DVD Report

''HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY'': Selma Blair (left) as Liz and Ron Perlman as Hellboy.

New Releases | Tom Russo

Del Toro takes a return trip to 'Hellboy'

With "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (2008), filmmaker Guillermo del Toro follows up his own work on the cult comic book franchise's first installment. But in a number of ways, the movie feels like a sequel in atmospheric sensibility to del Toro's career-igniting work on "Pan's Labyrinth." Ron Perlman returns as the tomato-skinned demon with a hero's heart, this time tangling not with Nazis, but with militant elf prince Nuada (a terrifically icy Luke Goss). It seems Nuada is none too pleased with the way overdevelopment has squeezed woodland folk, and he's determined to make mankind pay, in blood. On the road to war, we meet wheeler-dealer trolls, a spindly angel of death, and cute-till-they-bite "tooth fairies" with a piranha's appetite. Like "Pan," this is a dark, vividly detailed fantasia with an impressive capacity for drawing in even those who could care less. (It's not too dark, though - the movie also easily accommodates a scene in which Hellboy and gill-man sidekick Abe Sapien lament the yearnings of the heart over a Barry Manilow tune.) In the "Hellboy" source comics by writer-artist Mike Mignola, stories are regularly rooted, like this one, in folklore, making the character's adventures an acquired taste compared to Batman's iconic crusading. But with his infectious passions, del Toro is an ideal director for highlighting why "cult" and "favorite" are sometimes words meant to go together.

Extras: As with all of his movies, del Toro makes the DVD a filmmaking clinic, offering two and a half hours of behind-the-scenes segments, along with commentary and glimpses of the wild conceptual doodles filling his director's journal. "Family Guy" viewers will get a kick out of footage of Seth MacFarlane in the recording studio with del Toro, voicing amusing new Hellboy hanger-on Johann Krauss, a ghost in a robotic shell. (Universal, $34.98; single-disc version, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98)

"DEATH DEFYING ACTS" (2008)

Chameleonic Aussie actor Guy Pearce ("Factory Girl") loses himself in yet another role as Harry Houdini in a fictionalized account of the legendary escape artist's final days, and a what-if romance with a scamming Scottish psychic (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Pearce plays Houdini as a man shrewdly, often painfully aware of his value as a public commodity. When he offers Zeta-Jones's Mary McGarvie a $10,000 prize if she can channel his late mother's dying words, it's unclear how much of his motivation is a calculated publicity grab. Zeta-Jones takes a broadly showy approach to much of her trickery, as does her spirited daughter (Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"), and this occasionally makes for an awkward fit with Pearce's intensity. But when Pearce flashes the mix of drive and recklessness necessary for a man to be willingly dropped underwater wrapped in chains, you'll be mesmerized.

Extras: A half-hour production featurette is standard fare, but merits a look for behind-the-scenes footage of Pearce doing his water tank work. Director Gillian Armstrong supplies commentary. (Genius Products, $19.98)

"STUDIO ONE ANTHOLOGY" (1948-56)

One of the earliest standard-setters for TV drama is revisited in this collection of 17 previously unavailable episodes of "Westinghouse Presents Studio One." An Emmy-favorite 1954 production of "Twelve Angry Men" gets the distributor's spotlight, but don't miss the series' adaptation of "1984," featuring Lorne Greene as totalitarian thought cop O'Brien, and a script that dared to suggest TV's subliminal influence.

Extras: Extensive episode guide; retrospective panel discussion; original commercials. (Koch Vision, $99.98)

"M SQUAD": THE COMPLETE SERIES (1957-60)

Lee Marvin had his first signature role in this noirish procedural playing Frank Ballinger, a no-nonsense Chicago police lieutenant whose cases have the distinction of being one of the clear inspirations for Leslie Nielsen's later spoofery in "Police Squad!" But while Ballinger might show a "Dragnet" penchant for straight-arrow voice-over narration, and while his "forensics lab" might look like, well, a plywood set, this is Lee Marvin - the tough-guy stuff still plays.

Extras: A CD of the show's jazzy musical score, featuring the Count Basie-penned theme and contributions by then newcomer John Williams. (Available exclusively online at MSquadTV.com and other online retailers, $119.98)

Animation DVD | Mark Feeney

Fa-la-la-la-la, ha-ha ha ha

The appeal of the original "Shrek" movie lay in how it turned the classic fairy tale upside down: An ogre was the hero, Prince Charming was charmless, etc. As the series has continued, it's turned the classic fairy tale inside out: Innocence defers to cynicism, naivete to knowingness, human nature to pop culture.

No small part of the continuing "Shrek" success has been the vocal talent of Mike Myers, in the title role; Cameron Diaz, as his bride; Eddie Murphy, as Donkey; and, best of all, Antonio Banderas, as Puss in Boots. They're all on hand in "Shrek the Halls," a half-hour animated feature which ran last November on ABC. You can guess the basic premise: Shrek wants nothing to do with Christmas, which horrifies one and all. "Ogres don't celebrate Christmas," Shrek announces. "Ogres don't celebrate anything." Donkey, outraged, leads the countercharge, denouncing him as "Ebenezer Shrek." You won't be surprised to hear the big guy is made to see the error of his holiday ways.

