Despicable Me 2 (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)

A greatly succesful sequel with even more hilarity, despicability, girl power and minions - and agent Lucy Wilde...
I loved this movie and both my daughters loved it even more. It is AS GOOD as the first part, therefore this review follows the main lines of my review of the first "Despicable me". This review contains very limited SPOILERS.

1. Hilarity - Exactly as the first film, this sequel is HILARIOUS! There is hardly any 15 seconds in this movie that would not contain a really good gag, children or/and adult oriented. Whoever wrote the scenario was a genius!

2. Despicability - in this film Gru is a little bit different from what he was in the first part. He is no more so grumpy, mean, petty and permanently aggravated - he certainly smiles more and all his attitude softened. He remains however exactly as insecure as in the first film. That being said, there are moments in this film when the old Gru resurfaces, when his heart is broken or when somebody REALLY upsets him. His geriatric sidekick and only friend (well, kind of) doctor Nefario didn't take all this change easily...
Minions Rule!
My name is Norma and I'm a Minion junkie.

In Despicable Me, they were the bickering followers of supervillain Gru (voiced by the always funny Steve Carell), who adopted three little girls as part of one of his evil plots. In Despicable Me 2, Gru, now a devoted dad, has reformed and is attempting to start a legitimate business. He's turned his lab into a high-tech kitchen for making jellies and jams. Too bad nobody, including the Minions, likes the stuff they're making. His longtime sidekick, Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), grows restless--as restless as a hard-of-hearing geezer mad scientist can possibly be--and decides to leave Gru's lab and go back to evildoing with another supervillain. Gru reluctantly says goodbye to his soon-to-be-former accomplice and the Minions give Nefario a twenty-one fart gun salute (yep,I said fart gun--it wasn't a typo).

When the Minions start to disappear, Gru doesn't notice--at first. He's busy deflecting the matchmaking attempts of...
Surprised and Delighted
Actually, this review is of the theatrical performance of DESPICABLE ME 2. We hadn't planned on seeing it this weekend but we were running early at the multiplex and the next showing of MONSTERS U was full. Neither of us had seen D.M. 2's predecessor but it didn't matter once we caught onto the fact that the Minions are kind of like Gremlins or Ewoks except they have very little hair, there are tons of them, some have only one eye, and all of them love to go into costume. The plot has superspy overtones, as the formerly despicable main character Gru (voice of Steve Carrell) is shanghai'd by the international Anti-Villain League to find out who is about to enslave the world (the likely culprits have been winnowed down to the proprietors of the stores at the local shopping mall). Lucy, a way over-the-top near-novice girl spy (Kristen Wiig) joins our hero and at the beginning there is no love lost between them . . . but things develop. So what you have is basically a...
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Monsters University (Blu-ray Combo Pack)

Why the lessons in `Monsters University' are Pixar's most bold yet
SPOILERS BELOW. DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM.

If you don't care about the end being discussed, then by all means read on...

My wife and I saw Monsters University and both loved it. Many of the Top Critics on Rotten Tomatoes however, seemed to miss the point of the film entirely.

"This is a safe, predictable, edge-free, nearly bland effort from a studio that rarely hedges its bets." - Richard Roeper

"[It] conforms to [Pixar's] apparent drift toward the average, with toy sales taking priority over originality." - Liam Lacey

"Monsters University is cute, and funny, and the animation, though not exactly inspired, is certainly colorful." - Steven Rae

"Mostly memorable for being fine but forgettable." - Betsy Sharkey

Since 1995, Pixar has dominated computer animated filmmaking. They constantly win Academy Awards (9 nominations, 7 wins for Best Animated Feature) and are universally praised for their...
Pixar returns to its magical ways.
Dumb me! Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb me! All summer I put my faith and hope in the big blockbuster films, the Iron Man 3's and Star Treks of the world. And from Man of Steel to Pacific Rim almost without fail these over budgeted, underwritten explosiony action films left me feeling disappointed and underwhelmed. Except for World War Z there is not a single movie I've seen this summer that I can truly say was a great film. Some were better than others (Oblivion and Pacific Rim were both pretty good) but considering their competition was Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness that's not saying much. All the while I put off seeing Monsters U for weeks. "It looks silly" I said, "Pixar has lost its mojo" the idiot side of my brain insisted. Well, that sure teaches me. I will never doubt Pixar again. Even if they make another mediocre film like Brave, they have more than proven themselves still capable of making a damn good film.

Wall E will always be my favorite Pixar...
Even though It's A Prequel, "Monsters University" Continues to Surprise Us With Profound Insights
***This review may contain spoilers.***

Like "Monsters, Inc.", "Monsters University" (MU) won't win any recognition for its originality. Relating the tale of the first encounter between all-eye green cyclops Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and blue, hulking, bear-like James "Sully" Sullivan (John Goodman) at the titular institute of higher "scare" learning, MU cribs all over the place. As other posters have noticed, MU borrows fragments of other college-themed movies like "Animal House", the Harry Potter movie heptology (seven films), and even a smidgen of "Back to School". Most tellingly, however, MU is heavily in debt to "The Hunger Games", since the meets held to determine which monster fraternities will be eliminated from the prestigious "scare curriculum" and even from the university take up the bulk of the film. MU robustly and hilariously satirizes the aspects of college and frat life you would expect, but later reveals unexpected insights about the limits of...
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Monsters University (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)

Why the lessons in `Monsters University' are Pixar's most bold yet
SPOILERS BELOW. DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM.

