The controversial adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game hits video this week along with a spectacular hi-def transfer of Disney’s animated version of Kipling’s Jungle Book, the latest season of the BBC’s Sherlock, and another lost Doctor Who saga that has been restored via animated reconstruction.
 
Theatrical Movies
 
This week’s top release is almost fifty years old, Disney’s The Jungle Book: The Diamond Edition (Disney, “G,”78 min., BD/Combo $39.99), a new Blu-ray hi-def edition of the 1967 animated film, which has earned over $141.8 million over multiple releases (this total is not adjusted for inflation).  The new Blu-ray transfer is exceptional on both the audio and visual fronts and the new Diamond Edition includes loads of interesting extras.
 
Gavin Hood’s film of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game (Lionsgate, “PG-13,” $29.95, BD $39.99) was definitely hurt by negative publicity surrounding Card’s opposition to gay marriage, though that alone does not explain the film’s failure.  What Lionsgate hoped would be a potential science fiction franchise earned only $112 million worldwide less than half of what it would have needed to earn back its $110 million cost.  Card’s thoughtful science fiction premise comes through in the film, which tackles some major moral issues, but Ender’s Game is visually pedestrian and its serious tone is unleavened by humor.
 
J.C. Chandor’s All Is Lost (Lionsgate, “PG-13,” 106 min., $26.98, BD $29.98), which includes one of Robert Redford’s best performances, was snubbed by the Academy, but this gripping story of survival at sea has an elemental power.  Whatever its nautical failings, All Is Lost is redeemed by Redford’s gritty, all-in commitment.  A nearly two-hour story of one man’s struggle against the sea is not everyone’s cup of tea, but for those who enjoy Hemingway-esque adventures, All Is Lost delivers the goods.
 
The decidedly uneven Austenland (Sony, “PG-13,” 96 min., $30.99, BD $34.99) is romantic comedy aimed at female viewers that veers in an unwieldy fashion between comedy and romance.  Keri Russell makes a fetching thirty-something Austen aficionado, who blows her life savings on an immersive “Jane Austen” fantasy camp experience held at the magnificent country estate used as Mister Darcy’s ancestral home in the 1990s BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, and run by a smiling lady dictator (Jane Seymour), who supervises every detail of her “guests” visits.  Pride and Prejudice of course supplies the precise dynamics for Austenland’s romance, and as was the case in Bridget Jones’ Diary, this delicate pas de deux between two headstrong and haughty individuals still makes for a compelling story, though taking it out of the 19th Century robs the story of its historical context and its indictment of the chafing gender restrictions of the era.  The romance in Austenland, though confined to the film’s latter stages, actually works better than some of the comedy, which is too dependent on exploiting the crass vulgarity of the rich American dowager played by Jennifer Coolidge.
 
Far more successful at the box office than Austenland was Best Man Holiday (Universal, “R,” $28.98, $34.98), a sequel to the 1999 film The Best Man as old friends reunite after many years in what amounts to a sort of romcom version of The Big Chill, which earned over $70 million at the domestic box office in November.  This is an “R” rated film with plenty of bawdy action and dialogue, but it also displays some heart and features strong performances from a big ensemble cast headed by Taye Diggs and Morris Chestnut.
 
The combination of director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) and novelist Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men) would appear to guarantee a solid contemporary noir, but even with Michael Fassbender in the title role, The Counselor (Fox, “R,” 118 min., $29.98, BD $39.99) this film is an inchoate mess that could only manage a 34% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
 
For art movie lovers there is Wadjda (Sony, “PG,” 97 min., $39.99), a powerful film about a young Saudi girl who wants a bicycle.  The bike is a heartfelt symbol of freedom in this first feature made by a female Saudi filmmaker, and there is something very cinematic about the use of a bicycle in powerful neo-realist films like The Bicycle Thief and Wadjda.
 
