DVD Review Round-Up for Holiday Giving- Part 1

Get ready to cuddle in front of the fire, drink egg nog, open presents and watch some DVDs! The Christmas and Hanukah seasons will be here before you know it and we've tracked down some great DVDs to add to your list for holiday giving or just to give yourself for your collection. Let us do the work and help you make your selections.

In this huge multi-part report, we cover everything from classics in new big box sets to modern films and TV shows. Here we go with Part 1.....

From Warner Brothers Home Video

Batman Begins – Deluxe Two-Disc Edition

Batman Begins shows you how millionaire heir Bruce Wayne became Batman and it totally rocks! Growing up after his parents' murder, Bruce (Christian Bale) travels the world looking for insight into the criminal mind. He is sought out by the head of a secret society of vigilantes(Liam Neeson) who wants to recruit him and finally returns home to save Gotham from an evil crime lord (Tom Wilkinson) and a wacko psychiatrist (Cillian Murphy). Aiding him is police Lieutenant (and future Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), Bruce's devoted butler (Michael Caine) and a business associate of his dad's (Morgan Freeman). His childhood friend (Katie Holmes) both helps and hinders his quest for justice.

This DVD set looks really cool. Besides the two discs, you also get a colorful 72-page comic book with the first story of Batman "The Bat-Man" by Bob Kane and two other stories that served as inspiration for the film. Cool to collect.

Video: Perfect. Anamorphic widescreen transfer is close to movie screen dimension. Even with all the dark scenes, the film is rich and sharp. Lots of detail and low grain problems. Doesn't get much better than this.

Audio: The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is really special. It's movie house huge with all dialogue and sound effects coming through in big bass beauty. The music is rich and clear as well. Surround sound is really great if you have that kind of audio set-up. Nothing at all to complain about here.

Special Features:: On Disc One you get the feature presentation with a good selection of scenes in the menu. There's a trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and a trailer for Batman Begins. There is no audio commentary here and that might bother some people, not me. It also includes a really funny parody from the MTV movie awards with Jimmy Fallon in "Tankman Begins", placing Jimmy right in the shotgun seat of the Batmobile. Hilarious and fun to keep and watch again.

Disc Two has most of the features. There is a strange menu for the extras in sort of an interactive comic book called "Inner Demons" but once you get to the features, we have "Batman: The Journey Begins", a fourteen-minute doc of the development and casting of the movie with director, filmmaker and actor comments plus excerpts from the film. You get several featurettes from three to fifteen minutes long "Cape and Cowl"; "Visual Effects"; "The Tumbler" (the Batmobile); "Gotham Rises" (design of the major set pieces; "Saving Gotham City" (showing the miniatures CGI and all the effects for the big chase scene on the monorail) and you get "Genesis of the Bat" (a cool background on Batman in comics and other lore). There are three different art galleries with colorful posters and more details under "Confidential Files" that show you the prop hardware, bad guys and good guys in the story. Some of this stuff is found in pieces elsewhere on the disc. These features were some of the most informative and complete I've seen and, let's face it girls, watching Bale get buff for the film won't ruin your day either.

Overall: This is, in my opinion the best Batman movie. It has an amazing cast. Christian Bale is the perfect brooding Batman. It's got great action, great dramatic drive, great appeal for both guys and girls; it's just really good storytelling and this DVD is the very best way to preserve the film to watch again and again. This would make a terrific Christmas gift for friends or your own collection. Oh, and look for cool hidden "Easter egg" features by clicking around on the comic book "Inner Demons" pages.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory –Deluxe Edition

Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) owns the biggest candy factory in the world and he offers five lucky winners of a golden ticket (hidden in five of his Wonka Bars) a personally guided tour through his factory and guarantees that one of the five winners will get an extra-special gift. The kid winners are Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), a fat kid who eats candy continuously; Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), the whiney, spoiled daughter of a rich nut packer; Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb), a smartass gum-chewing champ; Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry), a nasty spoiled video-game addict; and the hero, sweet and considerate Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore).

