This week’s home entertainment offerings include Jon Favreau’s hugely successful version of Kipling’s The Jungle Book, the fourth season of the DC-based CW series Arrow, the second season of the Disney-produced Star Wars Rebels, and excellent film about baseball that mostly takes place away from the diamond.

Theatrical Movies

This week’s top release is Jon Favreau’s live action/CGI hybrid remake of the 1967 Disney animated adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (Disney, “PG,” BD/DVD Combo $39.99).  This new Jungle Book is actually one of those rare remakes that is actually an improvement on the original, so it’s no surprise that Favreau’s film has earned a stellar 95% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.  This weekend The Jungle Book squeaked past Deadpool to become the #3 movie of 2016 so far at the box office, and the Disney smash is almost certain to earn over a billion dollars worldwide.  While the green screen-based live-action/animated hybrid process can create a weird sort of hyper reality that actually undercuts realistic drama, Favreau has managed to make the process really work in bringing Kipling’s archetypal tale to life.

The only other major release due this week is the romantic drama Me Before You (Warner Bros., 110 min., $15.99, BD $19.99), which tells the story of a young woman who becomes a caregiver for a cynical ex-banker who is paralyzed (and in pain) from a motorcycle accident.  Me Before You is what they used to call “a three-handkerchief movie,” and a lot of critics are temperamentally disinclined to like any film that wears its sentiment on its sleeve, so the fact that Me Before You actually has a 58% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes would tend to indicate that it is a pretty good example of what insensitive wags used to call the “weepie” genre.

The Phenom (Image Entertainment, “NR, 90 min., $29.96, BD $29.97), which was written and directed by Noah Buschel, is a movie about the mental side of baseball, and also about our sporting culture and the ways that abusive parents can damage their children even as they think that they are providing the motivation necessary to excel in sports.  Ethan Hawke is excellent as the abusive father of a young pitcher (well-played by Johnny Simmons), who when he suddenly can’t find the plate, is sent to a sports psychologist (Paul Giamatti), who uncovers some of the deeper reasons behind the hurler’s wildness.  Don’t expect much baseball action from this sports drama and you won’t be disappointed by this indie production that earned an excellent 81% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

TV on DVD

This week’s top release is Arrow: The Complete 4th Season (Warner Bros., $49.99, BD $54.97).  Arrow, which is based on the DC Comics’ Green Arrow (aka Oliver Queen), was the first of the new wave DC-based series to hit the CW, with Flash and DC Legends spinning off from Arrow, a gritty crime-fighting saga set in gangster-ridden Starling City.  This set includes all 23 Season 4 episodes including the complete 2-hour “Flash Crossover” episode. Arrow has introduced numerous DC heroes and villains to the small screen—and more importantly, provided a glimpse of the complex DC Comics Universe to the CW’s youthful audience (estimated at 4 million per week for Arrow, the CW’s #3 show).  In addition to being a TV portal to the DCU, Arrow is a slam-bang action series—and the Season 4 set contains over an hour and a half of extra features of interest to fans including a “Star Crossed Hawks” featurette, a look at the 2015 Arrow panel at Comic-Con, deleted scenes, and a gag reel that is (for once) worth checking out. 

Also of great interest is Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Second Season (Disney, 484 min., $39.99, BD $45.99), which includes all 22 episodes of the latest animated Star Wars series as the small band of rebels battle against Darth Vader and his minions.  This series is closely connected to Disney’s other Star Wars projects and a special extra feature “Connecting the Galaxy” explains in some detail how the actions and character in Star Wars Rebels relate to overall Star Wars universe, while the “Rebel Recons” features provide behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with key creators.

There are plenty of new releases from current TV series due on Tuesday including the police procedural Criminal Minds: The Eleventh Season (Paramount, 880 min., $55.98), the medical drama Chicago Med: Season One (Universal, 851 min., $44.98), the fire-fighting saga, Chicago Fire: Season 4 (Universal, $44.98), the long-running, Seattle-set medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy: The Complete 12th Season (Disney, $45.99), the CBS sitcom Mom: The Complete 3rd Season (Warner Bros., 628 min., $29.99), the military police procedural NCIS: Los Angeles—The Complete 7th Season (Paramount, $55.98), and the American version of the U.K. black comedy, Shameless: The Complete 6th Season (Warner Bros., 528 min., $29.98, BD $39.98).

Mention should be made of the excellent TV miniseries The Night Manager: The Uncensored Edition (Sony, 361 min., $35.98, BD $45.99), which stars Tom Hiddleston (Loki in the Thor movies) and Hugh Laurie (House) in a crackerjack adaptation of a John Le Carre novel.

Vintage TV releases include The Carole Burnett Show—The Lost Episodes Ultimate Collection (Time Life, 3730 min., $249.95), which collects the first five season of the popular 1960s variety show that have never been rerun on TV or put out on videotape or DVD; and the country music comedy/variety series, Hee Haw: The Collector’s Edition (Time Life, $199.95).

Animated TV offerings (in addition to Star Wars Rebels) include My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic—Everypony’s Favorite Frights (Shout Factory, 110 min., $14.98); the new French CGI series Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (Shout Factory, 132 min., $14.98); and the rugrat-targeting Pound Puppies: Halloween at Shelter 17 (Shout Factory, 132 min., $12.98).

Overseas series that will debut on Tuesday include the Australian 1920s period proto-feminist whodunit, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: Series 1-3 Collection (Acorn Media, 1881 min., $119.99, BD $119.99), which collects all 34 episodes of this enjoyable series, which has aired here on PBS, and which is now available in Blu-ray that shows off the series’ high production values; and the French-Canadian police drama 19-2: Season 2 (Acorn Media, 444 min., $49.98), which takes place in Montreal, and which airs (in an English adaptation) on the Bravo cable channel here in the States.

Anime

This week’s top release for mecha anime fans is Eureka Seven: The Complete Series (Funimation, 1250 min., $64.98, BD $69.98), which collects all 51 episodes of the 2005 mecha adventure/romance created by Bones, and presented here in Blu-ray for the very first time.  Extras include commentaries on 13 key episodes, voice actor interviews, trailers, and textless opening songs.

A mecha show with an interesting twist is Doamygar-D: The Complete Series (Funimation, 33 min., Subtitles Only, $14.98), a clever little saga about a giant candy-making robot who may be mankind’s best hope when nasty warlike mecha show up demanding candy.

Also of interest is the When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace: The Complete Series (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), a 12-episode 2014 anime from Trigger based on the light novel series about the five super-powered members of the Senko High School Literature club.

For those who enjoy military science fiction anime there is the 2013 anime, Arpeggio of Blue Steel: The Complete Collection (Discotek, 300 min, Subtitles Only, BD/DVD Combo $59.98), which is based on the seinen manga by Ark Performance, and those who enjoy martial arts/supernatural mash-ups can check out Beelzebub, Part 1 (Discotek, 650 min., Subtitles Only, $49.95), while devotees of anime slice-of-life romance might want to check out the 2008 series True Tears: The Complete Collection (Discotek, 325 min., Subtitles Only, $39.95), which was previously issued here by Bandai Entertainment.