Coming
Home For Christmas
(2013/Nasser DVD)/Lady
Antebellum - Live: On This Winter's Night
(2012/Eagle Blu-ray)/Saving
Santa (2013/Anchor Bay
Blu-ray w/DVD)/Secret
World Of Santa: Elves In Toyland
+ A Present For
Santa (1997/Cinedigm DVD
Sets)
Picture:
C/B-/B- & C/B- Sound: C+/B-/B- & C+/C Extras:
C-/C-/C-/D Main Programs: C-/C/C+/B-
The
Christmas titles keep piling up and it just might be a record glut of
them...
We
start with Vanessa Parise's sappy telefilm Coming
Home For Christmas (2013)
which is an official tie-in to the Norman Rockwell name brand,
suggesting that the program will be as witty, clever and classy as
one his paintings. Well, it is nowhere near that, never looks that
good being shot in tired HD that is artificially softened (guess they
did not really look at those paintings) and has this plot about
sisters not getting along who must finally confront each other.
The
unknowns give mixed performances, this is all everything we have seen
before combined with forgettable moment after forgettable moment. It
just shows that all too often, you not only can;t go home again, but
if it is this bad, you should never try.
A
trailer is the only extra.
Lady
Antebellum - Live: On This Winter's Night
(2012) has the vocal group performing a show of 11 Christmas classics
including A Holly Jolly
Christmas, First
Noel, Let
It Snow, Silent
Night and This
Christmas. They can
sing, but they somehow manage to render these songs dull, generic and
boring. Have Yourself A
Merry Little Christmas is
rendered false and Blue
Christmas is done in a
bizarre, happy, upbeat version that is a disaster. I don't know what
they were thinking, but this is really a mess. See and hear it at
your own risk.
Bonus
songs, a paper pullout, a Making Of and Behind The Scenes clips are
the only extras and they are not that good either.
Saving
Santa (2013) is a new CGI
animated feature which the title tells you everything you need to
know, but this scenario has been done before often, alas much better
than what we see here. All I kept thinking as I watched through the
ling 83 minutes is how much better Arthur
Christmas was and how
much more I disliked Polar
Express. Tim Curry and
Tim Conway do some of the voices (not enough for my tasted) and they
cannot elevate this by much. No holiday classic, we have seen worse,
but this is mostly forgettable so see it with limited expectations.
A
Music Video and two brief featurettes are the only extras.
Finally
we have two double DVD sets in Secret
World Of Santa: Elves In Toyland
+ A Present For
Santa (1997), which I
actually a decent French animated TV series finally coming to the
U.S. and is not only decent, child-friendly fare (even if it runs on
a bit), but has some energy and is at least entertaining without
dragging or getting boring like the other releases on the list.
It
is only for youngsters, but that is fine in a glut of overlapping,
forgettable product. There are no extras.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Home ties the same
on the DVD version of Saving as the poorest image
presentations on the list with playback that is too soft, weak and
color challenges. The 1080p 1.78 X
1 digital High Definition image transfer on the Saving
Blu-ray and 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Lady
predictably are the best presentations on the list being the only
Blu-rays, but despite the decent color, we still get detail issues
and other flaws, so the big surprise is how good the 1.33 X 1
color image across the four DVDs on the two World sets can
more than compete, are surprisingly clean, have fine color range and
is one of the best-looking animated holiday DVDs of any kind we have
seen in a while. Too bad they are not on Blu-ray.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on both Blu-rays are the
sonic champs here without a doubt, though they both have soundfield
issues and I expected Lady
to sound the best, yet it can be a little compressed and limited with
an odd soundfield that does not always work. The lossy Dolby Digital
5.1 mix on the DVD version of Saving
is weaker still and ties for second place with the same kind of lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on Home
which is a little better than these telefilms usually sound like.
That leaves the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on World
the weakest presentation here no match for its visuals and passable,
but should be better an d could use some restoration work save where
the flaws are in the recording.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