If you don't care about the end being discussed, then by all means read on...

My wife and I saw Monsters University and both loved it. Many of the Top Critics on Rotten Tomatoes however, seemed to miss the point of the film entirely.

"This is a safe, predictable, edge-free, nearly bland effort from a studio that rarely hedges its bets." - Richard Roeper

"[It] conforms to [Pixar's] apparent drift toward the average, with toy sales taking priority over originality." - Liam Lacey

"Monsters University is cute, and funny, and the animation, though not exactly inspired, is certainly colorful." - Steven Rae

"Mostly memorable for being fine but forgettable." - Betsy Sharkey

Since 1995, Pixar has dominated computer animated filmmaking. They constantly win Academy Awards (9 nominations, 7 wins for Best Animated Feature) and are universally praised for their...
Pixar returns to its magical ways.
Dumb me! Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb me! All summer I put my faith and hope in the big blockbuster films, the Iron Man 3's and Star Treks of the world. And from Man of Steel to Pacific Rim almost without fail these over budgeted, underwritten explosiony action films left me feeling disappointed and underwhelmed. Except for World War Z there is not a single movie I've seen this summer that I can truly say was a great film. Some were better than others (Oblivion and Pacific Rim were both pretty good) but considering their competition was Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness that's not saying much. All the while I put off seeing Monsters U for weeks. "It looks silly" I said, "Pixar has lost its mojo" the idiot side of my brain insisted. Well, that sure teaches me. I will never doubt Pixar again. Even if they make another mediocre film like Brave, they have more than proven themselves still capable of making a damn good film.

Wall E will always be my favorite Pixar...
Even though It's A Prequel, "Monsters University" Continues to Surprise Us With Profound Insights
***This review may contain spoilers.***

Like "Monsters, Inc.", "Monsters University" (MU) won't win any recognition for its originality. Relating the tale of the first encounter between all-eye green cyclops Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and blue, hulking, bear-like James "Sully" Sullivan (John Goodman) at the titular institute of higher "scare" learning, MU cribs all over the place. As other posters have noticed, MU borrows fragments of other college-themed movies like "Animal House", the Harry Potter movie heptology (seven films), and even a smidgen of "Back to School". Most tellingly, however, MU is heavily in debt to "The Hunger Games", since the meets held to determine which monster fraternities will be eliminated from the prestigious "scare curriculum" and even from the university take up the bulk of the film. MU robustly and hilariously satirizes the aspects of college and frat life you would expect, but later reveals unexpected insights about the limits of...
Click to Editorial Reviews

Planes (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)

Planes Versus Cars?
'Planes' Review. By Owen Zupp
Author: 50 Tales of Flight: From Biplanes to Boeings

Famous movie franchises can be like famous families. They can benefit from association, but they can also suffer at the hands of unending comparisons. And this may well be the case for 'Planes'.

In terms of a movie, 'Cars' was a massive success and taking this tale to the next level was undoubtedly the goal for Disney. In terms of media, marketing and merchandising, transforming 'Cars' into 'Planes' was a relatively straightforward exercise, however, it was a greater leap of faith to transform the movie.

Without being a spoiler, the 'Cars' template was overlaid on the 'Planes' concept and then tweaked here and there. The backdrop is once again a race circuit, albeit around the world, and the shifting fortunes play out on a leader board. The central character is not a shiny 'Lightning McQueen',...
It's a movie for KIDS!
Maybe there should be a law that only children should review movies for
children. Asking some adult critic to get off his/her lofty perch and
roll around in the mud of childhood might be a bit of a stretch.

Is "Planes" bland, derivative pablum with a "feel-good" message? Sure,
if you are over 30. I was lucky to see it with my 8-year-old grandson
and his two similarly aged friends. They loved it and talked about the
characters all evening.

Being Disney, it had excellent graphics, funny sight gags and naughty
references that flew (literally at times) over the heads of the kiddies
(vasectomies figure big here). If you are an adult who loves airplanes,
there are cartoon versions of some real beauties especially the Gee Bee
Super Sportster, a barrel-shaped monster from the 1930's, and the
stolid F4U Corsair, modeled after WWII ace Ira Kepford's bird.

As far as the plot; that's unimportant. It is indeed...
Planes not just for Kids
I took my 2 year old to see this twice. He is a huge cars fan so I thought what the heck he will love this.....was I ever so right!! Not only did he sit still the entire movie, I too enjoyed it as well. Would definitely recommend this to any Disney/Pixar collector!!!
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The Little Mermaid (Two-Disc Diamond Edition: Blu-ray / DVD in Blu-ray Packaging)

Disney's beloved classic returns!!
One of the most beloved Disney films, "The Little Mermaid" returns on dvd, fully restored and remastered in an all new 2 disc set this October! Rather than talking about the film (c'mon we all know what it is all about and most of are quite familiar with its charm and beauty! Though the first "The Little mermaid" dvd released years ago was just a barebone disc with non-anamorphic transfer, this one will have everything to fulfill every mermaid fan's desire!

