The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Although The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was on British TV from 1965,I first saw it at the age of 6 in 1971.Even at that young age,it made an impact on me,so when I heard it was coming out on Dvd,I couldn't wait.First let's get the bad points out of the way,as a few reviewers have already mentioned,the print is"grainy" at times and really,a bit of money could have been thrown at this release to enhance its presentation.Some more extras would have been nice,such as info on all the actors,film crew etc,maybe a few photos showing the island in the present and yes I know that there is a town there now where it was filmed.One intriging thing about the extras was the colour photos,in which I saw pictures of scenes and characters not in the filmed version ie:there seems to be a scene showing Robinson help a friend to elope,does this mean that there are deleted scenes somewhere?.Grumble over,this was a joy to watch storywise.This is the definitive version,as I watched it,so many memories came back,the great music,one of the best ever soundtracks to a tv series,moves you and thrills you depending on the action.As an adult,I could appreciate Robert Hoffman's acting more.As he is dubbed,Robert acts with his body and face to tell the story effectively.He will always be remembered by many generations for this portrayal.I also for the first time realised how good that Lee Payant's commentary is,his voice gives the story its soul to Hoffman's heart.The story might not appeal to many of today's children which is a pity but it will live long in the memories of those lucky to have seen it.The only other bad thing was that where once it took a summer to watch the story,I now had watched it in a weekend and my adventure was over.Maybe as Robinson Crusoe says at the end"one day,I will return to my island".Maybe next year I'll return.

Touching story and a classic Johnny Depp

This tells the touching story of Edward Scissorhands. Edward was originally a chopping machine, which an inventor used as the template for turning into a human. However, the inventor died before the final part of Edward could be made, his hands. As a result, Edward was left with his original chopping scissors instead of hands, and lived in the inventor's castle all alone. That was until a chance call by a door to door saleswoman, who took pity on Edward, and took him into town to live with her family.

Despite initially startling the townspeople, Edward quickly wins their affection. He provides free hair cuts, free hedge trimming and free dog grooming, something he is naturally suited to give, and quickly becomes a local celebrity. However, one person who does not warm to him is the boyfriend of the family daughter he lives with. The boyfriend routinely teases Edward, and resents the soft spot his girlfriend has for Edward. He also accuses Edward of causing trouble, and Edward's naivety and social clumsiness from years living alone in the castle makes him unable to counter these attacks. This leads to dramatic consquences.

The acting is extremely good. Johnny Depp was arguably made by this role, and it is impossible not to be moved by Edward's tenderness and timidness. Also, a young Winona Rider makes an appearance, as the daughter of his adopted family. The sound track is haunting, and the film has a real Tim Burton"feel" to it, especially the scenes in the inventor's castle. Fans of Nightmare Before Christmas will readily recognise this!

The film does not have any major weaknesses, although the brutish boyfriend is very dull and one dimensional and at times not very believable. The films premise is also built on a fairy tale, and some viewers may find this lack of"realism" and plausibility detracts from the film. There is some blood as well, often caused by Edward accidentally scratching himself or other people, so squeamish viewers be warned!

All in all, the film is strongly recommended.

Actually very good!

When a shark accidentally clobbers himself, a small fish named Oscar (voiced by Will Smith, I, Robot) just happens to be around, prompting everyone to believe that he killed the shark himself. This lie soon makes Oscar a celebrity, worshipped by the general mass of fish, wooed by a glittering golddigger (Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted), missed by his best friend (Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain)--and hunted by the godfather of great whites (Robert De Niro, Goodfellas). Can a vegetarian shark named Lenny (Jack Black, School of Rock) get Oscar out of this mess? The formulaic story of Shark Tale never reaches the giddy heights of Pixar's output (Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story) or the freewheeling comedy of Shrek, but it's capably told and impeccably animated--the sheer technical skill is stunning. Kids won't get the mobster jokes or the other pop-culture references, but they'll enjoy it nonetheless

Excellent

This film holds all the elements of a fantastic film. Excellent, imaginative characters you can't help but fll in love with. A story that enchants and delights , along with some simply awesome effects. You can't help but fall in love with this film.

