Ni Hao, Kai-Lan - Celebrate With Kai-Lan - Buy from Amazon
The cartoon features the adventures Kai-lan, a 5-year old Chinese-American girl, and her animal friends, Rintoo, a emo tiger; Tolee, a koala bear who is obsessed pandas; Hoho, a monkey and the youngest of Kai-lan's friends; and finally Lulu, a rhinoceros that can fly with the aid of a balloon tied to her horn.

The episodes on this DVD are...

• Happy Chinese new Year! - Kai-Lan and her friends celebrate Chinese New Year and get to carry the dragon in the parade. However, Rintoo doesn't want to be in the middle, so he stops. Can he learn the value of teamwork in time to get to the parade?
• Safari Pals - Kai-Lan and her pals go on a safari and meet up with Stompy, and elephant. However, Rintoo becomes jealous because Stompy is bigger, louder, etc. and become all mopey, again. Can Kai-Lan help him get over it?
• Kai-Lan's Campout - Kai-Lan and her pals camp out in the backyard in her ladybug tent. However, Tolee brings his panda bear toy and doesn't want to share. Can Kai-Lan teach him the value of sharing?
• Tolee's Rhyme Time - Kai-Lan convinced Tolee to sing a rhyming song in the music show. But when coming up with rhymes becomes too hard, he quits. Can Kai-Lan teach him the value of hard work.

Each episode in this series uses to interactivity to help kids learn a little Mandarin, learn about the Chinese culture, while teaching various lessons to the kids about dealing with jealousy, teamwork, sharing, etc. If you have a pre-school kid who likes the show, then Celebrate With Kai-Lan is worth checking out. And if you thought Super Special Days was worth picking up, then so is this DVD, as it offers the same level of value. It offers the same level of value as most Nick, Jr. DVD releases do.

Old School - Blu-ray - Buy from Amazon
The next pile of shovelware is Old School, which I though I had reviewed previously, but I can't seem to find the review. Granted, as I write this is the 3:30 am in on Christmas Eve, so I'm not searching really hard.

The film stars Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell as three middle-aged adolescents who decide to start a Fraternity despite no longer being in college. It is a Frat Pack flick from the Golden Age of such movies, however, it is only average. There are enough funny moments in the movie to make it worth checking out, but not enough to grant the movie high replay value. That is, unless you are a really big fan of the Frat Pack, that is.

As for the Blu-ray, it's nearly identical to the HD DVD release in terms of video and audio quality (the audio has an improved mix and is TrueHD 5.1 Surround, however, it doesn't do much beyond simple stereo). Extras are identical with an audio commentary track, deleted scenes, outtakes, making of featurette, and a spoof of Inside the Actors Studio. Sadly nothing here pushes the technology, in fact, none of this is presented in High Definition.

The math is simple. The Old School Blu-ray costs $20 to buy, which is too much for shoveware. However, if you have the DVD, there's a $10 mail-in rebate, which drops the price to just $10, which is perfect for this type of release.

I did like the performance by relative newcomer Shailene Woodley. I think I've only previously seen her in an episode of My Name is Earl (she was the girl Earl shot with a BB), but she handles the role very well. I also liked seeing Molly Ringwald again, although I thought her role as mother was underwritten. In fact, almost all of the secondary characters feel underwritten. It's hard to be interested in a character and what they do if it doesn't feel like they have real motives for their actions. On the other hand, it did win the Choice Summer TV Show at last year's Teen Choice Awards. So perhaps I'm just not in the target audience.

The only extra on the 3-disc set is a 6-minute featurette on the show with interviews with the cast and creator.

If you are a fan of The O.C., then you might enjoy The Secret Life of the American Teenager. On the other hand, if you are looking for a more realistic approach to high school without the soap opera vibe, check out Degrassi instead. Regardless of my opinion of the show, I was not impress with the first season DVD, as it was nearly devoid of extras and I can't recommend it for anything more than a rental.

