Prep & Landing (2009) + Naughty & Nice (2011/Disney Blu-ray w/DVD)/Twisted Sister: A Twisted X-Mas Live In Las Vegas (2006/Eagle DVD)/What She Wants For Christmas (2012/E1 DVD)

 

Picture: C+ (Blu-ray: B)     Sound: C+ (Blu-ray: B-)     Extras: C/D/C-     Main Programs: C+/C/C-

 

 

Now for more holiday releases in what is turning out to be a record for 2012 on home video.

 

 

We start with a double feature of Prep & Landing (2009) and its sequel, Naughty & Nice (2011), the first of which we covered at this link on DVD:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11312/Becoming+Santa+(2011/Cinema+Libr

 

 

This new Disney Blu-ray/DVD set offers both half-hour programs in both formats and if you like them, you’ll enjoy this set, but if you are less impressed, the sequel is just more of the same and after Arthur Christmas (2011, see the Blu-ray 3D elsewhere on this site) seems limited and quiet.  In both, Santa has helpers who use technology to get the holiday work done, but the 3D feature does it on an all-out level.  Extras are also the same as the previous release, so there is nothing new here.  If you must get this, stick with this set instead of the previous singles as you might as well have it all on both.

 

 

Less inspired is Twisted Sister: A Twisted X-Mas Live In Las Vegas, a 2006 show based on their endless in-joke holiday album.  Unfortunately, unless you are a diehard fan of the band, it is one joke that cannot be sustained over 104 minutes.  With lead singer Dee Snyder appearing in the series Holliston (reviewed elsewhere on this site), that is a second reason after the actual holiday to issue this one, but it is definitely a for-fans-only affair and there are no extras.

 

 

Finally we have Jason Hewitt’s predictable, formulaic What She Wants For Christmas (2012) with a young 10-year-old lady (Brianna Dufrene) who has a special secret Christmas wish for Santa and decides to nab him if she does not get what she wants.  I was not amused or impressed in the latest of the endless play-it-safe shots for holiday immortality.  It lacks memorability, energy and is just a dud, but if you must, see it for yourself.  A Making Of featurette is the only extra.

 

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on Prep look really good and better than I expected, though the first half-hour show looks a little better than the second, while both look much better than their anamorphically enhanced DVD versions.  The 1.33 X 1 on Twisted is an analog video NTSC shoot that is not great, but not in bad shape.  That leaves the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on She soft, in part from being stylized but not as bad as some of its competitors.

 

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on the two Prep Blu-ray presentations can have dialogue more towards the front speakers than I would like, but are much better and warmer than the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 versions on the DVD versions.  The other DVDs have adequate, lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that sounds about as good as either release will ever sound.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo