Blu-Ray/DVD
Spring Review Round-Up – Part 1
By Chickbabe Extraordinaire Lynn Barker
Muppets and bunnies, fuzzy chicks and a Claymation pooch vie
for our viewing pleasure. Gather the gang for a sweet childhood
romp!
From Lionsgate Home Entertainment
 Wallace
& Gromit’s World of Invention
Complete 6-Part Series
Buy
It
You know that adorable stop-motion pooch named Gromit and his
bumbling inventor owner/pal Wallace from 30-minute films A Grand
Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave, A Matter of Loaf
and Death and the very cool feature film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
The duo also hosted a cool British TV series that features real-life
inventors of some absolutely wild and cool things; a lady engineer
makes a tight-fitting new spacesuit, a guy puts tons of PVC
pipes together to make giant walking sculptures. There are flying
penguin planes and more!
Special Features: Six bonus clips called "Your
World of Invention" give you experiments you can do at
home. Fun! You can make a "Wind-Powered Sprinkler",
"Air Rocket", "Spy Camera" and "Upside-Down-O-Scope”.
More fun!
Wrapping Up: Wallace and Gromit are really cute in
their clever introductions and wrap-ups to each episode so you
get your fave duo but you also get to see some amazingly inventions
that just might make you want to run out, buy some supplies
and make your own weird car, spyware, robot etc. Very worth
adding to your home entertainment shelf!
From Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
 Hop
Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Combo Pack
Buy
It
Rolling
around for another Easter is that cute talking wrabbit and his
chick and human pals. When E.B., the teen rabbit destined to become
the Easter Bunny, rejects his legacy in order to pursue his dream
of rock ‘n roll stardom, he runs away. Fred (James Marsden)
hits E.B. with his car and the two become fast, if weird, friends
helping each other achieve their dreams and discovering the true
importance of family.
Special Features: Lots! “Phil's Dance Party”-
the chicks Phil and Carlos boogie. “The World of Hop”
is a six-part making of featurette with Russell Brand (voice of
E.B) and Hank Azaria (various voices) covering how the film was
made etc.
"All Access with Cody Simpson"- Cody talks about recording
“I Want Candy” for the film and attends the fun premiere.
Fun for Cody fans. "Russell Brand: Being the Bunny"
features Russell talking about doing the voice and "Russell
Brand's Kid Crack-Ups" shows him with real kids being questioned
about the film to a sort funny result. "Carlos on Carlos:
The Hop Premiere According to Carlos" pretends that the chick
was at the premiere interviewing celebs. Silly but cute.
"Emotion in Motion: The Dance of Ken Daurio" has the
writer talking about choreographing the moves of animated critters
like Phil. "Post-Coup Commentary: Carlos and Phil Tell All"
is kinda funny as the chicks talk over several clips.
On Blu-Ray, you also get trivia tracks "HOP Tweets"
and "Pink Beret Tracker" E.B. gives his notes over the
movie with Twitter style and you get animation and trivia by selecting
smartphone cut-ins. Games include "Drum Along”, where
you see if you can copy drum beats, " "E.B.'s Candy
Challenge" is a board game and "Pink Beret Skill Tester,"
makes you watch closely to win. All fun at least once.
Wrapping Up: Hop is a cute film but might have been better
totally animated (no humans) even though James Marsden does an
especially hoppin’ good job. The film is still sweet and
colorful and, for more extras to “play” with, go this
Blu-Ray pack route.
From Walt Disney Home Entertainment
 The
Muppets – “Wocka Wocka” Value Pack
Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital (plus Soundtrack)
Buy
It
Were the Muppet puppets a big part of your childhood? I’m
not a kid and I really love Miss Piggy and Kermie. Big Muppet
fan Jason Segel (who co-wrote and stars in the movie) gives us
the cool story of reuniting the Muppets years after their TV show
in an attempt to save their theater from an evil oil tycoon (Chris
Cooper) and re-launch their careers. Along for the trip to Hollywood
are Gary (Segel) and his brother Walter (a Muppet… don’t
ask) and Gary’s understanding girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams).
Special Features: The “Audio Commentary”
features writer/star Jason and his partner and director James
Bobin joking, laughing and talking about funny boo boos and working
with the puppets. Really kinda fun for a change. “Scratching
the Surface: A Hasty Examination of the Making of Disney’s
The Muppets” is a behind-the-scenes kind of mockumentary
about the making of the movie. Cute. “The Longest Blooper
Reel” contains the human actors messing up and then some
staged goofs by the Muppet characters. Fun.
“Explaining Evil: The Full Tex Richman Song” is a
longer version of “baddie” Chris Cooper’s rap
number. I thought this was hilarious. “A Little Screen Test
on the Way to the Read Through” follows the Muppets on their
way to rehearse. Cute. “Deleted Scenes”, eight of
them are all entertaining but not really needed in the movie.
You get seven spoof “trailers” that I LOVED. There
are satires of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Rise of the
Planet of the Apes. These are great to have. The Muppets even
entertain you with little sketches when you put the movie on pause.
Unique.
On a third disc you get the digital copy of the film AND the movie
soundtrack album. You get info on how to download it. A nice bonus
since the music was a big part of the film.
Wrapping Up: Whether you are a super Muppet fan or not, this movie
is so charming and fun it should win you over. You can dance and
sing along as well as identify with each character’s personal
problems (and each character has them). This one looks and sounds
beautiful and is a keeper.
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