The DVD has seven charming episodes which will delight toddlers and pre-schoolers as Charley takes them into the realms of his vivid imagination. James Corden, best known for his character ‘Smithy’ in Gavin and Stacey, narrates the series. He keeps a watchful eye on the cuddly Charley, whose sense of adventure can sometimes lead him into some comical situations.

Each seven minute episode sees the playful teddy bear embark on a new adventure along with his friends Bellarina the ballerina, Caramel the cow, Midge the teddy bear, Frozo the penguin, Rivet the Robot and Nibblet the rabbit – all gently guided by the narrator. Episodes include Charley donning his sheriff badge in Wild West Caramel, taking to the stage as Pop Star Charley and showing his artistic side in Art in the Park. Children will delight in exploring their own creativity and imagination as Charley inspires them to use everyday objects to invent new worlds in which to play.

Parents will love this DVD. It offers beautiful animation and short bite-size episodes that are gentle enough to be viewed before bedtime. James Corden, now a new father himself, adds a comical dimension and charms little ones and grownups alike with his gentle teasing of the fun loving Charley.

Special features

The DVD extras include a lovely introduction to Charley Bear and his friends, as well as a bonus episode to delight the teddy bear’s pre-school fans. The magical world of Little Charley Bear can continue away from the DVD player with a collection of downloadable colouring sheets as well.

It really is amazing what you can do with your imagination and Little Charley Bear is guaranteed to become a family favourite.

You can win a copy of ‘Are you there, Charley Bear?’ on DVD with us at WhatDVD.Net right here.

Leapfrog Maths Adventure to the Moon follows the adventures of Tad and Lily as they head on a trip into space with their friend Edison the firefly. To complete their school assignment the duo set off to the moon in search of ten specific things. They land on moon rocks and a learning path guides them to a rocket ship where they make counting to ten, times tables, sorting and patterning fun and engaging to toddlers and preschoolers.

The highlight of the DVD is definitely the music which is rich in catchy tunes such as ‘Maths is Everywhere’ and the ‘Counting Song’. These ditties are guaranteed to get young mathematicians up and dancing. The DVD is jam packed with fun filled ways to enjoy maths and offers invaluable insights into how it relates to everyday life. The main film lasts just 37 minutes and, being so highly entertaining, parents may wish at times it was just a tad longer.

Special Features

In addition to the main film there are two excellent special features, along with a preview of the Leapfrog Let’s Go to School DVD. The sorting game is simple enough to entertain toddlers with the help of an adult and the sing-along section gives children another chance to join in with the foot tapping songs.

This DVD is guaranteed to become a strong favourite with children of preschool age and upwards. As an edutainment DVD it really does deliver exciting adventures, fantastic music as well as supporting your child’s maths development. By the end of this DVD your child will certainly believe “everything around you is really math-TASTIC!”

Competition

Until May 16th you can win one of three copies of Leapfrog Maths Adventure to the Moon over at MyKidsHealth.com.

The DVD contains five exciting episodes which are guaranteed to grip toddlers and pre-schoolers alike. The action packed storylines will thrill little ones with plenty of flashing lights and speeding ‘nee naws’, guaranteeing parents 50 minutes of unadulterated peace and quiet.

The DVD offers parents great flexibility with options to select individual episodes, each ten minutes long, or to let it run for the full 50 minutes allowing adequate time to get the dinner on or catch up on some emails.

The stories revolve around our hero Fireman Sam and the likeable cast of Pontypandy. There are a host of mishaps and happenings that befall the residents of this idyllic Welsh village and the fire crew arrives on cue to rescue their friends each and every time. The DVD will not only entertain budding fire-fighters but also provides guidance on important issues such as how to avoid accidents, fire safety and the importance of following directions. Fireman Sam is educational as well as entertaining!

Special features

Extras included on the DVD are a Fireman Sam Weblink and a photo gallery. The photo gallery is a simple but effective feature. Toddlers and pre-schoolers will love viewing the gallery and recounting the tales they have just watched supporting their learning in the area of story comprehension.

This DVD comes highly recommended and will entertain both staunch fans of Fireman Sam as well as those children new to this lovable hero. With positive messages for children and entertaining storylines in manageable 10 minute episodes it is a great addition to the family DVD collection.

