Dolphin Tale 2 (2014/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)/Drawing With Mark: Take Flight/As The Wheel's Turn (2014/Shelter Island DVD)/Hero Of Color City (2014/Magnolia Blu-ray)/Julius Jr.: Snow Monkey Adventures (2013/Lionsgate DVD w/toy)

Picture: B- & C/C+/B-/C+ Sound: B- & C+/C+/B-/C+ Extras: C/C+/C+/C Main Programs: C/C+/C+/C+

Here's more children's titles, mixing two follow-ups with two new-to-us entries...

Charles Martin Smith's Dolphin Tale 2 (2014/Warner) is a sequel that only happened because the first film was successful enough in theaters and on home video, which we reviewed at this link:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11347/A+Dolphin+Tale+3D+(2011/Blu-ray+3D+w/Blu-ray

There was zero reason to do a sequel to the original release, but where there's a dollar, it was also enough to make everyone happy, so the principle original cast is back including Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson and Morgan Freeman. Unfortunately, there is nothing new to say and the recent reports of the abuse of these animals outside of this franchise made some of the feel-good parts ring oddly. Also, it does not have the energy or pace that at last made the first one serviceable, so seeing it without seeing the first one will not help the viewer, which also applies to those who saw the first one and (like this critic) totally forgot it. Needless to say this one is for fans only.

Extras include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds a few Making Of featurettes.

Drawing With Mark: Take Flight/As The Wheel's Turn (2014) continues what might just turn out to be a positive, constructive, long-running series about arts, crafts, drawing and the world around us that we first encountered in two DVD releases we covered at this link:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12578/Drawing+With+Mark:+Good+To+Grow!/Life+Farm

This is as strong a release as those two with another one streeting the same day as this one. We don't have the quality live action children's programming we used to, so it is nice to see such a well done, consistent show, with this volume as good a place to start as any of them. Planes and cars are perfect subjects for creative thinking.

A bonus episode in A Day At The Fire Station and booklet on how to draw inside the DVD case are the extras.

Frank Gladstone's Hero Of Color City (2014) is a new CGI animated feature (just enough of one at 77 minutes) that has crayons come to life with magical powers (Crayola is not involved) in a tale where in the Toy Story/LEGO Movie mode, is about how the various color crayons come to life when owner Ben falls asleep, but unfinished drawings and a waterfall that makes the crayons and their powers possible become the keys to this first of what seems to be a series of intended adventures.

It's amusing and not bad, but not long enough or richly thought out enough to work as much as it could have, meaning there are more than a few missed opportunities here (Crayola is likely taking notes), but all is child-friendly enough. Voice acting here comes from Craig Ferguson, Christina Ricci, Rosie Perez, Jessica Capshaw, Sean Astin and Josh Gladstone, making it all worth a look.

Extras include coloring book images on the reverse of the paper sleeve in the yellow Blu-ray case, while the Blu-ray adds a Sing-A-Long, four Making Of featurettes, healthy food recipes, music medley and Artwork & Drawing Galleries.

Last but not least is Julius Jr.: Snow Monkey Adventures (2013), a charming new series with talking animals created by Paul Frank has music and includes friends Sheree, Clancy, Ping and Worry Bear. We get 6 episodes/adventures running a about long enough 66 minutes that are all child-friendly and they are fun enough while still making young viewers think a bit. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.

Extras in this special packaging that adds a toy (from Fisher Price) of the title character only adds Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes capable devices.

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Tale is on par with the first film, but nothing special, though a 3D version is not available, though the anamorphically enhanced DVD version is the softest entry on the list. The HD-shoot is decent, but cannot escape looking pale at times and sometimes generic, making me miss a 3D version that would cover up those flaws. The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on City is nice and consistent throughout despite the simplicity of the art, though color use is nice. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the Drawing and Julius DVDs falls in the middle and look good, though I bet both would benefit from Blu-ray releasing since the shoot in the former is consistently good and latter has nice animation with good color quality.

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix on Tale is well mixed and presented, but is too quiet and refined at times to take total advantage of the multi-channel possibilities, so the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on City can more than compete and all the have good soundfields, are very well recorded so they tie for first place sonically. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Drawing is clearly recorded and can match the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Julius and Dolphin DVDs, which only use their multi-channel tracks so much.

- Nicholas Sheffo