Then you have bowie who not only adds some brilliant songs to this feature, but also acts pretty well. Which in itself is delightful.

The only thing that may irritate the older audiance is the lead actress is a pretty poor actress, but all in all this ranks as one of my favourite childhood films which I still delight in watching to this day.

Brings a smile to your face

This film is a good laugh Wallace and Gromit always brings a smile to your face and they have done that in this film to. Definetly worth a watch great for adults and kids.

Educational and Fun

My 2 year old daughter had just got into Dora. The dvd is better than the programs on television because you can change the language. This dvd can be played in English, French and Spanish.
The plots of each story are all basically the same but my daughter seems to like this, although I must say I find the English speaking voice very annoying - it is far less annoying with the French speaking Dora!. I would recommend this DVD on many levels. Its fun but can be educational if you want to use it in that way. I wish more childrens dvds had multiple languages to help them pick up languages and also subtitles to help young kids to learn to read.

Hilarious! Never has a blue blob of plasticene had so much character!

I think the other reviewers have said it all. I just want to agree with them on how good this is. For some reason I remember this as being shown on Channel 4 in the middle of the night, or early hours of the morning! I think it used to come on after The Tube, which was on Channel 4 until 4 in the morning, and maybe The Trap Door came on after that or was on BBC and I had changed channels by then, I seem to recall that The Clangers, and The Moomins were also sometimes shown in the middle of the night, which I thought was strange for kids tv. But then it was probably meant to be classed as early morning television and I was still up! I only wish they'd made another series. As it is, it was interesting to see on the dvd, that the 2nd series was not quite as good as the first, and the set was remade with different plasticene and Berk looked decidedly different, as did Boney. (As much as a blue blob and a skeleton head _can_ look different that is! But they do nevertheless). I loved the theme tune and it would have been nice if each story was presented exactly as it would have been in its original tv broadcast, but I'm just grateful to have it on dvd at all, but maybe they could do another release along with some extras too, and make sure that each story is presented with the theme tune. They did it with"Willow the Wisp" and those stories are only very short, yet they still included the theme tune with each one, so they could do it with this one too for a future release.

My niece was delighted....

She reckons Peppa Pig rocks. The way she jumped around and hugged it when I gave it to her for Christmas was enough for me to warrant giving it a whopping 5 stars! Buy it for your little one today.

GREAT!

CHARLOTTE'S WEB tells the story of one little piggy's quest to stay alive... and off the menu. With the help of a spirited farm girl and a literate spider, he learns the importance of friendship and loyalty.

The greatest ever film, haertwarming!

Spectacular effects, okay film

This film is based on the first book in the best selling `His Dark Materials' series by Phillip Pullman and although I haven't read any of that series I did enjoy this adaptation. As I have not read the book that this film is based on I cannot comment about how close it is to that but from the comments of others I can deduce that this isn't too good an adaptation but I feel that it more than makes up for this with some truly spectacular CGI and some adequate performances by the all star cast.

Of the cast Nicole Kidman as the villainous Mrs Coulter was a surprising favourite of mine as I have never previously enjoyed any of her performances but she was unexpectedly good here. Another noteworthy performance was that of Sir Ian McKellen, he is always enjoyable and he was very good as the Armoured Bear Iorek Byrnison. On the down side I didn't think much of Dakota Blue Richards' performance in the main role and Daniel Craig was hardly in the film.

The main problem with this film, as I see it, is the rather lacklustre script which does let the film down terribly. This is somewhat made up for by the peerless special effects but this has lead to the film being visually spectacular if a little light on substance, much like many other modern films. Overall this was an enjoyable film that would probably appeal more to those who haven't read the books first.