It’s fair to say that the dearly departed William Hanna and Joseph Barbera had a knack for creating memorable cartoons characters. The list is as long as your arm – Top Cat, Hong Kong Phooey, Wacky Races, Scooby Doo, hairy testicle-with-a-face Captain Caveman and the wily Yogi Bear. So, as Hollywood is eating itself alive, it comes as no surprise that one or two of them may be in line for a re-boot.

So, following on from the CGI / live action hi-jinks of the likes of Garfield, Yogi Bear is given a 3D spit and polish before being trotted out to a younger audience whose parents may have some fond memories of Hanna Barbera’s classic picker-nick basket-swiping ursoid.

Being a film aimed at the kiddies, the plot is somewhat simple. Ranger Smith (Scrubs’ Tom Cavanagh) is gearing up for Jellystone Park’s 100th birthday celebrations, and crosses paths with Rachel (Anna Faris) who wishes to make a documentary about Yogi and Boo Boo. Meanwhile, Mayor Brown (Andrew Daly) wants to close the park down and sell the land to balance his budget, and in doing so, recruits dunderheaded Ranger Jones (T. J. Miller), with the promise of making him Head Ranger if he assists him. It’s up to the good guys to rescue the park, and set against the Machiavellian backdrop, Yogi busies himself in his quest for food, but inevitably gets in everyone’s bidness.

Dan Akroyd takes on the vocal duties for Yogi, with Justin Timberlake handling sidekick and voice of reason Boo Boo. This initially seems like a piece of stunt casting, but snakehips Timberlake is surprisingly good; in fact, I completely forgot it was him during the course of the film. It’s a slightly different story with Akroyd, however – he does an admirable job, but he sounds like he’s trying too too hard. He was reportedly sent tapes made by understudies of Daws Butler, the original voice behind Yogi, to explain how to mimic his distinctive delivery, put the portly Ghostbuster refused to listen to them and instead delivered his own take. You mess with a classic at your own peril, and this backfires on him – after two minutes, it’s like nails scraping down a blackboard.

The humans in the film do a decent job, despite laying things on a little thick. Cavanagh strikes a fair balance between manly ranger and love-struck mush-head, Faris hits the right note as the weird, unfeasibly attractive scientist, Miller does a good knucklehead and Daly has a ball as the sleazy Mayor.

So, is it any good? I’m afraid that the answer is no. So, I hear you cry, it’s a load of old toot then? Not quite. It’s far worse than that. Yogi Bear is a textbook example of crushing mediocrity. Everything about the script, from the wooden dialogue and the telegraphed slapstick to the obvious foreshadowing and lazy storytelling (Yogi in a reality TV show? Pfft) indicates that no one has even tried to make a good movie here. It’s a pity, because Yogi is a classic character, the actors are up for it, there’s a Wilhelm Scream and the CGI is uniformly excellent – just check out Yogi’s wet fur when he’s waterskiing.

Yogi Bear is a film that will bore adults and kiddywinks alike. Pixar has shown other film studios the success that can be reaped by investing in a great script. However, instead of putting one in the back of the net in the name of retro charm, Yogi Bear toe-bungs against the crossbar Ronny Rosenthal style.

Disney saw Fantasia as an experimental film and this is evident from the first segment which features the Philadelphia Orchestra playing “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” to images that don’t tell a story but rather complement the music. Next up, is the Nutcracker Suite where a group of colourful pixies bring a nature setting vividly to life. The use of colour in this segment is astounding. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the film’s centerpiece and features Mickey Mouse as a hapless assistant to a powerful sorcerer. Charged with cleaning up the place, Mickey uses a bit of magic to make his job easier but with disastrous consequences.

The Rite of Spring is a brilliant, animated depiction of the creation of life on Earth as theorized by science. We see our planet in its infancy on up through the dinosaur age and the demise of these creatures. The Pastoral Symphony features Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 6” and is given a mythological makeover thanks to the Greeks. This segment includes all of their significant god and goddesses. We also get a herd of playful baby unicorns frolicking with young centaurs in this fascinating portion. Dance of the Hours depicts the passage of time through a ballet where animals such as ostriches and most notably a hippo are the dancers. Finally, Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria closes out the film. The former features the Devil and his minions celebrating but this eventually gives way to the hopefulness of the latter. The nightmarish imagery of the first part is very evocatively depicted.

