
Gay
Purr-ee (1962/UPA/Warner
Archive DVD)/Justice
League: Gotham City Breakout - LEGO DC Comics Superheroes
(2016/DC Comics/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD & Toy)/Lili
(1953/MGM/Warner Archive DVD)/Paw
Patrol: Sports Day
(2016)/Shimmer &
Shine: Welcome To Zahramay Falls
(2016/Nickelodeon DVDs)
Picture:
B-/B & C+/C+/C+/C+ Sound: C/B+ & C+/C/C+/C+ Extras:
C/C/C-/D/D Main Programs: C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Gay
Purr-ee
(upgraded to Blu-ray, reviewed elsewhere on this site) and Lili
DVDs are now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here's
are latest look at family and child releases...
Abe
Levitow's Gay
Purr-ee
(1962) was a one-time collaboration between the innovative UPA
Studios (Mr. Magoo) and Warner Animation to make an animated feature
film for theaters. Concerning a lonely country cat named Mewsette,
voiced by none other than Judy Garland. This was enough for her old
''Over
the Rainbow''
composer Harold Arlen and lyricist by E.Y. Harburg to create the
songs for the entire film. Written by Dorothy & Chuck Jones,
Chuck Jones' style is here and trusted in the hands of
friend/director Levitow.
Mewsette
makes it to Paris, but a mysterious male cat (Paul Frees) and his odd
female friend (Hermione Gingold) are up to exploiting her and turning
her into a mail order bride-cat to be shipped to Pittsburgh!
Fortunately, old two cat friends (Robert Goulet and Red Buttons) have
followed her.
The
film is a mixed bag because it has its child-animation that looks
like Jones' style, but also Disney a bit, then you have these
remarkable, bolder animation moments that are the UPA style that push
the color and artform. Garland is in great vocal form as well and
gets the best songs with ''Roses
Red, Violets Blue'',
''Take
My Hand, Paree''
and ''Paris
Is A Lonely Town''.
The supporting voice cast is just fine, but obviously with Garland's
loss way too early, she becomes the focus in all kinds of ways
unimagined when the film was first released. I'm glad Warner Archive
reissued this on DVD because there is more than enough for
rediscovery here on this child-friendly release and the narrated
montage where Mewsette is portrayed in the style of every great
French painter to explain to the audience each special style they had
is a gem in itself.
Definitely
worth your time, this is marginally my favorite release here.
Extras
include Cast & Crew text, Musical Notes text, Jump To A Song menu
and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Matt
Peters & Mel Zwyer's Justice
League: Gotham City Breakout
(2016) is the latest LEGO
DC Comics Superheroes
comical animated romp, this time with Batman being pushed to take a
vacation, but while he is away, all the criminals from Arkham Asylum
land up escaping and terrorizing Gotham, et al. Can the rest of the
JL gang stop them?
This
one runs on 78 minutes, yet I was disappointed it had a little more
filler and predictability in it, but that could have been tolerable
if there was not this annoying motif of people being hit on the head
all the time as if that were a good thing. It is not and played for
laughs, it is never funny. At least this is technically competent,
but could have been better.
Extras
include a LEGO figure of Nightwing and Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy
for PC, PC portable and other cyber iTunes capable devices, while the
discs only add an Original Trailer for the most recent LEGO
Scooby-Doo
film.
Charles
Walter's Lili
(1953) is the earlier Leslie Caron hit as the lost title character
who comes across a traveling circus and gets involved with the group,
including Mel Ferrer as a one-time dancer whose injury ended his
career and he has never recovered emotionally from it, Jean Pierre
Aumont, Kurt Kasznar, Amanda Blake, Zsa Zsa Gabor as a married
performer who is oddly threatened by Lili and the result is a
backstage musical, but set at a circus. Very colorful, you
definitely get money on the screen and there are charming moments,
but it is not the family entertainment it might be.
Lili
is a woman who loves too much and Ferrer becomes abusive of her in
ways that cross a line and make this a bit toxic, but that's the film
MGM made. It is still not bad and much of it holds up well today,
but it has more than a few parts that slow the film and I had not
remembered as much of it as expected from seeing it many years ago.
Still, it is worth a look, but I would give it a PG-13 for the
family-unfriendly moments. Glad Warner Archive has issued it.
An
original theatrical trailer is the only extra.
Finally,
Nickelodeon has issued their latest single-DVD entries for the new
hit show Paw
Patrol: Sports Day
(2016) and one on the way to likely becoming a hit in Shimmer
& Shine: Welcome To Zahramay Falls
(2016), each 90 minutes and showing off episodes that are
entertaining and child-safe enough, but not very distinguished from
the other releases in their respective series. I got more chuckles
out of Paw
and realize Shine
is more aimed at young ladies, but the network rightly stays as
diverse as it can and they are worthy entires just the same. You can
read more about both shows among other Nickelodeon series elsewhere
on this site.
There
are no extras on either disc, though, oddly.
There
are no extras.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Purr
and 1.33 X 1 image on Lili
are both releases originally produced and issued in 35mm
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor prints and they both look good
in their representations of the format, especially Purr.
Lili
has some color shifting, here and there, but is just fine otherwise.
Purr
is the best-looking of the DVDs and a huge candidate for Blu-ray,
while the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on both Nick
DVDs are just fine., tying with Lili
and LEGO
for second-best DVDs here.
However,
the 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on LEGO
is easily the performance winner, looking good like most of the
previous LEGO
Blu-rays with nice color, surprising little touches of color, depth
and definition for its somewhat simple animation style to begin with.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on the LEGO
Blu-ray is even more impressive by just being very clean, clear and
consistent, though some might find the voices too forward in the
soundfield, mixing takes advantage of the multi-channel possibilities
and is fun. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the LEGO
and Nick
DVDs fall behind into second place, but are just fine, leaving
presentations of lossy Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono on Purr
and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Lili
sounding a generation down and needing upgrades, though it sounds
like the elements are in good shape if compressed and low here.
To
order either of the Warner Archive DVDs or Blu-ray, go to this link
for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
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Nicholas Sheffo