Content is Great - - Quality is Poor

For ten squids, you can't really go wrong... after all this is every single Flumps episode on one disc!!! It's a shame about the quality. The colours look washed out and faded, but chances are this is as good as its ever going to look, so deal with it. This disc will never sell enough copies to justify being remastered, so don't hold you breath. It's still a bargain though.

Probably the best of this series of dvds

Tom And Jerry - Classic Collection - Vol. 2 is probably the best in the current series of dvds dedicated to the classic duo.. Unfortunatley several of the cartoons have been edited and the voice of Mammy has been overdubbed.. That apart a first rate dvd that should be in everybody's collection

Great series, but why region 2???

First, let me say that The Clangers is one of the best British children's TV shows ever. However...

As an expatriot Briton living in the US I am constantly baffled by DVD manufacturers' insistence on producing children's titles in region 2 format (so that they can only be viewed on region 2 DVD players). Sadly this is the case with such classic children's TV shows as The Clangers, Mr. Benn, Ivor the Engine and The Wombles, and it makes it hard or virtually impossible to see these TV shows outside Europe. Region 2 format was intended to prevent people from buying videos abroad before their domestic theatre release - this is hardly going to be an issue with children's TV shows - especially ones that have been shown on TV for up to 40 years! Why, why why are these shows issued in region 2 format when it's surely just as easy to release them in open region 0 format so that everyone everywhere can view them???

Bagpuss, Paddington Bear and Trumpton are all issued in region 0 format, so thankfully these are viewable everywhere. Please, video producers, use the format that allows the most people to use the product. This is a no-brainer - you'll sell more DVDs if you open up the formatting so that everyone can enjoy the product, and you lose nothing by doing so.

Subtitles

Hey,

Does anyone know if this brings any subtitles? Specifically, Portuguese subtitles?

Thanks a lot!

Good old pat!

My two year old adores postman pat and this is always a favourite. The three epsidoes are pretty good and I find it is always great for occupying him when I need to get tea ready or something.

THE BEST STAR WARS FILM I THINK

In a film like The Empire Strikes Back, especially a few years on the heels of such a mind-bogglingly great film like the original Star Wars, there is something that comes immediately to mind that would at first seem to count against the film, but instead only winds up increasing the respect that it commands. In the 1977 Star Wars, there is a clear reliance on simplicity in some parts. Obviously, it is much more than a simply made science fiction film, but like I said in my review of it, there was a lot of highly effective reliance on things that were not put on screen, such as Obi Wan's description of The Force to Luke. In The Empire Strike Back, the first thing that we are treated to is the traditional scrolling text along a background of stars, depicting what has happened between the last film and this one, and reminding us of the things that were mentioned in the last film but never explained.

At first, this would almost seem to be a way to save money to get more information across to the audience without having to actually put it on screen, but this is really an ingenious way of furthering the story. The very fact that we are so willing to read all this information and forgive our inability to actually see it is a testament to the quality of the series, even at this early stage in its presentation, and we know the story so well from the first film that we are glad to see such a large change in what's happening in the films, not for a second lamenting the fact that we have obviously missed so much action. And besides that, if and when George Lucas runs out of new prequels to release, and maybe if he someday begins to run low on how many hundreds of millions of dollars he has, he could go right back and make these in-between scenes into full length films. What would he call these, if he did that? Introquels? Who cares! The names themselves would be interesting enough, and if you go back and read the stuff that introduces this film, it's obvious that there's an entire film there just waiting to be made. I guess the question of actors would be a formidable one, though.

The Empire Strikes Back is the film where we are first introduced to the great Jedi master Yoda (`Away put your weapon!'), as well as some of the most thrilling battle sequences of the entire Star Wars series, and that includes the prequels. The battle scene where the rebels fight the Imperial Walkers on the ice planet is an incredibly well-made battle scene, not only in the way that it was put together so convincingly using models, but that the machines themselves are so creatively made. Indeed, the Imperial Walkers are some of the most recognizable machines from the entire Star Wars saga, right up there with the Millennium Falcon and the Death Star.