Taking up where the last one left off in 1940, Fantasia 2000 (1999) sees Disney once again breaking free from the constraints of their past decade of high quality, yet formulaic animated films to produce a truly experimental cinematic experience. Always conceived of as a work in progress, Fantasia 2000 pushes the envelope not only in terms of content and style (often dispensing with narrative altogether and using state of the art animation techniques as well as established, older ones), but in the realm of technology by creating an animated film exclusively for IMAX movie theaters. This is truly an amazing accomplishment when you realize that making any film, let alone an animated one on the specialized IMAX cameras (where the film stock is many times larger than normal 35mm and is very expensive to use) is an impressive achievement in and of itself.

This new Fantasia film is divided into eight segments, each introduced by a variety of entertainers (ranging from music producer Quincy Jones to magicians Penn and Teller) and with only one remaining from the original (the immensely popular The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) film. These segments range from the abstract, almost M.C. Escher-like The Rite of Spring, to a dazzling interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Steadfast Tin Soldier.” Each segment is accompanied by beautifully orchestrated classical pieces of music as performed by the London Philharmonic.

Out of all the segments in Fantasia 2000, the highlight for me was Rhapsody in Blue, a jazzy Gershwin tune that accompanies a day in the life of 1940s New York City and done in the style of famous caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. The music perfectly complements and matches not only the style of animation but the action that is taking place as well. Besides being a marvel of technique, this sequence is a lot of fun to watch as we follow all sorts of characters (from a bratty little rich girl to a construction worker to an unemployed man) through their day. The marriage of Gershwin and Hirschfeld invokes the quintessential New York City mood as both artists were tied so closely to this city. The mixing of their respective art forms in this segment is nothing short of perfect and is a real joy to behold.

Fantasia 2000 is a fascinating experience for anyone who cares deeply about animation. While the non-narrative segments may not appeal to small children, there are two segments that feature Disney favourites, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, which they should love. However, like the best Disney animated films, Fantasia 2000 has universal appeal while still adhering to the original’s mandate to push the envelope technically and artistically. Hopefully, Disney will not wait another 60 years to produce another Fantasia film for us to enjoy.

Special Features:

A fantastic box set entitled, The Fantasia Anthology was released in 2000 to celebrate the first film’s 60th anniversary and contained a wealth of extra material. Sadly, most of it has not been carried over to this new version. What you do get is a newly restored transfer of both films and they have never looked or sounded better. Included from the previous box set is the commentary hosted by John Canemaker and the one by Roy Disney, James Levin, Canemaker and Scott MacQueen. Both are jam-packed with factoids and anecdotal information. New to this set is a commentary by Disney historian Brian Sibley.

Other new extras include “The Schultheis Notebook: A Disney Treasure,” a 14-minute featurette about the previously lost production notes for Fantasia and that sheds fascinating insight into the technical aspects of this film, an interactive Art Gallery, a feature-length documentary entitled, “Dali & Disney.” Making its debut on Blu-Ray is the 2003 animated short film Destino, which was a collaboration between Walt Disney and surrealist artist Salvador Dali.

For Fantasia 2000, included are the commentaries from the previous box set with a new extra entitled, “Musicana – Walt’s Inspiration for a Sequel to Fantasia”.

Anyhow, Daniel and Miyagi are on their way when the owner and trainer of the Cobra Kai, John Kreese (Martin Kove) is beating up on his losing student. This prompts Miyagi to intervene and ‘make his knuckles bleed’ without even touching him. You need to remember this for Karate Kid part III (actually you don’t, you’ll be reminded with flashbacks again).

Once the initial euphoria of Daniel’s victory has settled down we can get on with the storyline. Miyagi must return to Okinawa because his father is dying, but in doing so he will have to fight his old friend Sato (Danny Kamekona) to the death for stealing his betrothed some 40 years earlier, before escaping to America.

There, that’s the storyline.