The kids come to the factory each with an adult family member and, one by one, Wonka sees that the winners get what is coming to them in the form of a big lesson taught by Wonka and his many Oompa Loompa workers. Only niceguy Charlie remains unscathed to win the big prize and help warped Wonka heal his own past.

Video: The first part of the film (not in the candy factory) is very gray and brown, a dull palate that works well when contrasted with the later scenes inside the ultra-colorful candy plant. The usual anamorphic widescreen transfer of this DVD really goes wild with Depp's colorful costumes and pale complexion and the creative sets inside the factory. No specks of dirt damage or problems with grain here. Lookin' good.

Audio: Full Dolby Digital 5.1 mix gives you great dialogue, musical score and sound effects like the ticking of tiny squirrel claws on the floor in one scene. Some of the Oompa Loompa song lyrics are kind of hard to understand but that was in the theater version too. Not too much surround sound or huge bass notes but a nice balance.

Special Features: Extras: Disc One contains the feature film with 32 scene selections and the trailer. No audio commentary. Which, from Tim Burton, would have been nice. Disc two has fun and games but not as many as you might think for a film that was so "visual". Bonus stuff is under either "Features" or "Games". "Becoming Oompa-Loompa," is a seven-minute segment on how the filmmakers turned small person Deep Roy into hundreds of Oompa-Loompas. I especially enjoyed "Attack of the Squirrels," nine minutes with Burton and an actual squirrel trainer! Yes, some of those squirrels were not CGI or puppets! Really cute. "Fantastic Mr. Dahl," is a seventeen-minute biography of the late author of the original book Roald Dahl. You get interviews with his family and friends and footage of the author himself. Very interesting.

Behind the scenes featurettes include "Making the Mix" that gives you "Chocolate Dreams," a short look at development etc. "Different Faces, Different Flavors," ten minutes on the actors and their characters; "Sweet Sounds," seven minutes about Danny Elfman's music; "Designer Chocolate," nine minutes on costumes; and "Under the Wrapper," seven minutes about the special effects.

Among the games, you'll find "Oompa-Loompa Dance," where you learn to dance like an Oompa-Loompa. I tried it for exercise and found that I had trouble remembering the moves. Kind of bizarre and fun for the whole family. "The Inventing Machine," lets you mix two ingredients together and watch how an Oompa Loompa likes your creation, "The Bad Nut," let's you sort bad nuts from good with the squirrels. Fun but I kept messing up here too. "Search for the Golden Ticket," lets you follow one of the five kids on some hide and seek games.

There are some Easter eggs among the extras that let you discover hidden scenes so click away.

Overall: If you can handle Johnny Depp's sort of weird Michael Jacksonesque performance as Wonka, this film can take its place beside the 1971 version which starred Gene Wilder. It's super colorful, Freddie Highmore is wonderful and the songs are catchy if not something you would normally sing all day. A commentary voice over would have been nice but the extras are fun and the games are even fun for teens.. at least for a while. Well worth collecting or giving as a Christmas gift to Depp and Burton fans.

The Wizard of Oz – Three Disc Collector's Edition

Okay, you know the story...little girl from Kansas gets sucked up into a tornado to the Land Of Oz where she has some kick butt adventures, makes some offbeat friends, defeats a wicked witch and unmasks a wizard.

This set is really the ultimate for Oz fans. Besides the goodies on the three discs you get two envelopes with slick, cool memorabilia like original publicity photos, a souvenir program from the 1939 premiere, a theater ticket, posters and other really cool publicity stuff to blast you back to the past as if you were there when the film first opened.

Video: This film has been on DVD in several versions already and each claimed to be the ultimate cleaned up version but this one is "ultra resolution" perfect. In full frame, all the bright colors just jump out at you and flesh colors seem to be better than in the past with details more distinct. Great job!

Audio: An upgrade to a Dolby 5.1 mix sounds great. The dialogue comes through clear and the much-loved music is beautiful. Sound effects come through well. If you want to hear the film as it was originally, there is a mono track on disc 1 but it only makes you appreciate how great this new audio mix is!

