DVD Collectors Online

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, a review by Tom

Title: The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning
Year: 2008
Director: Peggy Holmes
Rating: G
Length: 77 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , English: DTS 5.1 , French: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Jodi Benson
Samuel E. Wright
Jim Cummings
Sally Field
Tara Strong

Plot:
See how it all started for one of Disney's most beloved characters in the all-new movie, 'The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning'.

Imagine a time long before Ariel met Prince Eric and walked on land - a time when music was banned from the underwater kingdom of Atlantica. Torn between family duty and her love of music, Ariel must make the most difficult choice of her life. With the help of her friends, Sebastian and Flounder, and her six amusing sisters, will the young mermaid be able to restore music, friendship and love to the kingdom?

An all-star cast returns, including Jodi Benson (Ariel) and Samuel E. Wright (Sebastian) - plus meet the deliciously wicked villain Marina Del Rey - in a marvelous musical adventure teeming with surprises, breathtaking animation and all-new songs.

Extras:
Closed Captioned
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Interactive Game
Scene Access
Trailers

I was a little disappointed with this outing. Previous Little Mermaid movies offered each a few memorable songs. This one hadn't even one memorable song in my opinion. The story is standard family movie fare. Nothing real original. Animation-wise it is better than the second movie and is good for a direct-to-DVD movie.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 18th, 2008)

The Shaggy Dog, a review by KinkyCyborg

Title:The Shaggy Dog
Year: 1959
Director: Charles Barton
Rating: G
Length: 101 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.75:1, Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Mono, French: Dolby Digital: Mono, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Mono
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Fred MacMurray
Jean Hagen
Tommy Kirk
Annette Funicello
Tim Considine

Plot:
The first live action movie ever produced by Walt Disney is on DVD for the first time ever! Fred MacMurray heads an all-star cast that includes Jean Hagen, Tim Considine, Kevin Corcoran, and Annette Funicello in her big screen debut.

After years of on-the-job clashes with cranky canines, mail carrier Wilson Daniels (MacMurray) sees man's best friend as his worst enemy. This makes for one hairy situation when a magical ring accidentally transforms his teenage son, Wilby (Kirk), into a lumbering sheepdog! Can Wilby break the spell and foil a team of international spies, or will both he 'and' his dad wind up in the doghouse? Packed with sidesplitting antics, slapstick chases, and hilarious sight gags, this madcap adventure will tickle the funny bone of every two- (and four-) footed member of your family!

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Featurettes


The original telling of this Disney movie. I've not seen the remake with Tim Allen but I'm willing to bet this version is better. Typical family fare for the era with some very amusing moments. The younger brother who desperately wanted a dog was a scene stealer. This was Annette Funicello's film debut... looking sweet and innocent, completely unaware of the busty beach beauty she would later become.

What made watching this special for me was my 4 year old daughter, who usually has ZERO attention span walked in shortly after I started watching this, plopped herself down on my lap and watched the entire movie with me. It was the first time we watched a movie together in it's entirety after many other failed attempts.... and I loved every minute of it. For that alone, I'll never forget this movie.

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on June 29th, 2010)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Wonderfalls: The Complete Series (2004/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia (Canada) Length: 573 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital 1 Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Plot:
Although a recent graduate of Brown University, Jaye Tyler decides to ignore her degree, live in a trailer and work at a tourist gift shop in Niagara Falls called Wonderfalls - much to the despair of her well-to-do family. But Jaye's aimless life takes a startling turn after a lion figurine begins talking to her. Her family calls it an "episode," but Jaye knows better. Fearing for her sanity, Jaye nevertheless starts doing exactly what an increasing number of inanimate objects tell her to do and is amazed when her outrageous actions begin changing people's lives in unexpected ways.


Wonderfalls
Season 1.01 Wax Lion
Writer: Todd Holland (Original Material By), Bryan Fuller (Original Material By), Bryan Fuller (Screenwriter)
Director: Todd Holland
Cast: Caroline Dhavernas (Jaye Tyler), Katie Finneran (Sharon Tyler), Tyron Leitso (Eric Gotts), Lee Pace (Aaron Tyler), William Sadler (Darrin Tyler), Diana Scarwid (Karen Tyler), Tracie Thoms (Mahandra), Gabriel Hogan (Thomas), Scotch Ellis Loring (Muse Voice), Kari Matchett (Beth), Kathryn Greenwood (Unpleasant Customer), Chelan Simmons (Gretchen), Neil Grayston (Alec), Kim Roberts (Peggy), Curt Wu (Doctor), Steven Taylor (Loitering Boy), Bailey Stocker (Ronnie's Daughter), Lisa Marcos (Attractive Nurse), Jorge Molina (Male Tourist), Morgan Drmaj (Bellman), Anna Starnino (Traige Nurse), Corry Karpf (Heidi), Chantal Purdy (Little Girl), Melissa Grelo (Native Princess), Brandon Oakes (Native Chief), Ted Dykstra (Muse Voice)

A great first episode of a great series. At the time I was disappointed that Fox cancelled this series after only a few episodes. Luckily at later was released on DVD. And now I am glad to have a great short series, instead of having it drawn out over multiple seasons.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on November 16th, 2012)