Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Cert PG, 85 mins, Paramount Home Entertainment, Family/Comedy, also available to buy DVD £19.99/The Complete Madagascar Collection DVD Box Set £24.99/Blu-ray £24.99)
Featuring the voices of: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric The Entertainer, Bernie Mac, Sherri Shepherd, Alec Baldwin.
Alex the lion (voiced by Stiller), Marty the zebra (Rock), Melman the hypochondriac giraffe (Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippopotamus (Pinkett Smith) are finally ready to leave the exotic island of Madagascar and return to the plush surroundings of New York’s Central Park Zoo. Boarding a rickety plane with ring-tailed lemur King Julien the 13th (Cohen), his second-in-command Maurice (Cedric The Entertainer) and the kamikaze penguins – Private, Rico, Skipper and Kowalski – the animals crash-land on the plains of Africa where Alex is reunited with his long lost father Zuba (Mac) and doting mother (Shepherd), to the obvious chagrin of Zuba’s sworn rival, Makunga (Baldwin). Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa cheekily recycles the plot of The Lion King but Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath’s film is desperately short of animal magic. The sequel begins promisingly with a flashback to Alex’s abduction from the jungle and the flight back to New York, with Kowalski and his feathered friends at the controls of the plane. Once the story moves to Africa, the similarities to The Lion King are inescapable. Alas, Darnell and McGrath’s film pales next to the Disney masterpiece. The quality of the computer animation is undeniable – the visuals are crisp and finely detailed including animal hair that moves convincingly. However, without a compelling storyline to support all of the technical wizardry and artistic flourishes, Escape 2 Africa is pristine style and second-hand substance. Aside from Cohen’s attention-grabbing antics, vocal performances are unremarkable. The Complete Madagascar Collection, comprising the original animated film and sequel, is also available.
DVD Extras: Directors commentary, Penguins Sneak Peek, DWA Jukebox, “It’s A Family Affair: The Cast Of Escape 2 Africa” featurette, “The Making Of Escape 2 Africa” featurette, “Crash Landing” featurette, “African Adventure” featurette, Jambo Jambo: Swahili Speak, Test Flight of Air Penguin Game, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Activision game, 4 MAD music videos (“Move It, Move It”, “Big And Chunky”, “She Loves Me”, “The Travelling Song” Sing Along), theatrical trailers; Blu-ray: Directors commentary, Penguins Sneak Peek, DWA Jukebox, “It’s A Family Affair: The Cast Of Escape 2 Africa” featurette, “The Making Of Escape 2 Africa” featurette, “Crash Landing” featurette, “African Adventure” featurette, Jambo Jambo: Swahili Speak, Test Flight of Air Penguin Game, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Activision game, 4 MAD music videos (“Move It, Move It”, “Big And Chunky”, “She Loves Me”, “The Travelling Song” Sing Along, The Penguins Of Madagascar “Popcorn Panic” and “Gone In A Flash”, The Bronx Zoo: Madagascar, Alex’s Dance Off, The Heart Of A Lion), Easter Eggs (Move it, Move it, Hock Shop, Julien’s Birthday, Tug Of War, Fully Armed, No Thanks, I’m Stuffed), PiP commentary track, trivia track, theatrical trailers.
Rating: ***
Twilight (Cert 12, 116 mins, Contender Home Entertainment, Romance/Horror/Drama, also available to buy DVD £19.99/two-disc DVD £22.99/Blu-ray £24.99)
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Ed Gathegi, Cam Gigandet, Rachelle Lefevre.
Teenage misfit Bella Swan (Stewart) moves to Forks, Washington, to live with her cop father, Charlie (Burke). As the mysterious new girl at school, Bella soon makes friends but the only person she wants to meet is alluring outsider Edward Cullen (Pattinson). In the parking lot, Bella is almost crushed to death in a freak accident, only to be saved in the nick of time by Edward. Under pressure, Edward eventually reveals that he is a vampire – an immortal – but unlike many of his kind, he does not drink human blood. When bloodthirsty predators Laurent (Gathegi), James (Gigandet) and Victoria (Lefevre) begin to feed on the unsuspecting Forks locals, Edward and his family close ranks to protect Bella from her immortal pursuers. Based on the first part of Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling novels, Twilight will hold teenage viewers spellbound as Bella and Edward spend the first hour orbiting one another before succumbing to their desires, including a laughable love scene. Violence takes place predominantly off screen until a fast-paced finale, during which the fake claret runneth over and fangs are bared. Pattinson looks far too old to pass for 17 but he generates smouldering screen chemistry with Stewart, who perfectly embodies her heroine’s naivety. Despite the stilted dialogue and a generous grating of cheesiness, Catherine Hardwicke’s film is a sprightly romantic yarn. The occasional zinging one-liner (“Your mood swings are giving me whiplash”) compensates for gushing declarations of love, which suggest the characters in Meyer’s imaginary world spend too much time with their noses in Mills & Boon.
DVD Extras: Two-disc DVD/Blu-ray: Director and actors commentary, “The Adventure Begins” featurette, A Conversation With Stephenie Meyer, “The Comic-Con Phenomenon” featurette, deleted scenes with director introduction, extended scenes with director introduction, UK premiere footage, “Becoming Edward” featurette, “Becoming Bella” featurette, “Catherine Hardwicke’s Vampire Kiss” montage, Edward’s Piano Concert, “Music: The Heartbeat Of Twilight” featurette, Catherine Hardwicke “Bella’s Lullaby Remix” music video, Muse “Supermassive Black Hole” music video, Paramore “Decode” music video, TV spots, theatrical trailer.
Rating: ***
Inkheart (Cert PG, 101 mins, Entertainment In Video, Family/Action/Drama, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett, Paul Bettany, Andy Serkis, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Sienna Guillory.
Father and bookbinder Mo Folchart (Fraser) has kept a terrible secret from his daughter Meggie (Bennett) since she was three-years-old. He is a Silvertongue, who possesses the ability to bring a tome to life by simply reading it aloud and inadvertently sent his beloved wife Teresa (Guillory) into the pages of a book called Inkheart. In her place, various characters including the villainous Capricorn (Serkis) and henchman Basta (Foreman) escaped into this world. Stumbling upon a tatty, old copy of Inkheart, Mo finally believes he could be reunited with Teresa, only to embark on the greatest adventure of his life in the company of a stranger called Dustfinger (Bettany) and the beautiful Elinor Loredan (Mirren). Inkheart is a fantastical family adventure based on the best-selling novel by Cornelia Funke about a secret class of people who possess a remarkable gift, which might just be a curse. Iain Softley’s film is a fun-filled journey between real and imaginary worlds, with a gentle mix of comedy and action, as Mo and his daughter use the gift they share to reunite their fractured family. The director marshals a largely British cast for his fast-paced and colourful adaptation, working from a screenplay by David Lindsay-Abaire. Serkis chews the scenery as the bad guy fascinated by everyday, 21st century objects (“I love duct tape!”) while Fraser resorts to his usual action hero routine, gelling nicely with Bennett’s plucky teen. Mirren demonstrates impeccable comic timing as a woman on the edge. Softley sustains our interest for 101 minutes before an orgy of computer-generated special effects vies for our attention.
DVD Extras: “Eliza Read To Us” featurette, theatrical trailer.
Rating: ***
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