Special Features: OMG! More than ever! We'll mention them briefly: Disc One: The main feature with audio commentary with moderator Sydney Pollack and film historian John Fricke, lots of facts and old interviews with the stars and filmmakers. Really fantastic!

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook: 10 mins..features Angela Lansbury reading a shorted version of the L. Frank Baum story.. over the original illustrations! Great for kids and fans of the original story.

Prettier Than Ever: The Restoration of Oz: over 11 minutes really interesting looks at how this new version was cleaned up. These film techs are really excited about doing the work.

We Haven't Really Met Properly: about 21 minutes, tells you all about the cast with their career highlights and clips. Again narrated by Angela Lansbury. Cool.

You get a Music and Effects Track where you can just watch the movie without the dialogue if you want.. and you get that mono soundtrack for comparison.

Disc 2 has a great almost one hour doc called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic. This was originally produced in 1990 and again gives us friendly Angela hosting and narrating. All you ever wanted to know about the making of the film with interview with the stars, casting problems etc.

Memories of Oz: around 30 mins..A Turner Classic Movie special from 2001 with more anecdotes from surviving Munchkins and tech people involved in the film. Also fun and interesting.

Narrated by Sydney Pollack, The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz: around 30 mins.. features comments from some modern filmmakers (like Peter Jackson) and actors and famous tech folks on what the film meant to them. Tons of respected professionals yak about the film. Really cool to see how this landmark movie affected some of our modern film geniuses.

Because of the Wonderful Things It Does: The Legacy of Oz: around 25 minutes..Brittany Murphy narrates.. another cool retrospective piece on how the movie has survived and influenced folks.. Fun.

Harold Arlen's Home Movies: a little over four minutes.. is some 16mm film behind the scenes captured by the film's composer.. a fun.. you are there feel to this.

You get Outtakes and Deleted Scenes each one introduced by Angela Lansbury again. I won't list all these but they are all very fun to watch! There is a weird jitterbug sequence that is a hoot.

It's a Twister! It's a Twister! The Tornado Sets: over 8 minutes..A lot of old special effect film emphasizing the twister. Really cool for the era and fun to compare with modern effects.

Off to See the Wizard: Around 4 minutes..a few animated versions of the Oz characters from 1967 meant to run on TV.. cute but no great shakes.

From the Vault gives you some featurettes made way back in the day about the film. You get a look at what the studio publicity machine got going to sell their movie. These cracked me up and are well worth watching for a fun blast to the past.

There is an audio vault that has tons of fun stuff; a jukebox with 18 audio clips.. if you click Play All you get over three hours of Oz music. Old radio shows featuring the stars, etc. another fun blast to the past.

Mega-amounts of still galleries, sketches storyboards, costumes and makeup, effects, etc. abound on this disc. You also get six theatrical trailers with Lansbury introducing them.

On to Disc 3! L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain: around 28 minutes..all new featurette about the original Oz creator/author.. all about Mr. Baum with segment from his great-grandchildren. Really cool to remember this all started with a book!

Alternate versions of the story:

The Wizard of Oz: around 14 minutes.. Kind of weird looking silent short film from the year 1910.. kind of like a stage play weird but interesting.

The Magic Cloak of Oz: around 39 minutes..Another silent film based on the Oz story.. Again weird looking but interesting.

His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz: around one hour.. is another silent short film that takes the Oz legend in a different direction.

The 1925 version of The Wizard of Oz: over an hour...a sepia-toned silent film starring Oliver Hardy (of Laurel and Hardy) as a farmhand/tin man/knight. Again.. interesting and... weird.

The Wizard of Oz: over 8 minutes.. an animated short with cartoon music and a Betty Boop looking style.. crazy and fun to watch.

Overall: If you aren't interested in mega-info on the movie, there is a 2 disc yellow box edition but I'd go for the green box 3 disc model. It takes a long time to enjoy all the stuff. You could spend all the holidays watching a bit every night. A real treasure not likely to be topped. It would make a wonderful gift or addition to your own movie classics collection. Just exquisite!

Keep visiting TeenHollywood for more and more DVD reviews for your upcoming holiday collecting and gift giving!

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.