Dora's
Mermaid Adventures Collection
(2015/Nickelodeon DVDs)/A
Little Game (2014/Arc
DVD)/SpongeBob Squarepants
Triple Pack!
(2015/Nickelodeon DVDs)/The
Tom & Jerry Show: Funny Side Up - Season One, Part Two
(2013/Warner DVDs)
Picture:
C+/C/C+/C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C-/D/C-/D Main Programs:
B-/D/B-/C+
Here's
the latest children's releases...
The
best entries this time around are repackagings of previous
Nickelodeon
DVD releases as gift packs of sorts. Dora's
Mermaid Adventures Collection
includes two similar releases in Dora
Saves The Mermaids
and Rescue
In Mermaid Kingdom,
neither of which we have seen or covered before. Each has three
separate tales of fun for fans and it is another amusing aside role
for Dora to be in.
Extras
include music videos on the Saves
disc and two more episodes on the Kingdom
disc.
The
other is the SpongeBob
Squarepants Triple Pack!
that includes the previously covered Legends
Of Bikini Bottom,
plus two more we did not catch: Heroes
Of Bikini Bottom
and 10
Happiest Moments.
They offer 6, 8 and 10 tales respectively and though it is not a
Season release, it is not a bad compilation.
Extras
include some animated shorts and T.U.F.F.
Puppy
episode on the Heroes
disc, the Help
Wanted
pilot on the Moments
disc and more animated shorts and a Behind The Scenes featurette on
the Bottom
disc.
Evan
Oppenheimer's A
Little Game
(2014) might want to be a tale of a young gal (Makenna Ballard)
learning how to play chess from an older expert (F. Murray Abraham),
but its long 91 minutes are mostly devoted to shrill dialogue, gross
humor and phoniness that would make many politicians blush
throughout. This is not necessarily child-friendly either, which is
very disturbing. Janeane Garofalo, Ralph Macchio and Olympia Dukakis
also show up, but they cannot save this mess either. Skip it!
There
are no extras.
Last
we have The
Tom & Jerry Show: Funny Side Up - Season One, Part Two
(2013) which is the latest TV revival of the great cat & mouse
team, but it is one of the oddest shows looking visually like a
culmination of the Filmation series with better animation, plus hints
of other versions going back to the expensive MGM shorts. Made for
young children, it is not my favorite version of the team, not as
good as the Chuck Jones or Gene Deitch theatrical series either. A
safe intro for the young, it plays it too safe and is very formulaic
throughout its 13 shows. I was a bit disappointed.
There
are no extras.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image in Game
is the weakest presentation here with poor color and motion blur
throughout, while the same on Jerry
is colorful and consistent throughout its 2 DVDs, if simple. The
various aspect ratios on SpongeBob
and 1.33 X 1 image on Dora
are as colorful and the animation all ties here for first place with
ease.
As
for sound, the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 Stereo on the animated DVDs
box are solid and consistent throughout, though Jerry
has weak surrounds, while the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Game
is at least as weak and not well mixed.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