As with the first Karate Kid, you can pretty much guess the rest. Daniel will fall for some pretty young Okinawa beauty, some local hoodlums with trash some plants attempting to act tough, Miyagi and Sato will eventually put things behind them and Daniel will have a one-on-one fight in the end, which he no doubt wins with the use of some new move that he learns throughout the course of the film.

All goes without saying.

In truth, and not a lot of people would say this, Karate Kid part II is actually a better film than the original, if perhaps not quite as enjoyable. Daniel’s character is far more likeable and with much of the drama centring on Miyagi (who is a far better actor than many give him credit for) the film stands up much better than the first.

However, nothing can quite top the impact and sheer enjoyment of the first film, with that memorable scene where Daniel realises that he has been learning karate for three whole days without even knowing it.

Just like the first film however, this Blu-Ray release is completely devoid of special features (save for the original featurette), and doesn’t even contain the original trailer.

Also – the original Karate Kid films are a trilogy, so where’s the third film on Blu-Ray?

All of that side, The Karate Kid part II is another classic of 80s cinema and a worthy follow up to the original. It’s a shame more effort hasn’t been put into the Blu-Ray release, as the original trilogy DVD was crafted with real love and attention. Owners of the DVD trilogy need not bother with this, but if for some strange reason The Karate Kid Trilogy isn’t in your collection, you could do a lot worse than these very affordable Blu-Rays.

The Karate Kid was originally released in a digital format back in 2003, on a Trilogy DVD set crammed with special features, but sadly this Blu-Ray, by comparison, is rather sparse. For example, the great ‘catch the fly with the chopsticks’ DVD game that provided literally minutes worth of entertainment for me all those years ago is now absent. However, with the Karate Kid it’s not about special features, nor is it about quality Blu-Ray high definition (which is lucky, because the picture on this Blu-Ray looks no better than the DVD) – no, Karate Kid is about reliving your childhood, learning karate, performing general maintenance on an old man’s house and listening to truly awful 80s music.

The first thing that struck me about the Karate Kid, after all these years, is what a truly whining character Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) really is. He’s moody, immature, mistrusting and not particularly eloquent when he speaks to Ali with an ‘I’ (Elisabeth Shue). So much so that you can’t quite fathom what her character is supposed to see in him at all.

His temper is such that he even shouts at Mr Miyagi on several occasions, making you again wonder why the elderly karate expert would have anything to do with this precocious Italian American from New Jersey.

All of that aside (and it is difficult) the film sure is entertaining. LaRusso moves with his mother from New Jersey to the West Coast of America, where he instantly makes friends and spies a potential new girlfriend who, for some inexplicable reason, seems attracted to him. All would be great if it weren’t for ‘Johnny’ (William Zabka), Ali’s ex boyfriend and resident karate champion, who is intent on persecuting Daniel for daring to make eyes at his ex-girlfriend.

Johnny and his gang of karate experts pick on Daniel at every opportunity (and let’s be honest, most of time it was justified) until Mr Miyagi promises to teach him the ways of karate so that he can face Johnny in a tournament.

All very simple so far, and that’s about it. You know how it’s going to end simply by looking at the poster, but the manner in which Karate Kid plays out makes you love the film more and more with every viewing. Maybe it’s the music, which is more unashamedly 80s than the music for Rocky IV, maybe it’s the fact that when they play football (soccer to our American readers) they chase the ball around in groups in a manner that even five-year-olds in the UK know not to do, or maybe it’s just the way that Daniel learns karate by performing menial household chores, such as painting fences and sanding floors.

There’s something about Karate Kid that you just can’t quantify, and that’s what makes it a cinematic classic, and a film that guarantees that children of all ages, and adults who remember it first time round, will love it still.

Set in London, 1897, the film begins with the kidnapping of a kind toymaker mouse by a nasty bat (Candido), leaving his young daughter Olivia (Pollatschek) all alone. Meanwhile, Dr. Dawson (Bettin) has recently arrived in London after living abroad for some time. He meets the distraught Olivia who has taken refuge in a discarded shoe in a rainy alleyway. She’s trying to find Basil (Ingham) of Baker Street, the famous mouse detective. Moved by her plight, Dawson decides to help her.

