March 4, 2008 DVD Releases

Here is a list of movies that will be released on DVD on March 4, 2008.

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

Genre: Kids/Family, Comedy, Fantasy

Rating: G

Actors/Actresses: Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman, Zachary Mills, Ted Ludzik

Synopsis: Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium is the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world. In fact, it’s a magic toy store and everything in it comes to life–including the store itself. The emporium asks only one thing of its customers–you must believe it to see it.

Molly Mahoney (Portman) is the awkward and insecure manager of Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world. But when Mr. Magorium, the 243 year-old eccentric who owns the store (Hoffman), bequeaths the store to her, a dark and ominous change begins to take over the once remarkable Emporium.

Into The Wild

Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Adaptation

Rating: R

Actors/Actresses: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Hal Holbrook, Catherine Keener

Synopsis: Freshly graduated from college with a promising future, 22 year-old Christopher McCandless instead walked out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for countless people. Was Christopher McCandless a heroic adventurer or a naive idealist, a rebellious 1990s Thoreau or another lost American son, a fearless risk-taker or a tragic figure who wrestled with the precarious balance between man and nature? McCandless’ quest took him from the wheat fields of South Dakota to a renegade trip down the Colorado River to the non-conformists’ refuge of Slab City, California, and beyond. Along the way, he encountered a series of colorful characters at the very edges of American society who shaped his understanding of life and whose lives he, in turn, changed. In the end, he tested himself by heading alone into the wilds of the great North, where everything he had seen and learned and felt came to a head in ways he never could have expected.

Ice Age

Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Kids/Family and Animation

Rating: PG

Actors/Actresses: Kristen Johnston, Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Goran Visnjic

Synopsis: Twenty thousand years ago, the Earth was being overrun by glaciers, and creatures everywhere were fleeing the onslaught of the new Ice Age. In this time of peril, we meet the weirdest herd of any Age: a fast talking but dim sloth named Sid; a moody woolly mammoth named Manny; a devilish saber-toothed tiger named Diego; and an acorn-crazy saber-toothed squirrel known as Scrat. This quartet of misfits unexpectedly, and reluctantly, comes together in a quest to return a human infant to his father. Braving boiling lava pits, treacherous ice caves, freezing temperatures and a secret, evil plot, these “sub-zeros” become the world’s first heroes!

Ice Age: The Meltdown

Genre: Comedy, Kids/Family, Animation and Sequel

Rating: PG

Actors/Actresses: Ray Romano, Chris Wedge, Peter Ackerman, Caitlin Rose Anderson, Connor Anderson

Synopsis: Manny the woolly mammoth, Sid the sloth, Diego the saber-toothed tiger, and the hapless prehistoric squirrel/rat known as Scrat are still together and enjoying the perks of their now melting world. Manny may be ready to start a family, but nobody has seen another mammoth for a long time; Manny thinks he may be the last one. That is, until he miraculously finds Ellie, the only female mammoth left in the world. Their only problems: They can’t stand each other–and Ellie somehow thinks she’s a possum! Ellie comes with some excess baggage in the form of her two possum “brothers”– Crash and Eddie, a couple of daredevil pranksters and cocky, loud-mouthed troublemakers. Manny, Sid and Diego quickly learn that the warming climate has one major drawback: A huge glacial dam holding off oceans of water is about to break, threatening the entire valley. The only chance of survival lies at the other end of the valley. So our three heroes, along with Ellie, Crash and Eddie, form the most unlikely family–in any “Age”– as they embark on a mission across an ever-changing, increasingly dangerous landscape towards their salvation.

Awake

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Rating: R

Actors/Actresses: Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Lena Olin, Terrence Howard, Sam Robards

Synopsis: During surgery, more than 60,000 people domestically each year experience “anesthetical awareness,” a condition when anesthesia fails during surgery, leaving one completely conscious and feeling every incision, but paralyzed and incapable of doing anything about it.

In “Awake,” a psychological thriller that tells the story of a man undergoing heart surgery while experiencing a phenomenon called “anesthetic awareness,” which leaves him awake but paralyzed throughout the operation. As various obstacles present themselves, his wife must make life-altering decisions while wrestling with her own personal drama.

Things We Lost In The Fire

Genre: Drama

Rating: R

Actors/Actresses: Benicio Del Toro, Halle Berry, David Duchovny, Alexis Llewellyn, Micah Berry

Synopsis: Audrey Burke is reeling from the shock of the news that has just been delivered to her door by the local police: her warm and loving husband Brian, the father of their two young children, has been killed in a random act of violence. Once anchored by the love and comforts of their 11-year marriage, Audrey is now adrift. Impulsively, she turns to Jerry Sunborne, a down-and-out addict who has been her husband’s close friend since childhood. Desperate to fill the painful void caused by her husband’s death, Audrey invites Jerry to move into the room adjacent to their garage in the hope that he can help her and her children cope with their sudden loss. Jerry is facing a daily battle to stay off drugs, but in his unexpected role as surrogate parent and friend to Audrey’s son and daughter he finds a core of inner resilience. As Jerry and Audrey navigate grief and denial, their fragile bonds are constantly tested. Working together, however, they discover the strength to move forward.

