Bee Movie - A Very Jerry 2-Disc Edition - Buy from Amazon
First of all, we do know how bees can fly. Their wings create vortices in the air that provide additional lift. No scientists ever said, 'Bees can't fly!' They said, 'Bees can fly using a mechanism that is not well understood at this time.' And with additional research, the that mechanism was discovered.

Moving on.

Bee Movie came out on DVD last week, but the screener didn't arrive till this week, hence the delay in the spotlight review.

Jerry Seinfeld wrote, produced, and starred in Bee Movie, his first major project since the end of his TV series. This certainly helped the film earn additional publicity, but fans of the show will not be enticed by the movie. It certainly shares some of the same comedic sensibilities, but this is certainly a kids movie. It is not a bad movie and there are some funny moments here; however, there are some problems with the overall story and that hurts the flow of the movie. For instance, in the movie we learn that bees can speak perfect English, they just choose not to. Also, the whole plot with the bees suing humans over the theft of their honey doesn't seem well thought-out.

(They talk in the commentary track about the number of revisions in the script, which is a large issue here. They also talk about the film being given the greenlight based on the name alone and at the time it had absolutely no story to back it up. This is a larger issue.)

As for the extras, the 2-disc set has a lot of them with a mix of those that are aimed at kids and those that are aimed at adult aficionados like myself. The audio commentary track is easily the best of the features for the latter group; it moves fast, provides plenty of information and isn't dry. Other extras for adults include the deleted scenes and alternate endings shown in storyboard form with introduction by Jerry Seinfeld. Most of the endings are quite similar, however. TV Juniors are 90-second promotional pieces with Jerry Seinfeld doing his thing with some guest from the movie, and some guests that are not from the movie. Occasionally funny, but with limited replay value. Jerry's Flight Over Cannes is a three-minute featurette about the film's premiere in Cannes, for which Seinfeld dressed up as a bee, while Inside the Hive is a 15-minute featurette on the making of the movie. Rounding out the first disc are the two live-action trailers.

Over on disc 2 we find Tech of Bee Movie, which is a behind-the-scenes featurette that focuses on the technology of the movie. There are also more kid oriented features like musical video and the Dreamworks Jukebox. (This second feature feels like it is more ad than extra, however.) Meet Barry B. Benson has 11 questions you can ask Barry while the answers are culled from the movie. Might entertain kids, but I doubt many adults will even get through them all. Over on the kids section we have The Buzz About Bees, a 7-minute featurette on bee facts. The Ow! Meter looks at different dangers bees pose to humans and vice versa. That's Un-Bee-Lievable! is a trivia quiz while Be a Bee is a personality quiz to help you find the perfect Bee Job for yourself. (I'm a Pollen Jock, so it is clearly flawed.) Pollination practice is a target practice game, however it isn't intuitive enough.

Bee Movie had a lot of buzz right from the beginning. however, the end product is hit and miss. There is more than enough here to entertain most kids, but adults aficionados will not consider it a top-tier CG release. Likewise, the 2-disc set has a mix of feature to please kids and adults, and overall it is better for the latter. If you have kids, it is worth picking up, but it doesn't live up to the releases by Pixar, for instance.

Enchanted - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
One of the best films from last year, Enchanted took a classic tale of a fairytale princess (or princess-to-be) and gives it a modern twist. In the movie Amy Adams plays Giselle, a fair maiden who finds her Prince Charming and is about to live happily ever after. But his evil stepmother has other plans and sends her to the real world.

This is an amazing hook and the folks at Disney make the most of it. In the hands of coarse or unsophisticated group of writers and you would have had a ham-fisted spoof. Date Movie meets Disney. ... Meet the Princess. However, the writers here are deft and skillful and the result is just as much an homage as it is a parody. It is amazing how many references to these classics there are in the movie, and not just the broad themes, but little touches including cameos from several actresses who have played princesses in the past.