They soon find Basil, a whirlwind of energy and movement. He’s a master of disguise and very intelligent – within seconds he’s able to deduce Dawson’s past with his powers of perception and deduction. Olivia tells Basil about what happened to her father and we learn that the bat is in the employ of the mouse detective’s arch-nemesis, Professor Ratigan (Price), “a Napoleon of crime.” And so, Basil decides to help out Olivia with Dawson’s help.

The great Vincent Price lends his distinctive voice to the character of Ratigan and sounds like he’s having a blast playing a larger than life villain. Ratigan’s not afraid to punish his underlings, feeding one of them to an obese cat for calling him a rat. The actor has certainly played his share of criminal masterminds and so this was inspired casting – he even gets to sing!

The animation is excellent, blending computer with hand-drawn, and certainly up to the high standards of Disney. It’s very fluid in nature with beautifully rendered backgrounds that are rich in detail. For example, London is presented as a gloomy place with all sorts of nooks and crannies for danger to lurk. The scene where Basil and Dawson track the bat henchman through a toy store where the toys suddenly come to life is not only atmospheric but also exciting and one of the film’s highlights. This rather foreboding setting is tempered by a lot of broad humour as Basil is a bit of a goofball and Dawson his bumbling sidekick.

The film’s conceit – reimagining Sherlock Holmes and Watson as mice – is an inspired one and the filmmakers offer a few glimpses of how the mouse world mirrors the human one. The Great Mouse Detective is a good film but not a great one what with so-so musical numbers (including one sung by Melissa Manchester – remember her?) tempered with a memorable performance by Vincent Price.

Special Features:

There’s not too much difference from the previous DVD release for this film. New to this edition is a pretty superficial featurette entitled, “So You Think You Can Sleuth?” It gives a brief history of detectives and highlights some of the most famous in history. It also gives a brief example of a mystery for you to solve.

Ported over from the previous release is all-too brief “The Making of The Great Mouse Detective” which traces the origins of the film. It took more than four years to make blended computer animation with hand-drawn characters for the first time in Disney’s history. We see footage of the voice actors giving line readings while Vincent Price speaks highly of his character, expressing his joy at being able to appear in a Disney film.

Finally, there is “’The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind’ Sing-Along Song” which allows you to sing along with Professor Ratigan’s song and dance number.

Mr. Fox (Clooney) used to steal birds but has reformed his ways and is now a newspaper man. He is getting old and tired of living in a foxhole. So, he consults with his real estate agent Stan Weasel (Wes Anderson). Before he takes the plunge, Mr. Fox talks with his lawyer Clive Badger, Esq. (Murray) and ends up buying a treehouse so that he and his family can live in comfort. However, cousin Kristofferson (Eric Anderson) comes to visit and makes Ash (Schwartzman), Mr. Fox’s son, jealous with his athletic prowess. Meanwhile, in her spare time, Mrs. Fox (Streep) paints portraits of thunderstorms.

Mr. Fox decides to pull one more job stealing birds to eat but this one is his most ambitious gig to date. With the help of his landlord Kylie (Wolodarsky), he plans to steal chickens from farmer Boggis, then the next night geese from farmer Bunce, and finally the following night he steals some of farmer Bean’s cider from his secret cellar. Understandably upset, the three farmers get together and plan to kill Mr. Fox. As a result, he and his family are on the run and hunted. They have to call in the favours of all their friends if they hope to evade the farmers’ wrath.

Anderson still has an uncanny knack for picking just the right song for a given scene. Early on, Mr. and Mrs. Fox playfully yet stealthily circumvent a farmer to steal one his birds all scored to the melodical strains of “Heroes and Villains” by the Beach Boys. Later on, Anderson pulls out the obligatory Rolling Stones cue and scores a sequence to “Street Fighting Man.” There is something thrilling about seeing these vintage tracks pop up in an animated film – a genre that tends to rely on mainly orchestral music or more contemporary songs.

The stop-motion animation actually gives the film a personal, handcrafted feel that has been absent from Anderson’s recent work and harkens back to his first couple of efforts, which are the ones where most people first noticed and fell in love with his films. The animation is incredibly rendered and executed, reminiscent of the vintage Rankin and Bass cartoons that kids of Anderson’s generation (and beyond) grew up on. There is a tangible quality to the characters and their environment that is still missing from most computer animation.

