DVD Review: Marvel's Spidey and his Amazing Friends

 

With teens and adults heading to theaters to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home, what do you do if you have a younger superhero fan? Well, with Marvel's Spidey and his Amazing Friends on DVD, it's a great way to introduce the smallest of Marvel fans to Spider-Man.

Your youngsters will meet three amazing kids who grab their spider suits to become superheroes. Peter Parker, along with his friends Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales also team up with others kids who are also superheroes. You will meet Black Panther, Ms. Marvel or even The Hulk. Together they will all learn the importance of friendship, working together and doing the right thing. 

You get 12 episodes as well as 11 bonus shorts. 

Episode Titles:           Spidey to the Power of Three

Panther Pateince

Super Hero Hiccups

Lost and Found

Doc Ock’s Super Octopus

Attack of the Green Giggles

Mother’s Day Mayhem

Not-So-Fun House

Trick or TRACE-E

Bug in the System

Test Your Super Strength

Bonus Shorts:            Web-Ster

S.O.S. Kitty!

Spidey Mystery

A Helping Hulk

Spidey Surprise

Rock-A-Bye Rhino

Stop Doc Ock

The Spidey Team

Monkeying Around

Power Practive

Road Raging Rhino

DVD Review: Muppet Babies: Time to Play!

Muppet Babies get a reboot with this new computer animated series on Disney Junior and some of the episodes are on the new DVD collection, Muppet Babies: Time to Play!

I was a huge fan of the Muppet Babies hand drawn animated series and happy to see them return but now as a computer animated series for pre-schoolers. Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Animal and a new character, a penguin named Summer attend a day care run by Miss Nanny. Each episode contains the Muppet Babies going on two adventures. The episodes often teach a valuable lesson about friendship and there are some fun pop culture references to keep adults entertained.

Video:

While the video quality is downgraded for DVD, the 480p still looks quite good. The detail is great where you can see the hair, fur and even felt texture on each of the Muppets. Colors are bright and vibrant as well.

Audio:

The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track fill the center channel quite nicely and even provide some surround sound if you have Dolby Surround or something similar on your receiver. Dialogue and musical numbers are crisp and clear.

Bonus Features:

All of the bonus material is geared for the younger set, which is, the intended audience.

There are two bonus episodes - How Kermit Got His Groove/One Small Problem and Playground Pirates/The Blanket Fort.

Show and Tell Shorts are ten 2-minute shorts where each Muppet Baby takes his or her turn having Show and Tell for their friends.

Music Videos  where six of the musical numbers featured in a few of the episodes are presented in MTV music video form. The music videos include - What’s So Scary About the Dark, Never Have To Say Goodbye To the Summer, Get Back in the Game, Good Things Come to Those That Wait, You Can Be a Dancer, and Muppet Pirate Shanty.

Overview:

Muppet Babies: Time to Play! is geared towards the younger set but adults will still find the episodes entertaining as well.

DVD Review: Big Hero 6 The Series - Back in Action! Arrives on Disney DVD June 26!

Big Hero 6: The Series - Back In Action brings the first seven episodes from the first season as well as the 44-minute pilot movie to DVD. The series, currently airing on the Disney Channel, picks up right where the movie left off! 

Hiro begins classes at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology and re-assembles Baymax. Fred wants to get the group back together again. Wasabi, Go Go and Honey Lemon only want to continue their education and do not want to use their abilities and gadgets to take down criminals. But a mysterious criminal group appears and the group decides to spring back into action and save the city!

While the animation style has changed from computer animation to hand drawn "anime" style animation, the action is just as intense as ever! And even cooler, most of the original voice cast is back! Even Stan Lee is back as the voice of Fred's father! 

The series is just as fun as the original movie and you will watch the episodes over and over again!

Big Hero 6: The Series - Back In Action features the first seven episodes from the first season:

Baymax Returns
Issue 188
Big Roommates 2
Food Fight
Muirahara Woods
Failure Mode
Fred's Bro-Trillion

There are also six bonus shorts that appeared on the Disney Channel's YouTube channel.

