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Category:    Home > Reviews > Animation > Comedy > Fantasy > Adventure > CGI > Animals > TV > Music > Teens > Music Industry > Action > Martia > Care Bears: Bearied Treasure (2016/Lionsgate DVD)/LEGO Friends: Girlz 4 Life (2016/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)/LEGO Ninjago: Possession - Season Five (2015/Warner DVD)/Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs: The Sig

Care Bears: Bearied Treasure (2016/Lionsgate DVD)/LEGO Friends: Girlz 4 Life (2016/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)/LEGO Ninjago: Possession - Season Five (2015/Warner DVD)/Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs: The Signature Collection (1938/Disney Blu-ray w/DVD and HD Digital Copy)


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



Here's a new set of children's titles, including an upgrade of an all-time animated classic...



We start with Care Bears: Bearied Treasure, one of the more cleverly entitled compilations sets, though it is only 66 minutes in all, leaving too much blank room on the disc. The first show has fun with the idea of pirates and the shows overall have a bit more energy than you might expect, but I still wonder if we'll ever see a more expensive animated version in the original hand-drawn form. The CGI here is fine for a TV show, but I only like it so much.


There are no extras.



LEGO Friends: Girlz 4 Life (2016) runs 80 minutes and is the toy franchise's attempt to cut into the older Dora and Bratz! franchises with more (and similar) such gals who love to have fun, play in a pop band and have their own adventures in music and the new world at large. In that, it is not bad or any better or worse than the competing 'gal groups' but I found it not too memorable and hey, they don't look much like they are from LegoLand to begin with. I'll be curious to see where this one goes, but they're going to have to come up with something more interesting if they intend to stick around.


Some dance and Music Video clips that encourage participation, along with Digital Copy, are the only extras.



LEGO Ninjago: Possession - Season Five (2015) has stuck around longer than anyone could have expected, but Warner is only giving this one a DVD release. It is more of the same, but at 3 hours, is at least energetic and consistent. That's 10 episodes over 2 DVDs, but at this point, it is really for fans only, though young ones could start here and have no problem picking up what is happening.


There are no extras.



Last but not least is an expanded Blu-ray re-release of Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs: The Signature Collection (1938), the beginning of a new series of Disney Blu-rays of their classic animated features. The picture and sound are the same excellent presentations from the original DVD with no changes or compromises as reviewed at this link:


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9079/Snow+White+&+The+Seven+Dwarfs+(1938/Disney


Extras repeated from the last Blu-ray edition include the DVD version, an audio commentary track using archival recordings of Walt Disney himself while many others to describe the making of the classic, 3 Backstage Disney segments including one with 2 Deleted Scenes, Snow White Returns, a Music Video for Someday My Prince Will Come, Disney Family Play, and four Classic Bonus Features: Animation Voice Talents, Disney Through The Decades, Disney's Wild Mine Ride and a Karaoke version of ''High-Ho''. The One That Started It Al has been expanded into a Making Of featurette and new extras include In Walt's Words: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs where for the first time ever, hear Walt himself talk about Snow White (not on the audio commentary), Iconography which explores how this film influences pop culture, art, and fashion, @DisneyAnimation: Designing Disney's First Princess as Modern day Disney artists discuss the design of Snow White and how it influenced the look of some of your favorite Disney characters, The Fairest Facts of Them All: 7 Facts You May Now Know About Snow White with Disney Channel star Sofia Carson revealing seven intriguing facts about Snow White, Snow White in Seventy Seconds has you Rap (!?!) along with this hip reimagining of the story and an Alternate Sequence: The Prince Meets Snow White that is a never-before-seen story board sequence where the Prince meets Snow White.


That's enough for an upgrade, though a few items are child-aimed only. Still, it remains their biggest animated film at the box office in adjusted dollars ever (Star Wars: The Force Awakens threatens to replace it as the biggest domestic release in Disney history as we post this) and was worth their efforts.


The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on all the DVDs and 1.33 X 1 on Snow White should be even, but Snow White has the best-looking DVD still and the Girlz DVD is just too soft for its own good. Fortunately, the 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer in the Girlz Blu-ray is much better, clearer and warmer throughout, but the remarkable 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Snow White with its Technicolor visuals is easily the visual champ here by far.


As for sound, Snow White again offers a solid DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix, while Girlz follows with a decent DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix that is a bit weaker than expected. Thus, the DVD's lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 is even poorer and the poorest performer on the list. The remaining DVDs offer lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mixes (Ninjago claims Pro Logic surrounds) that are just fine and what we expect from a child-safe set of DVD releases: not too loud and just clear enough.



- Nicholas Sheffo


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