Edgar Wright’s exceptional adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim graphic novels leads this week’s offerings, but there are plenty other items of interest including new Boondocks and Mystery Science Theater 3000 releases, as well as the first season of Doctor Who featuring the new Eleventh Doctor, and an updating of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes that puts Guy Ritchie’s recent film to shame.

 

Theatrical

 

While the Adam Sandler ensemble comedy Grown Ups (Sony, “PG-13,” $28.96, BD $38.96) will likely be the bestselling new DVD of the week, this formulaic comedy that features Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, and Rob Schneider as well as Sandler doesn’t hold many surprises.  But fans of Sandler’s arrested-adolescence comedies will likely find Grown Ups to be an enjoyable experience.

 

Still hands down the most interesting release of the week is Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Universal, “PG-13,” $29.98, BD $39.98), Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s series of graphic novels. It appears at least in hindsight that Universal botched the marketing of the film by stressing the movie’s appropriation of video game conventions and advertising it as some sort of action movie, rather than as an “action-packed romantic comedy.”  The movie, which cost over $60 million to produce, earned just $31.5 million at the domestic box office, but even if it didn’t reach much of its potential audience in the theaters, it did make Scott Pilgrim the bestselling graphic novel property in the bookstore market with more than 1 million volumes in print from publisher Oni Press.  As recently as the first week of November all six of the Scott Pilgrim volumes remained among the top 12 titles in bookstore sales, and if the film does reach a wider audience on DVD as many expect, exceptionally strong sales of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels should continue at least through the end of the year.  Wright’s film does a superb job of capturing the roller-coaster emotions of O’Malley’s saga of love in the modern world, and the movie manages to be funny and occasionally touching as well.  The Scott Pilgrim Blu-ray release, which is loaded with cool extras including no fewer than three documentaries about the making of the film, is truly the “collector’s edition” (see “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”), and is not to be missed.

 

TV on DVD

 

There is a wealth of new cult TV releases this week including The Boondocks, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and two potent U.K. releases, Doctor Who: The Complete 5th Series, and Sherlock.

 

The Boondocks: The Complete Third Season (Sony, 385 min., $49.95) includes all 15 episodes of the third season of Aaron McGruder’s animated series that airs on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.  The Boondocks, which is based on McGruder’s newspaper comic strip, is presented in all its uncut and uncensored glory.  As irreverent, satirical, and unpredictable as it may be, The Boondocks still has plenty of heart and loads of soul.  Special features include introductions by Cedric Yarbrough and Gary Anthoy Williams plus four audio  commentaries by John Witherspoon, Cedric Yarbrough and Gary Anthony Williams.

 

For great satirical fun at the expense of bad movies and TV shows it’s impossible to beat Mystery Science Theater 3000.  The Mystery Science Theater 3000 XIX: Limited Edition (Shout Factory, 360 min., $69.97) includes a cool plastic Gypsy robot figurine as well as four “Grade Z” features, Robot Monster, Bride of the Monster, Devil Fish, and Devil Doll, all of which get the complete MST 3000 treatment.  Bonus features include full color faux MST 3000 lobby cards and commentaries from connoisseurs of camp such as Larry Blamire (The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra).

 

The top U.K. releases include Doctor Who: The Complete 5th Series (BBC, 550 min., $79.98, BD $89.98), which contains all 13 episodes of the long-running BBC science fiction series (Doctor Who Magazine calls this “Series 31”) that aired in the U.K. last spring.  This is the first series to feature Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as his companion Amy Pond.  The new Doctor Who series have all received great exposure in the U.S., and the ensuing popularity of the property has led to the revival of Doctor Who comics as well as the release of all sorts of Whovian merchandise.

 

Another U.K. series with serious cult hit potential and great North American exposure is Sherlock, an update of Conan Doyle’s super sleuth.  Set in contemporary London, but featuring the iconic details of Conan Doyle’s timeless creation, Sherlock: Season 1 (BBC, 461 min., $34.98, BD $39.98) is fast-paced, exciting, and relentlessly modern, and yet far closer in spirit to the original (and much more fun) than the recent tricked-out, James Bond-infused, Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes movie.  Benedict Cumberbatch (the villain in Atonement) plays Holmes as an arrogant, callow, but always brilliant, self-described “high-functioning sociopath.”  He uses the full panoply of modern forensic methods and communication techniques including texting, GPS, and the Internet.  Martin Freeman (who will play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit movies) is closer to Conan Doyle’s Watson than the bumbling Nigel Bruce of the Rathbone Holmes movies—and like the original Watson, he has been invalided out of the service after having been wounded in Afghanistan.  The plots may be a trifle far-fetched at times, but this series, which is currently airing on PBS’ Masterpiece Theater, is relentlessly clever and unfailingly entertaining.

 

Aside from The Boondocks, there are two other animated “TV on DVD” releases of interest this week including The Superhero Squad, Vol.2: Quest for the Infinity Sword (Shout Factory, 132 min., $14.93).  Based on a line of Hasbro super-deformed Marvel toys, The Super Hero Squad Show airs in the U.S. on the Cartoon Network.  A second season of 26 episodes of this series, which is geared toward younger viewers, began airing in October.  Vol. 2 includes six episodes, which feature Marvel heroes such as Iron Man, Wolverine, Silver Surfer, Thor, and Falcon.

 

While the Super Hero Squad is a single-disc release, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! The Complete Series (Warner Bros., 902 min., $79.95) contains 8 discs packaged in a highly collectible mystery machine van replica.  The set includes all 25 episodes of the original 1969-1971 series, plus 16 episodes that were produced in 1978 and aired on The Scooby-Doo Show.  Needless to say, this is a great collection for fans of the series.

 

Continuing series out this week include Californication: Season 3 (Showtime, $42.99), Lie to Me: Season 2 (Fox, 1022 min., $59.98), and Men of a Certain Age: The Complete First Season (Warner, Bros, 440 min., $39.98), Ray Romano’s follow-up to Everybody Loves Raymond.

 

Anime

 

It’s a very light week for anime releases.  The only new material due this week is Xam’d Collection 2 (Sentai Filmworks, “13+,” 325 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), a mecha-rich fantasy saga from Bones.  Sentai also released the first half of the Xam’d series in September in both Blu-ray and regular editions (see “DVD Round-Up: Week of September 21st”).

 

This week’s anime bargains include the otaku-themed Comic Party Revolution Complete Series (Funimation, “14+,” 315 min., $19.98), and the Clamp-based Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Season 2 Viridian Collection (Funimation, “13+,” 625 min., $49.98). 

 

Classics on Blu-ray

 

David Lean’s meticulous 1957 adaptation of Pierre Boule’s novel The Bridge on the River Kwai (Sony, “PG,” 161 min. $34.95) is out in a beautifully re-mastered Blu-ray edition that is loaded with extras including a fully-illustrated 35-page book, reproductions of the original lobby cards, clips of William Holden and Alec Guiness on The Steve Allen Show, newly rediscovered footage of Holden narrating scenes of the film’s premiere, as well as a bonus conventional DVD of the film.  One of the very best war films of the 1950s, The Bridge on the River Kwai reflects a certain distance from the conflict in the way in which the strengths and weaknesses of both the British and the Japanese are examined without the jingoism and propaganda that marked most war films made during and right after the conflict.