Brand-new editons of all-time animated classics Pinocchio and Gulliver’s Travels highlight a week heavy on animated and VFX-laden DVD and Blu-ray releases.
Up first is Walt Disney’s Pinocchio, out for the first time ever on DVD in a two-disc Platinum Edition ($29.99) and on Blu-ray ($35.99). Released in 1940, the film is one of the true greats from the Disney vault and won Oscars in 1941 for Best Original Score and Best Original Song.
Also available for the first time on DVD is a fully restored and remastered edition of Max Fleischer’s Gulliver’s Travels (E1 Entertainment, $14.98 DVD, $19.98 Blu-ray). The film, based on Jonathan Swift’s classic novel and released in 1939, was nominated for Academy Awards in 1940 for Best Original Score and Best Original Song.
Gulliver’s Travels
If your taste in animation is more contemporary, South Park: The Complete 12th Season is out on both DVD and Blu-ray (Paramount, $49.99 DVD, $69.99 Blu-ray). This is the first Blu-ray release for South Park.
Other animated releases include Fullmetal Alchemist Season 2 Collection (FUNimation, $69.98), Nickelodeon All-Star Sports Day (Paramount, $16.99) and Woody Woodpecker Favorites (Universal, $14.98).
The comedy Role Models (Universal, $29.98 unrated DVD, $39.98 unrated Blu-ray), Transporter 3 (Lionsgate, $29.95 DVD, $34.98 special edition DVD, $39.99 special edition Blu-ray), acclaimed horror movie Let the Right One In (Magnolia, $26.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray), Cadillac Records (Sony BMG Music Entertainment, $27.96 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray) and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Miramax $29.99) also debut.
Awards season winners and contenders out this week include Milk (Focus, $29.98 DVD, $39.98 Blu-ray), Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classics, $28.96 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray), Happy-Go-Lucky (Miramax, $29.99) and Synecdoche, New York (Sony Pictures Classics, $28.96 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray).
Bat-fans can upgrade to Blu-ray with the release of Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997 in the HD format (Warner Bros., $129.95). The set includes the first-ever HD releases of Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997).
As if that last title wasn’t enough for comic book fans, a remastered special edition of Howard the Duck is due (Universal, $14.98 DVD). Disney also is releasing special edition DVDs of Escape to Witch Mountain and Return from Witch Mountain (Disney, $14.98 each).