I have just watched this film again, having already seen Episode I and Episode II, and not having seen any of the original Star Wars films for maybe 10 years (except for the original 1977 Star Wars, which I saw and reviewed a few days ago - and these aren't even the Special Edition versions!). When I first saw Yoda when watching The Empire Strikes Back again, I was really struck by how different he looked from in the newer movies. Obviously, he's completely computer generated in the new films, but here in Episode V he looks like a muppet! Even so, I would like to express my opinion that Yoda is more realistic and more interesting here as a puppet than in the newer films as a computer generated image. At least here in the older films you know that he's actually THERE, and that he's not just added into the film later.

Oh yeah, speaking of Yoda, can I just complain for a minute? What the hell was up with the Jedi training? Yes, I realize that I'm just a lowly IMDb reviewer, while The Empire Strikes Back is a part of the greatest science fiction series of all time, but would it have killed George Lucas to write in a little more creative training for Luke? The thing that struck me first about the Star Wars films when I first started watching them was how incredibly imaginative they were, but then Luke started his training. You know, when I was in high school I played football. I was a wide receiver/tight end and I hardly ever got to play because I was too tall and too skinny, but part of my workout was to carry the linemen up and down the stairs to the weight room. Some of these guys weighed 100 pounds more than me, and I still almost never saw the field, and here's Luke Skywalker. He carries Yoda around this boggy swamp and he gets to be a Jedi! What the hell!

There is also the addition of a surprisingly fitting love story. First of all, anyone who has ever read my review of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie will know that I am not the biggest fan of cramming a love story into a movie where it doesn't belong. I can't seem to write anything about Bruckheimer movies without complaining about the idiot love story, and now it's even worse because here's this movie that was made so long before, from which Bruckheimer could obviously have at least learned a LITTLE bit about how to do it right. Han Solo and Princess Leia maintain the personalities that they developed in the first Star Wars film and there is now a sort of love/hate relationship between the two of them, where neither one of them wants to admit their feelings for the other. This romantic subplot is characterized perfectly in the scene just before Solo is carbon frozen, when Leia risks approaching a cheesy romantic moment by saying `I love you' just before Han is lowered into the freezing chamber, and he saves the moment by responding, `I know.' Han Solo. Smart-ass to the last drop.

Before I end I would like to point out that the goofs that can be found on the IMDb for this film are some of the most blatant that I've ever seen in a film. The scene where you can see someone giving a woman at the tactical maps a cue to deliver her lines is amazingly obvious, and some of the other ones, such as the stage hand swinging the light saber prop briefly into view as he switches it for an `off' prop with Luke just after he knocks Darth Vader over backwards, are just as much fun to look for. I have one question about the goofs, though. There's one where Luke looks off into the fog just after R2-D2 is eaten by the sea monster, and you can CLEARLY see a person running to the right a little ways off in the fog. Is that meant to be Luke? It seems that it's supposed to be him running in his search for R2, because you can even hear the FOOTSTEPS of the person running. I can't even IMAGINE how they could have missed THAT!!

It is, however, a testament to the quality of a film when such tremendous oversights in editing do nothing to take away from the overall quality of the film. The Empire Strikes Back remains an extremely powerful and well-made installment in the Star Wars series, not taking even a single step backwards in the sheer breathtaking adventure of the original film. It's not often that a film as good as Star Wars can be released and then followed up with a sequel that is just as great, as is clearly the case here. Star Wars was a gigantic film upon its release, and with The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas has begun the formation of one of the greatest film series' in cinematic history.

Just marvellous

This is a great DVD for kids - it teaches about the different animals and keeps very true to the books - super for a cold and wet afternoon - we just adore it, such a relief from the usual WD world!!

cracking entertainment

My eighteen-month-old loves this, as it is set in the outdoors with animals, some singing, some speaking and different characters. Great value and the best children's DVD for her age we have come across. Is tolerable for adults as well....!