DVD Review: Disney's DUCKTALES WOO-OO

Being a huge fan of the original series, I had my doubts about this reboot. But after watching the Disney XD premiere I became a fan of this new series. Fans of the current series can now watch the series’ first DVD release, Ducktales: Woo-oo!

This DVD features the premiere double-length episode event, Woo-oo!, and a few shorts as bonus features. I would have loved to see additional full episodes as part of this release but this will do for now.

The animation style of the new series is reminiscent of the original Carl Barks comics in terms of color schemes and comic textures. There are also a ton of Easter eggs that pay homage to the original series.

The most noticeable difference from the original series is that Huey, Dewey, and Louie have distinct personalities. Webby is also an essential part of the team as she is sort of a McDuck historian. Scrooge and Launchpad are essentially the same as in the original series. Donald Duck is here for the majority of the adventures this time around. Mrs. Beakley serves as both a housekeeper and a bodyguard, and the loyal butler Duckworth, isn't here in this new series or at least not yet.

This special begins when Huey, Dewey and Louie discover that their uncle is the one and only trillionaire treasure hunter Scrooge McDuck. Sadly, Scrooge hasn't been on an adventure in years. The nephews along with Webby stir up some supernatural trouble in the mansion and this leads everyone to find the lost city of Atlantis. In the end, they discover that family is the greatest adventure of all. 

Bonus Features

Welcome to Duckburg Shorts

• Meet Donald (1:02)
• Meet Scrooge (0:32)
• Meet Huey (0:32)
• Meet Webby (0:32)
• Meet Launchpad (0:47)
• Meet Mrs. Beakley (0:32)

Conclusion

The reboot of DuckTales is wonderful taking visual and style cues from the original comic book source and the original animated series while still being its own series. Hopefully this first DVD release, while short on content, is still a worthy release and hopefully the first of many.

DVD Review: Disney's TANGLED QUEEN FOR A DAY

Last spring saw the beginning of Tangled the Series, which was kicked off with a movie musical, Tangled: Before Ever After. The second DVD release for the show is the double-length musical episode, Queen for a Day.

When King Frederic and Queen Arianna leave town to celebrate their anniversary, Rapunzel becomes Queen For A Day. When a blizzard strikes and threatens her parents, Rapunzel finds herself with some tough decisions to make. Can Rapunzel and her friends save the day?

There are also new original songs by Alan Menken and Glen Slater. “I’ve Got This” sung by Rapunzel, Casandra, and Eugene. Jeremy Jordan as Varian sings “Let Me Make You Proud.” There is also a new Snugly Duckling classic in “Listen Up.” 

Bonus Features

Inside the Journal Shorts

• First Entry (1:02)
• Cassandra (1:02)
• Queen Arianna (1:02)
• King Frederick (1:02)

Conclusion

Tangled: The Series - Queen for a Day is a fun musical episode that fans of the series will love adding this to their collection. I wish that Disney had included additional full episodes to round out this disc. If you or your child are huge Rapunzel fans, this TV special is worth adding to your collection.

DVD Review: LEGO Star Wars Droid Tales

Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales is made up of five 22-minute episodes. The series begins shortly after the events of Return of The Jedi. C-3PO starts to tell the story of The Phantom Menace and Attack of The Clones when he is interrupted when R2-D2 is kidnapped by someone who has also stolen Admiral Ackbar's ship. On their way to Coruscant, Threepio tells Ackbar the story of Revenge of The Sith. After that C-3PO tells the story of an episode of Star Wars Rebels. They end up on Tatooine and C-3PO tells a group of droids the story of A New Hope. He then gets a ride on the Falcon and shares the story of The Empire Strike Back. Finally we reach the story of Return of The Jedi.

If you are a fan of the Lego video games then you are already familiar with the style and sense of humor here. You will love the Star Wars jokes, cameos and callbacks. The movie retelling doesn't exactly follow the classic stories that you know but that's part of the fun. 

