Grumpy
Cat's Worst Christmas Ever
(2014/Lionsgate DVD)/SpongeBob
Squarepants: The Pilot, A Mini-Movie and The Square Shorts
(1999, 2009/Nickelodeon DVD)
Picture:
C/C+ Sound: C/C+ Extras: C-/D Main Programs: C-/B-
Now
for some of the last children's titles of the year...
Grumpy
Cat's Worst Christmas Ever (2014) is one of the worst novelty
releases in a while, taking the suddenly famous female feline and
making the (with the help of bottom-of-the-barrel Lifetime Network)
is one of the dumbest, lamest, most condescending, phony, pointless
things you will see. Despite the star's appeal, Jim Henson's Muppet
people had to make several stunt versions of Grumpy for the stupidity
that fills most of the long, long, long 90 minutes when the cover if
the DVD case has more depth than anything on screen.
Even
in stunt puppet form, Grumpy outacts the entire human cast, even when
looking scared, confused and perplexed, only reflecting the reaction
of the more human viewers apparently. Cynical and a giant lump of
non-anthracite coal for us all, avoid this one bigtime!
A
dumb ice bucket challenge bit, Aubrey Gets Into Character, 3 Promos
and piece on making stunt puppets of Cat.
SpongeBob
Squarepants: The Pilot, A Mini-Movie and The Square Shorts (1999,
2009) is a compilation of key, highlight works in the early years of
one of the most successful modern animated TV franchises, running 98
minutes, a 2-part mini-movie and 42 more shorts. Again, serious fans
would prefer full season sets, especially on Blu-ray. It's still a
decent intro set, but far from comprehensive.
There
are no extras.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Cat is an HD shoot
and too soft throughout, while the 1.33 X 1 image on Pilot has
some letterboxed 1.78 X 1 shorts (too bad they are not anamorphically
enhanced) and fairs better, but some shorts look like older
transfers. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on both DVDs are fair,
but Cat tends to sound mixed badly and levels are weak.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