The Rookie

Genre: Drama, Biopic and Sports

Rating: G

Actors/Actresses: Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths, Jay Hernandez, Beth Grant, Angus T. Jones

Synopsis: Jim Morris never made it out of the minor leagues before a shoulder injury ended his pitching career twelve years ago. Now a married-with-children high-school chemistry teacher and baseball coach in Texas, Jim’s team makes a deal with him: if they win the district championship, Jim will try out with a major-league organization. The bet proves incentive enough for the team, and they go from worst to first, making it to state for the first time in the history of the school. Jim, forced to live up to his end of the deal, is nearly laughed off the try-out field–until he gets onto the mound, where he confounds the scouts (and himself) by clocking successive 98 mph fastballs, good enough for a minor-league contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Jim’s still got a lot of pitches to throw before he makes it to The Show, but with his big-league dreams revived, there’s no telling where he could go.

101 Dalmatians (Two-Disc Platinum Edition) (1961)

Genre: Animation

Rating: G

Actors/Actresses: Rod Taylor, Betty Lou Gerson, Cate Bauer, Lisa Daniels, Ben Wright

Synopsis: This two-disc platinum edition features great sound and incredibly bright, intense colors thanks to the restoration process, but its most impressive selling point is the huge assortment of bonus features designed to delight children, families, and the most serious Disney fans. Kids will have fun caring for their very own puppy in the virtual Dalmatian game for television or on DVD ROM and can find out just what kind of puppy they’re most like and which human Disney character they’re most compatible with in the puppy profiler game. The fun with language game is geared toward the very young preschooler and teaches numbers and the names of common household items. A modern Selena Gomez music video of “Cruella DeVil” will appeal to tweens and teens. The whole family will enjoy the “101 Pop Up Facts For Families” option which prints various movie facts like the name and author of the original book and how specific scenes differ between the book and the movie right on the screen during the movie and Disney fans will love the similar “101 Pop Up Facts For Fans” feature which supplies a wide variety of film trivia about featured voice talents, famous Disney animators that worked on the film, technical devices employed like multi-pane shots and the Xerox process, and which artists directed specific scenes in the movie. Eleven separate Backstage Disney featurettes interview a host of animators, writers, historians, producers, and story men regarding the film’s contemporary feel and the groundbreaking technical processes like the then-new Xerox process utilized in making 101 Dalmatians. Also highlighted is Bill Pete’s amazing storytelling contribution to the film, the technical and mechanical innovations of Ub Iwerks, the songwriting process, and the animation prowess of famous Disney animators like Woolie Reitherman, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Marc Davis, Ken Anderson, and Walt Peregoy. The 12-minute dramatization of the longstanding correspondence between author Dodie Smith and Walt Disney is intriguing and the trailers and radio and television spots provide fun historical reference for the film and its various releases. Finally, the “Music and More” feature presents a variety of deleted and abandoned songs as well as many alternate versions and takes of songs used in the final film.

My Friends Tigger & Pooh - Friendly Tails (2008)

Genre: Kids/Family, Animation

Rating: G

Synopsis: Hooray!

It s a hunny-ful day; so put on your cap, hop on your scooter and join Pooh, Tigger, Darby and the whole gang as they laugh, play and discover fun new mysteries in the heart of the Hundred Acre Wood! Any time there is a problem to solve or a riddle to unravel, the Super Sleuths are on it. Whether they’re hunting for pirate treasure, hot on the trail of a missing puppy dog or curing a tigger-ific case of the hiccups, when they team up with YOU in search of adventure, just about anything is possible! Your little one will love this movie with a great message of friendship and fun! This is one DVD that will get watched again and again!

Bursting with endless fun, delightful music and wonderful surprises, My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Friendly Tails celebrates the magic of friendship and the happiness that comes from helping others.

Mrs. Doubtfire (Behind-The-Seams Edition) (1993)

Genre: Comedy, Family

Rating: PG-13

Actors/Actresses: Robin Williams, Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein

Synopsis: Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams), an out-of-work voice actor with extraordinary imitative skills, has a blowout argument with his interior decorator wife, Miranda (Sally Field). Then and there she decides she wants a divorce. Since Daniel has no steady source of income, Miranda gets a primary custody of their three children Lydia, Chris and Natalie and poor Daniel has only limited visitation rights, which will mean that he will see his children once on the weekends, breaking Daniel’s heart.  And so Miranda places an advertisement for a housekeeper while she works. Daniel had decided the best way to spend secret time with his children is to become the ideal housekeeper. With the perfect wig, with a little makeup and a dress for occasions, Daniel has become Mrs. Doubtfire an old devoted British nanny.

Strawberry Shortcake - Big Country Fun (2008)

Genre: Kids/Family, Animation

Rating: G

Synopsis: Sweet summertime finds Strawberry and friends, Blueberry Muffin, Raspberry Tart and Ginger Snap, working on a dude ranch where they encounter sweet cowgirl adventures with each exciting task they tackle. Each day is filled with adventure fun, and excitement as the sweetest little cowgirls learn the ropes on the ranch. Following their cowpoke escapades, Strawberry and friends rock-out on a music video featured on the bonus materials.