Fans of the movies should have a good time, though they'll also feel a bit frustrated. Viewers unfamiliar with the movies will have some laughs but wonder what all the fuss is about. "Shrek the Halls" isn't much more than an extended skit: loud, hectic, unfocused.

There's a Christmas party chez Shrek. A dragon gets called on to assist in the preparation of some chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Various characters' versions of "The Night Before Christmas" are offered; the funniest, that of Puss in Boots, reimagines Santa as a feline Zorro. The animation is extremely good, and the pop-cultural references pile up. (Shrek reads "Christmas for Village Idiots," Pinocchio shrieks his way through a version of "Don't Stop Believin' " that would make Tony Soprano welcome solitary confinement.)

With each succeeding "Shrek," the sensibility has become more jaded. The series wants to have it both ways, lovable and cynical at the same time. Over the course of 90-plus minutes it can more or less get away with that; there's room for both attitudes, if not to breathe then at least not to smother each other. Here the clash between holiday sentimentality and insider knowingness gets pretty uncomfortable. It's one thing to put coal in someone's stocking. It's quite another then to serenade it with a carol.

Extras: Singalongs, video games (Paramount, $19.99, already available)

Foreign | Saul Austerlitz

A ballon's-eye view of Paris

For Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien, space can be every bit as mysterious and compelling as time. Adapting (after a fashion) Albert Lamorisse's classic children's film "The Red Balloon," Hou maintains the melancholic, sun-and-shadow elegance of the original while adding his own foreigner's view of the City of Light. More than just a boy and his balloon, "Flight of the Red Balloon" becomes a chamber drama of three fragile Parisians, each dreaming of a place called home. The cramped apartment where Suzanne (Juliette Binoche), her son, Simon (Simon Iteanu), and Simon's new nanny, Song (Fang Song), live is a cabinet of wonders, with Hou carefully revealing previously unfamiliar nooks and crannies. This may sound like watching paint dry, but the gentle surprises of discovering a lofted bedroom alcove, or a tiny bathroom, are directly akin to the slow unfolding of personalities and dramas here.

In his Taiwanese work, Hou was famous for abandoning viewers to their own devices, forcing them to figure out who and what might be of significance. "Flight of the Red Balloon" is never quite as extreme. Instead, it is content to drift dreamily through the minutiae of its characters' daily lives - their snits and their snacks, their longings and loungings. The red balloon comes, and it goes, but what remains is Hou's remarkable gift for capturing the ephemeral.

Extras: None (IFC, $24.95, already available)

ALSO THIS WEEK

"KUNG FU PANDA" (2008)

Jack Black karate kids his way through the martial arts genre, cartoon-style, in a feature that's satisfyingly fun, if a tad more frenetic than it needs to be.

Extras: "Secrets of the Furious Five" spin-off feature; filmmaker commentary; globally minded kidcentric fare such as a save-the-pandas segment and "How to Use Chopsticks." (Paramount, $34.98; single movie, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99; available now)

"STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS" (2008)

George Lucas's production machine keeps the saga alive with this computer-animated launch to the new Cartoon Network series. If only it felt relevant. But then, judging by all the clone troopers out trick-or-treating last weekend, maybe that gripe is just a case of us getting old and cranky.

Extras: Commentary by director Dave Filoni and crew; production featurettes; split-screen voice cast footage; deleted scenes. (Warner, $34.99; single-disc version, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99)

"THE BOYS IN THE BAND" (1970)

William Friedkin directs the adaptation of Matt Crowley's off-Broadway play about a group of gay men in Manhattan speaking increasingly frankly as a birthday party wears on. Sufficiently effective that you wonder what Friedkin was thinking with "Cruising."

Extras: Commentary by Friedkin; featurettes on the play, the film, and their legacy. (Paramount, $26.99)

REISSUES

"THE GENERAL" (1926)

In a painstakingly restored silent film landmark, Buster Keaton rides the rails with legendary comedic flair as a Dixie train engineer out to reclaim the woman and locomotive he loves.

Extras: Three musical scores to choose from; vintage filmed introductions by Gloria Swanson and Orson Welles; montage of Keaton train gags. (Kino, $29.95)

"QUO VADIS" (1951)

Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, and one of the original casts of thousands star in the tale of a Roman soldier struggling to reconcile his feelings for a Christian slave girl during the reign of Nero (Peter Ustinov).

Extras: Film historian commentary; the evocatively titled retrospective "In the Beginning: Quo Vadis and the Genesis of the Biblical Epic." (Warner, $20.97)

"JFK" (1991)

Oliver Stone's conspiracy theorizing gets a fresh look, paired with "The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings," a new documentary from filmmaker Robert Kline based on Thomas Maier's acclaimed history. (Warner, $39.98; "Kennedys" also available separately, $19.97)

TELEVISION

"HOWDY DOODY" (1949-54)

Say, kids, what time is it? Time for 40 of the best early episodes of the pioneering TV classic to make their debut on disc.

Extras: Interviews with "Buffalo Bob" Smith and the original Clarabell, Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan; farewell episode and anniversary specials. (Mill Creek Entertainment, $29.98; available now)

Capsules are written by Tom Russo and titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified.