of 1993's The Secret Garden, Warner Bros returned to the novels of Frances Hodgson Burnett to create this 1995 adaptation of A Little Princess, which instantly ranked with The Secret Garden as one of the finest children's films of the 1990s. Neither film was a huge box-office success, but their quality speaks for itself, and A Little Princess has all the ingredients of a timeless classic. A marvel of production design, the film features lavish sets built almost entirely on a studio backlot in Burbank, California. The story opens in New York just before the outbreak of World War I, when young Sara (Liesel Matthews) is enrolled in private boarding school while her father goes off to war. Under the domineering scrutiny of the school's wicked headmistress, Miss Minchen (Eleanor Bron), Sara quickly becomes popular with her schoolmates, but fate intervenes and she soon faces a stern reversal of fortune, resorting to wild flights of fancy to cope with an unexpectedly harsh reality. Rather than label her fanciful tales as escapist fantasy, A Little Princess actively encourages a child's power of imagination-a power that can be used to learn, grow, and adapt to a world that is often cruel and difficult. It's also one of the most visually beautiful films of the 90s and creates a fully detailed world within the boarding school-a place where imagination is vital to survival. A first-class production in every respect, this is one family film that should (if it's not too stuffy to say it) be considered required viewing for parents and kids alike. -Jeff Shannon.

Review 20th Century Fox / Love's Unending Legacy [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Dale Midkiff
  • Holliston Coleman
  • Samantha Smith
  • Mark Griffiths
  • Erin Cottrell
  • Victor Browne
Release date: 2007-12-04
Run time: 84 min.
Creator: Pamela Wallace
Price: £7.69

Review Love's Unending Legacy [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / 20th Century Fox:


Review Lindsay Lohan Box Set / Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen/Herbie/Freaky Friday
Release date: 2006-10-02
RRP: £19.99
Price: £12.98

Review Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen/Herbie/Freaky Friday / Lindsay Lohan Box Set:


Review Walt Disney Video / Fantasia 2000 [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Steve Martin
  • James Levine
  • Kathleen Battle
  • Don Hahn
  • Gaëtan Brizzi
  • Ralph Grierson
  • Leopold Stokowski
  • Eric Goldberg
  • Francis Glebas
  • Charles A. Nichols
Release date: 2000-11-14
Run time: 74 min.
Price: £61.94

Review Fantasia 2000 [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Walt Disney Video:

More ambitious in scope than any of its other animated films (before or to come), Disney's 1940 Fantasia was a dizzying, magical and highly enjoyable marriage of classical music and animated images. Fantasia 2000, originally made for the IMAX large-screen format, features some breathtaking animation and storytelling, and in a few spots soars to wonderful high points, but it still more often than not has the feel of walking in its predecessor's footsteps as opposed to creating its own path. A family of whales swimming and soaring to Respighi's The Pines of Rome is magical to watch, but ends all too soon; a forest sprite's dance of life, death and rebirth to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring too clearly echoes the original Fantasia's Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria sequence. But when it's on target, Fantasia 2000 is glorious enough to make you giddy. Hans Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is a perfect narrative set to Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Donald Duck's guest appearance as the assistant to Noah (of the Ark fame) set to Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance marches is a welcome companion piece (though not an equal) to The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the one original Fantasia piece included here. The high point of Fantasia 2000, though, is a fantastic day-in-the-life sequence of 1930s New York City set to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and animated in the style of cartoonist Al Hirschfeld; it's a perfect melding of music, story and animation style. Let's hope future Fantasias (reportedly in the works) take a cue from the best of this compilation. The music is provided by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine, interspersed with negligible intros by Steve Martin, Bette Midler, Itzhak Perlman, James Earl Jones and others. -Mark Englehart.

Review Passport Video / The Little Rascals Collection
Actors & Directors
  • Gus Meins
  • Bobbie 'Cotton' Beard
  • Sherwood Bailey
  • Gordon Douglas
  • Wally Albright
  • James W. Horne
  • James Parrott
  • Matthew 'Stymie' Beard
  • Carlena Beard
  • Fred C. Newmeyer
Release date: 2007-10-23
Run time: 30 min.
Price: £7.89

Review The Little Rascals Collection / Passport Video:


Review A&E Home Video / Mr. Bean: The Best of Mr. Bean [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Robin Driscoll
  • Rowan Atkinson
  • Matthew Ashforde
  • Roger Sloman
  • Matilda Ziegler
Release date: 2006-08-29
Run time: 125 min.
Creator: Andrew Clifford
Price: £3.95

Review Mr. Bean: The Best of Mr. Bean [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / A&E Home Video:


Review Warner Home Video / The Polar Express [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Michael Jeter
  • Robert Zemeckis
  • Eddie Deezen
  • Chris Coppola
  • Tom Hanks
  • Leslie Zemeckis
Release date: 2005-11-22
Run time: 99 min.
Creator: William Broyles Jr.
Price: £11.24