Also, I have to say that Amy Adams is perfect as Giselle. She hits the right notes at the right times and channels the naivete perfectly before becoming a more powerful woman in the end. Without her performance, this film would not have been half as good. (That is not to take away from the rest of the cast, which is uniformly excellent.)

Extras on the DVD are light with making-of featurettes, deleted scenes, outtakes, music video and a short film featuring Pip. On the one hand, this is not a wide selection of extras and the total running time is just 37 minutes. On the other hand, they are all have strong replay value. What you are missing in quantity is made up for with quality.

On the Blu-ray, they have all of the above extras and a bonus feature, The D-Files. Here you can watch the movie with the help of William Huntley, who was mistaken for Grumpy by Giselle in the movie. Here he asks trivia questions and for each one you get right, you get to see a clip. And in the end depending how many you got right, you can the chance to see one of three additional bonus clips. (Apparently I suck. I only got one of the three clips.) I've said it before and I'll likely say it again: Disney is the main reason Blu-ray beat HD DVD, and it is features like this are the reason why. This feature will become a favorite for young kids who love princess movies and they will love the interactive nature of the extra. Adult fans of classic animation will love this feature because of all of the information they learn.

Enchanted is one of the best movies from last year and, since it works on many levels, it will entertain children and adults alike. Both the DVD and the Blu-ray are worth picking up. In fact, despite the additional cost, the Blu-ray with its D-Files feature is a contender for DVD Pick of the Week.

Greek - Chapter One - Buy from Amazon
An original series from ABC Family channel that takes place at a campus. The show stars Jacob Zachar as Rusty Cartwright, a freshman at college who is trying to juggle his honors physics program as well as his new life in a fraternity, much to the chagrin of his sister, Casey Cartwright played by Spencer Grammer, who spent the first two years of college pretending she didn't have a brother.

The first episodes starts out introducing a lot of characters, all of whom feel like one-dimensional stereotypes. However, quickly these characters are shown to have a lot more depth than their introductions made it seem. It is a very good show that blends humor and drama, more of the former than the later. It deals with a lot of storylines including the obvious fish-out-of-water with Rusty, but also the brother / sister relationship. The sister is also involved in a love triangle with her current and former boyfriends and a power struggle in her fraternity with a new pledge. Also, there's Rusty's friend, Clive, who is in the closet.

As for the 3-disc set, there are all 10 episodes from the first season with audio commentary tracks on three of them. Most of them are with the creators, but there's one with the three female leads, who are a lot less focused, but they are certainly having a good time. The rest of the extras are on disc three and include a 10-minute making-of featurette, three short deleted scenes, an extended musical number, as well as a preview for season 2. In total, these run less than 20 minutes, but they are still worth checking out.

This show was surprisingly entertaining for me, as I have no interest in the Greek system. Interesting characters, good writing, good performances add up to a show that is easy to recommend. The three-disc set has good extras, not great extras, but it is still enough to lift the show past the rental level and into a solid purchase.

Hip Hop Awards 2007 - Buy from Amazon
B.E.T. presents the 2007 Hip Hop Awards, where the best of the musical genre get together to honor their own. This is only the second year the awards have been handed out, but the show still has some traditions to call upon.

For instance, like last year, the awards are hosted by Katt Williams. This was a smart call as he is able to move the show at a quick pace, he's able to poke fun at the stars of the genre while honoring them at the same time. It's a tough line to walk, but he does it very well. Another highlight of the night is the music, obviously, with a large number of acts including Kanye West, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, and others. There were also the Cyphers, which were recorded before the show and who were cut to throughout the night, and many speakers who talked about the virtues of the musical genre, as well as the issues it faces. It felt a little self-congratulatory at times, but no more than other award ceremonies.

