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DVD Review: Walt Disney Treasures “Zorro: The Complete First Season” and “Zorro: The Complete Second Season”

Nostalgia is a tough sell when it comes to today’s children. With 21st century kids used to quick, Michael Bay-paced edits and brilliant, flashing colors to keep their attention, sitting them down to watch a black and white television series from 50 years ago may seem like a lost cause. With the release of Zorro the Complete First Season and the Complete Second Season in deluxe DVD format, Disney is showing the utmost confidence that this adventure series will delight not only... Read More

DVD/CD Review: “Readeez Volume Two” and “Songeez”

The following exchange has taken place in my home roughly four dozen times over the last 24 hours: Me: I am a frying pan. My daughter Sophie: (giggling) No, daddy, you’re a man. Me: April fool, April fool, April fool. Why, you ask? Only because the animated duo of Julian and Isabel Waters is back with another collection of the delightful (and educational!) animated musical shorts known as Readeez. Readeez Volume Two: Make It Up the Mountain includes 30 additions to the series... Read More

CD Review: Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family, “Go Waggaloo”

Sarah Lee Guthrie is Woody Guthrie’s granddaughter — and the youngest daughter of Arlo Guthrie, whose “Alice’s Restaurant” took satirical folk protest songs to a whole new level — so her first children’s CD, Go Waggaloo, carries a greater weight of expectation than most debuts. Then again, most artists don’t debut on Smithsonian Folkways, a label geared much more strongly toward the music of the past, but Guthrie’s music fits... Read More

CD Review: Renee & Jeremy, “C’mon”

Lullaby albums are like the Christmas records of the kids’ music world — they’re evergreen sellers that don’t really need to be great as long as they conform to a fairly narrow, easily reproduced aesthetic. But like Christmas albums, sometimes a lullaby record comes along that’s really special, and such was the case with Renee & Jeremy’s 2007 debut, It’s a Big World. A magical blend of hushed acoustic instrumentation and beautiful... Read More

Blu-ray Reviews: “Up” and “Monsters, Inc.”

How do you make the Blu-ray release of one of the best movies of the year even bigger? Bundle it with a disc and a half worth of bonus features, plus a DVD, plus a digital copy of the film. Oh and if you’re Pixar, you do it on the same day you bring one of your earlier smash hits to Blu-ray — and attach just as much extra content to that release, too. Since debuting with Toy Story in 1995, Pixar has defied expectations by not only cranking out smash hits while helping... Read More

DVD Review: “Aliens in the Attic”

I’ve now seen Aliens in the Attic one and a half times, and after each viewing, my seven- and ten-year-old both exclaimed how awesome it is. For kids, this movie has all of the elements to make it awesome: cute aliens, adventure, a Disney star (Ashley Tisdale), neat gadgets and lots of physical humor. As a parent, I thought Aliens in the Attic was pretty awesome, too. The first thought that came to mind when I watched this movie (penned by Mark Burton and Adam F. Goldberg) was... Read More