COPS – Volume 2 (Mill Creek DVD reissue)/Elmo
Shape Adventure (Sesame Street/Warner DVD)/Johnny Test: Complete Seasons 3 & 4 + Saves The World (Cookie Jar/Mill Creek DVDs)/Judy Moody & The Not Bummer Summer (2011/Fox Blu-ray
w/DVD)
Picture:
C (Elmo: C+/Judy Blu: B-) Sound: C+ (Judy Blu: B-) Extras: C-/D/C/D/C Episodes: C/B-/C/C/C
And now
for a look at some new children’s titles including a reissue and a famous
series switches DVD companies.
The
release of the COPS series has
always been confusing and you have to be an expert on the show to get it. Now we have COPS – Volume 2 from Mill Creek, but it is not the same Volume Two that Shout! Factory
released. Our original coverage was
simply what seemed to be the whole series:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3447/C.O.P.S.+-+The+Animated+Series+(Sh
Then that
was not the case and Shout! Factory came up with their COPS – Volume 2 set (a web exclusive at the time) which our
resident animation critic covered:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9803/C.O.P.S.+%E2%80%93+Volume+2+(1
This new
set has totally different episodes and should not even have the same title, but
thus continues possibly the most bizarre release of any series in DVD
history. It also has no extras, but
episodes 33 – 65 are included. You can
read more about Mill Creek’s first releases of these shows at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10775/Best+Of+COPS+++COPS+%E2%80%
That also
happens to offer the first release we know of Johnny Test: Complete Seasons 1 & 2. Now we get Seasons 3 & 4 and a single called Saves The World with 10 shows for those not interested in larger
sets or just want to sample the show. My
opinions on both shows stand and the Seasons
set has a DVD-ROM accessible comic and preview of a tie-in videogame.
The new Elmo Shape Adventure teaches children
basic geometry, an undertaught subject.
It is as good as the last five Elmo DVDs we have covered, but Elmo has
switched companies with Sesame Street. This marks their new beginning at Warner
Bros. and is a smart title to start with.
There are no extras, but it is one of the better Elmo titles to date,
though I still wish it were longer.
There are no extras either.
Finally
we have Judy Moody & The Not
Bummer Summer (2011) which is pretty much Fox’s attempt to have another Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-like franchise and
it is not bad, but not great either, made for its very young audience. However, it is child-safe enough and this
Blu-ray set comes with a DVD version and Digital Copy for PC and PC portable
devices.
The story
is about the fun adventures of the title character (Jordana Beatty) and her
pre-teen misadventures. They can be
amusing, if predictable, but not much we have not seen before. School is almost finished and Judy is ready
for a great summer, but can everyone around her survive her fantastic
ideas? Heather Graham also stars.
Other
extras include a Music Video, Deleted Scenes, Trivia Game, 10 Things You should Know About Judy Moody and two featurettes.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 AVC @ 36 MBPS digital High Definition image on Judy is the best by default here as expected since it is the only
Blu-ray, but is it still a little softer overall than I would have liked. However, color can be really good. The 1.78 X 1 anamorphically enhanced image on
Test is in line with the previous
set but 1.85 anamorphic on the Judy
DVD is weaker than expected, while the 1.33 X 1 on COPS continues to be softer than we’d like it to be, but Elmo has some good color offsetting any
minor aliasing errors or detail issues.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix on Judy is also the best here by default, but does not always have the
best soundfield throughout, though it is better than its Dolby Digital 5.1
equivalent on DVD. The rest of the discs
have Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that is just fine, but limited.
- Nicholas Sheffo