This film stars Matthew McConaughey as Steve Addington, a surfer who returns to Malibu after a worldwide, six-month surfing tour. However, while he was away things have changed and he hooks up with Eddie Zarno to pay the bills. Actually, his old sponsors sell out to Eddie Zarno to pay their bills, and now his hooked up with some Reality TV gig and a video game. Feeling left out of the new digital age, he's freaked out by the virtual video game and turned off by Reality TV, he decides he'd just rather be surfing and to hell with finances. But then disaster strikes. There's a drought of waves.

This is a movie that tries to combine surfing and smoking pot into a deep life philosophy. There's a problem with this, listening to stoned people talk philosophy lacks appeal for me. And given its reviews, I'm not alone in feeling that way. It was a chore to get through.

Extras on the Blu-ray are better than expected given its box office performance starting with an audio commentary track with Matthew McConaughey, who is a little too mellow to bring much in the way of replay value here. There is a 25-minute long making of featurette called Surfer, Dude: The Real Story and there are also 11 minutes of deleted scenes, however, they are presented in one large chunk without chapter breaks between them. Finally, all 12 webisodes from the movie site are here. It also comes with a digital copy of the film.

All of the above can be found on the DVD as well, but the Blu-ray does have some benefits. This includes some of the surfing scenes, which sure look nice in High Definition, but there's not enough of that to sell High Definition. Also, the disc is BD-Live enabled, but so far there's nothing online to check out.

Doing a bit of research about Surfer, Dude after watching the film, and apparently it is supposed to be a comedy. I couldn't tell. Maybe if you are really into stoner philosophy, this film might be worth a rental, but that's a really limited target audience. Regardless, I can't recommend buying either the or the Blu-ray. There's not enough replay value here.

Tommy Boy - Holy Schnike Edition - Blu-ray - Buy from Amazon
A buddy comedy starring David Spade and Chris Farley. In the movie David Spade plays the straight-man to Chris Farley's bumbling dumb fat guy routine, as the two try and help Chris Farley's father's election campaign>. No wait, that's Black Sheep. In this movie David Spade plays the straight-man to Chris Farley's bumbling dumb fat guy routine, as the two try and help Chris Farley's father's auto-part company stay afloat after his untimely death. The plot doesn't really matter, as this is a simple road trip movie where two polar opposites are forced to be in close quarters for long stretches of time. Many people consider it a guilty pleasure. I think it's entertaining, the first time you see it, but it doesn't have the replay value needed to warrant purchasing over renting.

Additionally, the Blu-ray is rather average, both in terms of the extras and the technical qualities. When High Definition was first proposed, no one said, 'Wow, I can't wait to see Tommy Boy on High Definition.' It's a modestly budgeted comedy that is not very visual, and the transfer is merely average, nothing more. Good news, all of the extras from the Special Edition DVD were ported over: the audio commentary track, making of featurettes, deleted scenes, 19 TV spots, etc. (On a side note, 19 TV spots? Why?) However, there are no additional extras, nor are any of the extras presented in High Definition. Typical shovelware.

Tommy Boy is hardly a film that needs to be seen in High Definition, even those who think it has a lot more replay value that I think it has will agree to that. Buying the Blu-ray for $20 is not worth it. Upgrading for $10 thanks to the mail-in rebate might be, on the other hand.

But do you need to see it on Blu-ray? It is very visual for a drama and truly shines in High Definition. On the other hand, the extras are all from the Special Edition and none are presented in High Definition. That said, I rated that DVD as a DVD Pick of the Week when it was first released so it is hardly a bad package. I would have really liked something new, like an audio commentary track, but I can't complain too much.

The last of the Paramount Blu-rays coming out this week, at least alphabetically. Quality wise, The Truman Show is the best, and the Blu-ray is certainly worth picking up, especially if you have the DVD and can take advantage of the mail-in rebate.