Review The Polar Express [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review Paramount / I Love Lucy: The Complete Fifth Season (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Desi Arnaz
  • Sam Edwards
  • William Frawley
  • Lucille Ball
  • Vivian Vance
  • James V. Kern
Release date: 2005-08-16
Run time: 680 min.
Creator: Madelyn Davis
Price: £17.70

Review I Love Lucy: The Complete Fifth Season (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Paramount:


Review Walt Disney Video / Princess of Thieves [2001] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • David Barrass
  • Malcolm McDowell
  • Peter Hewitt
  • Keira Knightley
  • Hannah Cresswell
  • Del Synnott
Release date: 2001-12-18
Run time: 88 min.
Creator: Robin Lerner
Price: £4.03

Review Princess of Thieves [2001] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Walt Disney Video:


Review Walt Disney Home Video / Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue [1997]
Actors & Directors
  • Timothy Stack
  • Thurl Ravenscroft
  • Eric Lloyd
  • Robert C. Ramirez
  • Deanna Oliver
  • Brian Doyle-Murray
Release date: 2000-09-01
Run time: 71 min.
Creator: Willard Carroll
RRP: £9.99
Price: £12.99

Review Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue [1997] / Walt Disney Home Video:


Review Uca Catalogue / Annie [1982]
Actors & Directors
  • Albert Finney
  • Aileen Quinn
  • Ann Reinking
  • Carol Burnett
  • John Huston
  • Tim Curry
Release date: 2003-10-20
Run time: 122 min.
Creator: Thomas Meehan
RRP: £5.99
Price: £0.01

Review Annie [1982] / Uca Catalogue:

Though it's not in the same league as the classic screen musicals, Annie's heartwarming rags-to-riches storyline, social comment (shallow as it may be) and catchy songs make for an entertaining and unpretentious 90 minutes' viewing. Aileen Quinn is the irrepressible titular orphan, by no means as irritating as she looks in the cover picture; Albert Finney is Oliver Warbucks, the tyrannical tycoon (with a hidden heart of gold, of course) who adopts her for a week in the interests of good PR. The real show-stopper, though, is Carol Burnett as the gin-soaked harpy Miss Hannigan, ruling with an iron fist over an orphanage full of unruly girls, flirting with every man in sight and eventually scheming with her unscrupulous brother (Tim Curry) to kidnap Annie and reap a fat Warbucks reward cheque. While the songs-including "Tomorrow", "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" and "It's a Hard Knock Life"-are excellent, the kids' voices are shrill and the production pretty low-rent: Annie is very obviously a stage show brought to screen on a low budget. But while it lacks the polish that make the Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Loewe musicals so special, it's funny and sweet and has a rough charm all its own. On the DVD: The film is presented in widescreen, preserving its original 2. 35:1 aspect, and is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen TVs; the soundtrack is Dolby surround, though as noted above the music score is relatively rough and ready so top-notch sound isn't actually as important as it would be in other musicals. The extras are pretty disappointing-an uninspired interactive menu features only the obligatory multi-language subtitles, (very) short biographies of the key cast members, a few publicity cards and posters, the theatrical trailer and-most interestingly-an isolated musical score. No commentary from director John Huston, no documentaries, nothing about the 1930s cartoon strip that was, apparently, one of the most popular of its day. There's actually more information in the accompanying booklet than there is on the disc. [+]
-Rikki Price.

Review Pathe Distribution / Five Children And It / Two Brothers / James And The Giant Peach - Live Action / Animated [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Jane Leeves
  • Susan Sarandon
  • Henry Selick
  • Richard Dreyfuss
  • John Stephenson
  • Kenneth Branagh
  • Jean-Jacques Annaud
  • Simon Callow
Release date: 2005-09-19
Run time: 266 min.
RRP: £19.99
Price: £7.00

Review Five Children And It / Two Brothers / James And The Giant Peach - Live Action / Animated [1996] / Pathe Distribution:


Browse Family Favourites:

Models & Brands:
Raymond Briggs' The Snowman, The Charge of Light Brigade [1936] (REGION 1) (NTSC), James And The Giant Peach [1996], The Blue Gardenia [1953], The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 2: 1937-1939 (REGION 1) (NTSC), Justice League: Season Two (REGION 1) (NTSC), Cinderella III: A Twist in Time [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Sesame Street: Sing Yourself Silly! [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC), A Little Princess [1996], Love's Unending Legacy [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen/Herbie/Freaky Friday, Fantasia 2000 [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Little Rascals Collection, Mr. Bean: The Best of Mr. Bean [1990] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Polar Express [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC), I Love Lucy: The Complete Fifth Season (REGION 1) (NTSC), Princess of Thieves [2001] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue [1997], Annie [1982], Five Children And It / Two Brothers / James And The Giant Peach - Live Action / Animated [1996]

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