That brings us to the biggest problem with the show, it is an award ceremony. I find award ceremonies to be incredibly boring, even the Oscars. If I wasn't a journalist, I wouldn't watch the Oscars, I would check the Internet to find out who won. And I would check it out the next day at the earliest. I kept watching the show and enjoying the music, but my interest would wane as soon as the nominees were announced.

As for the extras, there are just over 10 minutes worth of rehearsal performances by T.I., which has some replay value.

Fans of Hip Hop should enjoy the show, however, the overall replay is a little light. I can't help thinking the DVD would have been better with a way of skipping the ceremony and sticking just with the music. ... Well, the music and Katt Williams. Even so, for fans, the DVD is worth checking out for most, picking up for many.

Johnny and the Sprites - Meet the Sprites - Buy from Amazon
Johnny and the Sprites makes its home market debut with the DVD that features 5 11-minute episodes full of colorful characters, plenty of songs, and a few life lessons.

John Tartaglia stars as Johnny, a songwriter who moves into his uncles cottage only to discover there are sprites living in his garden. There's Ginger, the Air Sprite; Lily, the Water Sprite; and Basil, the Earth Sprite. (I guess there's no fire sprite because they don't want kids to light things on fire.) Others on the show include Root, the youngest Sprite and Sage the oldest and wisest of the Sprites. Episodes on the DVD include Ginger's Antenna Dilemma, where Ginger discovers her antenna are too curly and thinks she's a freak, Where's the Water, Lily? where Lily has to figure out where the water has gone, Basil's Band where Basil decides to form a boy band, and others. Each one has a song for the kids and a lesson for them to learn and should entertain its target audience. In a nice twist, they only play the theme song once on the DVD, which prevents it from being repetitive. In fact, there's not a lot here that is repetitive, which is the biggest sin committed by kids' shows.

As for the extras, there is a bonus song and the five 5-minute shorts that got the show started. Additionally, you can watch everything, the episodes, the bonus song, and the shorts with the lyrics on the screen for a sing along.

Johnny and the Sprites has proven to be very popular with preschoolers growing from 5-minute shorts to full episodes and Meet the Sprites should please fans of the show. The DVD has roughly 75 minutes worth of programming, as well as a sing along feature for its trademark songs. Worth picking up.

Wrestlemaniac - Buy from Amazon
Wrestlemaniac is a low-budget Teenage Slasher about a porn crew who go to Mexico to make a movie but come under attack from an insane Mexican Wrestler.

... Oh boy.

No one will mistake this movie for an Oscar masterpiece and all it is, is an exercise in low expectation cinema. It's generic to the point of where using that term seems a gross understatement. The lead characters, a.k.a., the victims, are nondescript at best and completely irritating at worst. The villain might be a draw for fans of wrestling, but looked silly to me. The plot is predictable and nonsensical and there are no twists and turns to keep the viewer interested. All it offers is the prospect of blood and boobs. Sadly it doesn't really deliver there. For a porn shoot, there's almost no nudity, there are only six people to kill off, and two of those deaths happen off-screen. There's just not enough here to recommend. There are mitigating circumstance, but we will get to those in a second.

As for the extras, they are better than expected starting with an audio commentary track featuring writer / director / producer Jesse Baget, D.P. Tabbert Fiiller, and actor Adam Huss. One of the first things they talk about is how the movie was originally set in an abandoned mental institute but two days before filming was to start, they lost their location. Because of this, the script had to be modified at the last minute and was never completed with the new location in mind. It shows. The filmmakers decided to go for more over the top camp because of this, but you can't aim for camp, it just happens, and trying to be campy almost never works. The only other extra is a behind-the-scenes featurette that runs 5:30, but it lacks context and therefore replay value.

Wrestlemaniac is a technically strong film and looks good, especially for its budget. However, almost every other aspect of the movie is below adequate. Perhaps had they not had to make so many last-minute changes, the movie would have worked better, but I can't recommend a film based on what could have been. That said, the next movie these filmmakers work on should be much better, and hopefully that's a movie I will be able to recommend.