As the Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) progresses, it becomes apparent what drew Anderson to this project. Thematically, it fits right in with his other films. Mr. Fox is a charismatic yet rebellious patriarch, much like Royal in The Royal Tenenbaums and Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). Furthermore, the Fox family is a highly intelligent dysfunctional one much like the family in Tenenbaums. The casting is spot on with George Clooney and Meryl Streep playing Mr. and Mrs. Fox. They banter back and forth like a couple from an old screwball comedy. Anderson has not forgotten what the majority of animated films not made by Pixar seem to have – that the best of the genre appeal to both kids and adults. Fantastic Mr. Fox does not talk down to kids and also still manages to appeal to the Anderson faithful. This film is a delightful, entertaining adventure well worth experiencing.

Special Features:

“From to Script to Screen” briefly explores how Anderson and his co-screenwriter Noah Baumbach took Dahl’s short story and expanded on it, even creating characters but all done in the spirit of the source material. Anderson says that he approached the animated film as if it was a live-action one with collaborators commenting on how the director managed to infuse it with his distinctive style. To this end, he storyboarded the entire film and shot video of himself acting out the story so that the animators knew what he wanted.

“Still Life (Puppet Animation)” takes a look at the stop-motion animation process. It is very meticulous and time consuming but if done well, looks great. It’s amazing how the animators can get expressions and emotions out of these puppets.

“A Beginner’s Guide to Whack-Bat” is a humourous mock-featurette on how to play this bizarre sport within the film.

Finally, there is a theatrical trailer.

Satsuki and Mei help their father and the Nanny clean up the house. While Satsuki is at school during the day, Mei plays outside in the yard and spots a little bunny-like ghost that disappears and then appears before her very eyes as if playing a game. Mei then spots something that resembles a cross between a cat and a rabbit and chases it into the large tree. Deep inside the tree she comes across a gigantic sleeping cat (a cautionary tale to cats everywhere – this is what happens if you eat too much!). She names the large, sleepy feline Totoro after the troll in her picture book.

Miyazaki introduces the magical elements gradually with the brief appearances by the soot spreaders (that, at night, fly up into the sky and head for the large tree near the house). My Neighbor Totoro evokes those endless summer days when you were a child and would spend hours playing outside, losing all track of time. The film captures perfectly how little kids amuse themselves with the games that they invent. In a nice touch, instead of scoffing at Mei’s admittedly fantastic story, her father encourages her to pay respect to the tree and the denizens of the forest.

My Neighbor Totoro celebrates the simple pleasures in life, like playing in puddles when it rains. Like all Miyazaki films this one is filled with images that are at once stunning and whimsical, like the bus that is a huge cat with its eyes as headlights (and a huge Cheshire grin) that is able to fly and travel along power lines. My Neighbor Totoro is a great example of magic realism with beans sprouting suddenly into a huge tree and a large flying cat transporting the two girls across the night sky. In a way, this fantasy world is how Satsuki and Mei deal with their mother being sick as they are forced to face the real possibility that she might die – something that a lot of children don’t confront in these kinds of films. My Neighbor Totoro is the perfect marriage of your childhood experiences and your childhood dreams.

Special Features:

There is a feature that allows you watch the entire film in its original Japanese storyboard form.

“Behind the Studio” is comprised of six featurettes that cover various aspects of My Neighbor Totoro. The film started off as a storybook that Miyazaki wrote and that helped rekindle his love for Japanese landscapes. He also talks about how he came up with the name Totoro and the various sizes of the character throughout the film. The film’s producer talks about the origins of the studio’s name. A 28-minute featurette explores the locations that inspired the film with footage of the actual places in this fascinating extra. The film’s composer talks about specific musical cues, like Totoro’s theme and how he felt that the character’s first appearance should have a musical introduction and not just sound effects.

Also included is the original Japanese trailer.

“Behind the Microphone” takes a brief look at the American version of My Neighbor Totoro with some of the voice actors talking about their love of the film and how they approach the job of dubbing their respective characters.

Finally, there is “Enter the Lands,” which allows you to take a brief look at various characters from several of Miyazaki’s films.