The video quality is sharp and the audio is solid! The animation is fantastic as with any of the Lego video games. The only bonus you get here are a set of Topps Star Wars trading cards.

The DVD is a great addition to any Star Wars fan collection!

DVD Review: The Lion Guard: Return of The Roar

The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar continues to explore the pride lands that we were introduced to in The Lion King, one of the most beloved animated films ever to come out of The Walt Disney Studios. This time however, The Lion Guard is geared towards preschoolers.

The story here centers on Simba's son Kion. Kion and his best friend, a honey badger named Bunga who was raised by Timon and Pumba, love to explore the pride lands. Then one day Kion discovers his roar and Simba and Rafiki reinstate The Lion Guard, a league of pride land protectors. Kion then then selects a team of animal friends to help him guard the kingdom.

The movie remains faithful to the original movies. There are several callbacks to the original film with references to song titles, color schemes and even some of the voice actors including James Earl Jones as Mufasa. The songs are catchy enough for the target audience.

There is one bonus feature on the DVD. "Here Comes the Lion Guard" music video by Beau Black is the very catchy theme song. There is also a physical bonus item that comes in the DVD, a talking backpack pull. It is a plastic version of Kion's head that plays the phrase, "'Til the Pride Lands end, Lion Guard defend!"

The Lion Guard is a great way to introduce preschoolers to the world of The Lion King. Fun new songs and new characters in a familiar environment will make this a great addition to your child's DVD collection.

DVD Review: Gravity Falls: Six Strange Tales!

In Gravity Falls: Six Strange Tales, Disney packages the first 6 episodes of their new hit animated series! The show is great for kids of all ages. It centers around two 12 year old twins Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mable (Kristen Schaal) who are sent to live with their uncle Stanford “Grunkle Stan” Pines (Alex Hirsch) for the summer in Gravity Falls, Oregon. He has a house in the woods that he’s turned into a business called the Mystery Shack.

Dipper and Mabel soon make friends with the Shack's employees: the handyman Soos (voiced by Alex Hirsch) and friendly teenager Wendy (voiced by Linda Cardelini). And once Dipper discovers an old book out in the forest, the series really takes off.

Each episode takes on an X-Files "monster of the week" approach with the clues in the book usually helping the kids out. The action is fast paced and the dialogue is full of great and corny puns and one liners much like the first years of The Simpsons! And each show is a lesson that the kids learn about growing up.

The episodes are presented in a letterboxed format and enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image isn't quite HD but is still very sharp and crisp. The audio is a Dolby 2.0 track that produces clear dialogue and music. 

The special features on this disc are limited to previews for Disney films. It does however, come with a paperback copy of the journal on the show that includes quite a few pages of information about the creatures encountered in Gravity Falls. It is thin though and not as meaty as one would hope but still a cool addition to the DVD.

While I am still hoping for a Season 1 box set, this is perfect for any fan of the show!

DVD Review: Phineas and Ferb Mission Marvel!

Sooner or later you knew that Disney would begin to combine the forces of their characters in a movie or two! Here is the first of several mashups I am sure! Phineas and Ferb
team up with some of the Marvel superheroes!

The story premise is this, a blast from Dr. Doofenshmirtz's latest "-Inator" bounces off of a space station built by Phineas and Ferb. This causes Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Thor, powerless while they are battling some super-villains. Phineas and Ferb then join forces with Nick Fury and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to help restore the heroes' powers before it's too late. They're joined in their quest by the O.W.C.A. and their top agent Perry the Platypus.

I think that combining these two universes is brilliant! What a great way to introduce kids watching Phineas and Ferb to the world of Marvel! 

As a cool bonus, the DVD adds six additional episodes of Phineas and Ferb! Plus, there is a small comic book that includes a great interview with the creators of Phineas and Ferb!  And if that wasn't enough each DVD comes with one of three posters!

This is a great DVD! Lots of material that will be fun for anyone that is a fan of Phineas and Ferb. I hear that a Star Wars mashup is on the horizon!