Here's what to look forward to in this special 2 disc set:

Fully restored with an all-new Disney Home Theatre 5.1 mix.

Backstage Disney, including an all new commentary.

Treasures Untold: The Making of The Little Mermaid.

The Story Behind The Story.

Deleted Scenes, including Backstage With Sebastian, Sebastian Lost In The Castle, Advice From Sebastian and Fight With Ursula.

Music Video "Kiss The Girl"

Games and Activities inclue The Little...
Good if you don't mind minor edits
Finally got around to watching this last night. In this review I'm not going to bother to review the movie itself. It's seventeen years old. I'm sure if you are interested in it you've seen it by now. Rather, I'm going to review the technical quality of the film and the extras provided on the DVD. One thing that feel I should point out up front is that the movie HAS been edited, but only in one scene. The infamous 'clergyman sporting an erection' that caused such a stupid flundie flap has been photoshopped. The theatrical poster artwork is not on the cover or anywhere on the disc for a similar reason. You can find out more by going to Snopes and looking in the Disney films section. I personally don't care, but some people do. Now, on to the review.

This version is widescreen, but it's 16:9 widescreen and not theatrical widescreen, but this has been the case in pretty much all the Disney movie DVDs so no surprises there. The Little Mermaid was the next to last movie Disney...
Are you sure you got an authentic disc?
People need to be VERY cautious when buying Little Mermaid. This DVD has been out of print so long that it is actually quite rare to find a truly new disc. I've actually had the misfortune of buying several Disney DVD's at auction only to find that they are counterfeit discs even though the box is shrinkwrapped. I e-mailed the seller of one of these DVD's and found out that apparently there are a lot of people who separately buy counterfeit DVD's in bulk (usually from Asia) along with packaging materials. They then assemble all the stuff together, shrinkwrap the whole thing (yes, people actually buy shrinkwrapping machines to do this!) and sell it as new on the web. This also explains all those electronic auctions where the seller makes the outrageous claim that their DVD's don't ship in a hard case but instead come in a more protective sleeve (which is BS) or they're trying to save you shipping (that's because they don't have the authentic cases to send you).

So how can...
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Despicable Me 2 (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)

A greatly succesful sequel with even more hilarity, despicability, girl power and minions - and agent Lucy Wilde...
I loved this movie and both my daughters loved it even more. It is AS GOOD as the first part, therefore this review follows the main lines of my review of the first "Despicable me". This review contains very limited SPOILERS.

1. Hilarity - Exactly as the first film, this sequel is HILARIOUS! There is hardly any 15 seconds in this movie that would not contain a really good gag, children or/and adult oriented. Whoever wrote the scenario was a genius!

2. Despicability - in this film Gru is a little bit different from what he was in the first part. He is no more so grumpy, mean, petty and permanently aggravated - he certainly smiles more and all his attitude softened. He remains however exactly as insecure as in the first film. That being said, there are moments in this film when the old Gru resurfaces, when his heart is broken or when somebody REALLY upsets him. His geriatric sidekick and only friend (well, kind of) doctor Nefario didn't take all this change easily...
Minions Rule!
My name is Norma and I'm a Minion junkie.

In Despicable Me, they were the bickering followers of supervillain Gru (voiced by the always funny Steve Carell), who adopted three little girls as part of one of his evil plots. In Despicable Me 2, Gru, now a devoted dad, has reformed and is attempting to start a legitimate business. He's turned his lab into a high-tech kitchen for making jellies and jams. Too bad nobody, including the Minions, likes the stuff they're making. His longtime sidekick, Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), grows restless--as restless as a hard-of-hearing geezer mad scientist can possibly be--and decides to leave Gru's lab and go back to evildoing with another supervillain. Gru reluctantly says goodbye to his soon-to-be-former accomplice and the Minions give Nefario a twenty-one fart gun salute (yep,I said fart gun--it wasn't a typo).

When the Minions start to disappear, Gru doesn't notice--at first. He's busy deflecting the matchmaking attempts of...
Surprised and Delighted
Actually, this review is of the theatrical performance of DESPICABLE ME 2. We hadn't planned on seeing it this weekend but we were running early at the multiplex and the next showing of MONSTERS U was full. Neither of us had seen D.M. 2's predecessor but it didn't matter once we caught onto the fact that the Minions are kind of like Gremlins or Ewoks except they have very little hair, there are tons of them, some have only one eye, and all of them love to go into costume. The plot has superspy overtones, as the formerly despicable main character Gru (voice of Steve Carrell) is shanghai'd by the international Anti-Villain League to find out who is about to enslave the world (the likely culprits have been winnowed down to the proprietors of the stores at the local shopping mall). Lucy, a way over-the-top near-novice girl spy (Kristen Wiig) joins our hero and at the beginning there is no love lost between them . . . but things develop. So what you have is basically a...
Click to Editorial Reviews