DVD Collectors Online

Prep & Landing / Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice, a review by Danae Cassandra

Prep & Landing / Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice
Year of Release: 2009 / 2011
Directed By: Stevie Wermers-Skelton, Kevin Deters
Starring: Dave Foley, Derek Richardson, Sarah Chalke, Rob Riggle
Genre: Comedy, Animation, Television

Overview:
PREP & LANDING
On Christmas Eve, a high-tech team of elves from an elite unit known as 'Prep & Landing' ensures homes around the world are prepared for Santa's visit. But when two hilarious little elves face unexpected challenges and are pushed to their limits, it'll take a great big effort to save the season. Enjoy a heartwarming holiday classic sure to make everyone's Christmas list!

PREP & LANDING: NAUGHTY VS. NICE
The outrageous yuletide adventures of Christmas elves Lanny and Wayne continue in this totally tinsel adventure that reminds us there's room for everyone on the 'nice' list. Santa's stealthiest little elves must race to recover classified North Pole technology, which has fallen into the hands of a computer-hacking naughty kid, in order to stop Christmas from descending into chaos. Bring the family together for a comical adventure that puts the Ho, Ho, Ho in your holidays!

My Thoughts:
PREP & LANDING
This is a modern Christmas classic for us. I love this little special, from stressed-out McGee, to hyper excited Lanny, to cynical Wayne discovering the joy of Christmas again, to Tiny, who manages to have a character despite only seeing the top of the hat. Perfect watch every year for the season.
PREP & LANDING: NAUGHTY VS. NICE
Much as I love the first Prep and Landing, I think I actually like this one a little more. I really like the story of Wayne and his brother, and the coal elves are such fun characters (especially Carol). Like the original, this is another modern Christmas classic for us, and I'd recommend it to anyone.
PREP & LANDING: OPERATION SECRET SANTA
Cute, short cartoon of Wayne & Lanny helping out Mrs. Claus. It's a neat little mission snapshot, and you can watch it in the special features of the blu-ray if you're a fan.
PREP & LANDING: TINY'S BIG ADVENTURE
Cute, short cartoon in the Prep and Landing universe featuring the struggles of the shortest elf in her quest to make coffee for McGee. Watch this in the blu-ray special features if you're a fan.

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

(From Christmas 2016 on December 16th, 2016)

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, a review by GSyren

Title	Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (5-051895-219577)
Director	Brad Peyton
Actors	Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzman, Vanessa Hudgens
Produced	2012 in United States
Runtime	94 minutes
Audio	English DTS 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, German Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles	Danish, French, Finnish, Norwegian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish
Overview	The new family adventure Journey 2: The Mysterious Island begins when seventeen-year-old Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist. Unable to stop him from tracking the signal to its source, Sean's new stepfather, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), joins the quest that will take them first to the South Pacific, and then to a place few people have ever seen. Or lived to tell about. It's a place of stunning beauty, strange and threatening life forms, volcanoes, mountains of gold and more than one astonishing secret. Together with Gabato (Luis Guzmán), the only helicopter pilot willing to risk the trip, and Gabato's beautiful, strong-willed daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone human inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island underwater and bury its treasures forever, in this follow-up to the 2008 worldwide hit Journey to the Center of the Earth.
My thoughts	This is another of those movies that I wasn’t sure about, so I waited until I could get it relatively cheap. This is also a case of setting my expectations low. I like Jules Verne. I have read The Mysterious Island, although it was long ago. I also read the Illustrated Classic when I was a kid, and I have seen the 1961 Harryhausen film, the 2005 Hallmark TV version and the 1995 TV series. None of them follow Verne’s book very closely, and this one certainly doesn’t either. Being quite recent, it’s no big surprise that this movie has the better special effects. But good special effects does not equal a good movie. We have seen this over and over. Is Josh Hutcherson a good actor? If he is, he certainly doesn’t show it in this movie. Dwayne Johnson can be good in action movies, but isn’t good here. And Michael Caine is pretty much wasted. The less said about Luis Guzmán, the better. And you know something must be wrong in a movie when Vanessa Hudgens comes off as the least irritating character... The script varies between silly and ludicrous, but at least it seldom gets boring. So, if you can put your brain in neutral for an hour and a half (at least it’s not overly long), then it can be an acceptable time killer. But hardly anything more than that. If you want a good Mysterious Island, go with Harryhausen. It’s not Verne’s Mysterious Island, but in spite of Harryhausen’s creatures it’s probably the closest you get. The TV series is also quite entertaining, but it certainly isn’t Verne. Still, either of them is better than this mess. Definitely avoid the Hallmark version, though!
My rating	2.5 out of 5

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on September 26th, 2013)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

18. Five by Five
Original Air Date: 4/25/2000
Wolfram & Hart approach Faith with the promise to get all the murder charges she faces back in Sunnydale dropped in exchange for one small favor - killing Angel.

Guest Stars:
Julie Benz
Christian Kane
Thomas Burr
Tyler Christopher
Stephanie Romanov
Eliza Dushku

My Thoughts:
Not only do we get flashbacks of when Angelus first gets his soul back... but we also have Faith coming to town. Awesome episode! Faith really roughed up Wesley a bit!

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on February 28th, 2010)