TV on DVD
 
The top release in this category is Sherlock: Season 3 (BBC, 270 min., $29.98, BD $39.98), which collects the three most recent feature-length episodes of the BBC’s updated Sherlock Holmes starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the master of deduction and Martin Freeman as Doctor Watson.   These well-produced features, which recently aired on PBS stations here, definitely benefit from the hi-def treatment, so the Blu-ray edition is recommended.
 
Also of some interest is The Americans: The Complete First Season (Fox, $49.98, BD $59.98), which collects all 13 episodes of the 2013 FX series that stars Keri Russell and Philip Jennings as KGB operatives in deep cover as suburban Americans living in the Washington DC area.  Set in 1980, this period drama focuses on the personal lives of the sleeper agents, who haven’t even told their children about their true identities or mission.
 
Those who enjoy supernatural dramas might very well want to check out the award-winning French series The Returned/Les Revenants: The Complete First Season (Music Box, 480 min., $29.95, BD $34.95), which collects all 8 first season episode of the show about a number of “dead” people who miraculously return to a small mountain village along with a wave of strange environmental phenomena.
 
This week’s other live-action release with serious geek appeal is Doctor Who Story #033: The Moonbase (BBC, 100 min., $24.98), the sixth serial from fourth season of the long-running science fiction series that originally aired in early 1967.  The story features the second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and marks the return (and the first redesign) of the Cybermen.  Episodes 1 and 3 of the 4-parter are missing and have been replaced by animated reconstructions.  The Moonbase is the fifth partial Doctor Who serial to be restored with animated reconstructions based on existing scripts.
 
Animated releases of interest include The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour: Academy Award Nominated Golden Gems (Warner Bros., 90 min., $9.97), which includes 13 classic cartoons featuring Tom and Jerry, Droopy, Speedy Gonzalez, Sylvester and Tweety, and more. 
 
Other animated delights include The League of Super Evil: Season 1, Vol.1 (New Video, 286 min., $19.95) and The League of Super Evil: Season 1, Vol. 2 (New Video, 286 min., $19.95), which together collect all 26 episodes of the first season of the Canadian-produced, slapstick-filled, action comedy series that airs here on Nickelodeon.
 
Vintage TV releases include the Dick Van Dyke mystery series Diagnosis Murder: The Complete 7th Season (VEI, $17.99), the classic sitcom Newhart: The Complete Second Season (Shout Factory, 510 min., $22.93), The Red Skeleton Show: The Lost Episodes (Timeless Media, 380 min., $14.93), and for the kiddies, Power Rangers Zeo: Vol. 2 (Shout Factory, 480 min., $19.93).
 
Anime
 
This week’s releases include Kamisama Kiss Complete Series (Funimation, “13+,” 325 min., $54.98, Goddess Set Limited Edition $129.98), which includes all 13 episodes of the 2012 series based on the popular shojo manga by Julietta Suzuki (published here by Viz Media) about a teenage girl who enters into a strange agreement with a fox demon whose kiss makes her the new Earth Deity.  The Goddess Edition is limited to 2,500 and includes Nanami’s ornamental hair stick, a folding fan, a tote bag, a Tomoe Omamori lucky amulet, and seven postcards—all of which are housed in an exclusive collector’s artbox.
 
Also due this week is the MM! Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, “17+,” 300 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which includes all 12 episodes of the 2010 adaptation by Xebec of a series of light novels by Akinari Matsuno about a masochistic teen, appropriately named “Sado,” and there are plenty of kinky doings hinted at in this series that was definitely influenced by Kraft-Ebbing.   Sentai released this series on DVD back in 2011, but that was subtitles only, while the new version also comes with a dubbed English language track.
 
This week’s re-priced re-releases include Strike Witches Complete Season 1 (Funimation, “17+,” BD/DVD Combo $24.98), and Strike Witches Complete Season 2 (Funimation, “17+,” BD/DVD Combo $24.98).

Tom Flinn

The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.