Care
Bears: Bearied Treasure
(2016/Lionsgate DVD)/LEGO
Friends: Girlz 4 Life
(2016/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)/LEGO
Ninjago: Possession - Season Five
(2015/Warner DVD)/Snow
White & The Seven Dwarfs: The Signature Collection
(1938/Disney Blu-ray w/DVD and HD Digital Copy)
Picture:
C+/B- & C/C+/B+ & B- Sound: C+/B- & C/C+/B & B-
Extras: D/C-/D/B+ Main Programs: C+/C/C+/B+
Here's
a new set of children's titles, including an upgrade of an all-time
animated classic...
We
start with Care
Bears: Bearied Treasure,
one of the more cleverly entitled compilations sets, though it is
only 66 minutes in all, leaving too much blank room on the disc. The
first show has fun with the idea of pirates and the shows overall
have a bit more energy than you might expect, but I still wonder if
we'll ever see a more expensive animated version in the original
hand-drawn form. The CGI here is fine for a TV show, but I only like
it so much.
There
are no extras.
LEGO
Friends: Girlz 4 Life
(2016) runs 80 minutes and is the toy franchise's attempt to cut into
the older Dora
and Bratz!
franchises with more (and similar) such gals who love to have fun,
play in a pop band and have their own adventures in music and the new
world at large. In that, it is not bad or any better or worse than
the competing 'gal groups' but I found it not too memorable and hey,
they don't look much like they are from LegoLand to begin with. I'll
be curious to see where this one goes, but they're going to have to
come up with something more interesting if they intend to stick
around.
Some
dance and Music Video clips that encourage participation, along with
Digital Copy, are the only extras.
LEGO
Ninjago: Possession - Season Five
(2015) has stuck around longer than anyone could have expected, but
Warner is only giving this one a DVD release. It is more of the
same, but at 3 hours, is at least energetic and consistent. That's
10 episodes over 2 DVDs, but at this point, it is really for fans
only, though young ones could start here and have no problem picking
up what is happening.
There
are no extras.
Last
but not least is an expanded Blu-ray re-release of Snow
White & The Seven Dwarfs: The Signature Collection
(1938), the beginning of a new series of Disney Blu-rays of their
classic animated features. The picture and sound are the same
excellent presentations from the original DVD with no changes or
compromises as reviewed at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9079/Snow+White+&+The+Seven+Dwarfs+(1938/Disney
Extras
repeated from the last Blu-ray edition include the DVD version, an
audio commentary track using archival recordings of Walt Disney
himself while many others to describe the making of the classic, 3
Backstage
Disney
segments including one with 2 Deleted Scenes, Snow
White Returns,
a Music Video for Someday
My Prince Will Come,
Disney Family Play, and four Classic Bonus Features: Animation Voice
Talents, Disney Through The Decades, Disney's Wild Mine Ride and a
Karaoke version of ''High-Ho''.
The One That Started It Al has been expanded into a Making Of
featurette and new extras include In
Walt's Words: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
where for the first time ever, hear Walt himself talk about Snow
White (not on the audio commentary), Iconography
which explores how this film influences pop culture, art, and
fashion, @DisneyAnimation:
Designing Disney's First Princess
as Modern day Disney artists discuss the design of Snow White and how
it influenced the look of some of your favorite Disney characters,
The
Fairest Facts of Them All: 7 Facts You May Now Know About Snow White
with Disney Channel star Sofia Carson revealing seven intriguing
facts about Snow White, Snow
White in Seventy Seconds
has you Rap (!?!) along with this hip reimagining of the story and an
Alternate
Sequence: The Prince Meets Snow White
that is a never-before-seen story board sequence where the Prince
meets Snow White.
That's
enough for an upgrade, though a few items are child-aimed only.
Still, it remains their biggest animated film at the box office in
adjusted dollars ever (Star
Wars: The Force Awakens
threatens to replace it as the biggest domestic release in Disney
history as we post this) and was worth their efforts.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on all the DVDs and 1.33 X 1
on Snow
White
should be even, but Snow
White
has the best-looking DVD still and the Girlz
DVD is just too soft for its own good. Fortunately, the
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer in the Girlz
Blu-ray is much better, clearer and warmer throughout, but the
remarkable 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Snow
White
with its Technicolor visuals is easily the visual champ here by far.
As
for sound, Snow
White
again offers a solid DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix, while
Girlz
follows with a decent DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix that
is a bit weaker than expected. Thus, the DVD's lossy Dolby Digital
5.1 is even poorer and the poorest performer on the list. The
remaining DVDs offer lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mixes (Ninjago
claims Pro Logic surrounds) that are just fine and what we expect
from a child-safe set of DVD releases: not too loud and just clear
enough.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
