Category: DVD

Cars 2 (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) Reviews

Cars 2 (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)

Disney Cars 2 (Blu-ray + DVD)

From the creators of CARS and TOY STORY 3 comes a new, laugh-out-loud, heartwarming adventure geared for the entire family. Star race car Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship on the road from Radiator Springs to exciting new places when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix!

  • Product Measures: 0.5 x 5.5 x 7.5

Lightning McQueen (voice by Owen Wilson), Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), Sally (Bonnie Hunt), and the rest of the gang from Radiator Springs return to the screen in this sequel to Pixar’s Cars (2006). But instead of evoking a nostalgic vision of Route 66 through the American Southwest, director John Lasseter and his artists spoof James Bond films in a fast-paced adventure that mixes espionage and road racing. After a successful season on the track, Lightning is looking forward to some rest at home, but Mater gets him involved in an elaborate three-part international race sponsored by Sir Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) to promote his new synthetic auto fuel. While serving on Lightning’s pit crew, Mater inadvertently gets mixed up with two British secret agent cars, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer), who are investigating a plot to sabotage the race. Myriad complications ensue before Lightning and Mater get back to the (relative) peace of Radiator Springs. The Pixar artists clearly had a lot of fun spoofing locations in Tokyo, London, Paris, and the Italian Riviera, and creating auto versions of sumo wrestlers, kabuki actors, Queen Elizabeth II, and a doting Italian mother. The use of 3-D adds adrenaline to the racing sequences. Cars 2 lacks the emotional impact of Toy Story 2, Up, and most of the other Pixar features, but that will do little to lessen its appeal to its target audience, boys who love cars, driving games, and car toys. Cars 2 is screening with Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation, a new short with Woody, Buzz, Barbie, Ken, and the rest of the Toy Story gang. (Rated G: minor toilet humor and a few scary moments.) –Charles Solomon


Versions of Cars 2 on Blu-ray and DVD



Title Cars 2 DVD
Cars 2 (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)

Cars 2 (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo in DVD Packaging)

Cars 2 (Five-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy)
Cars Director’s Collection ( 11-Disc Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy)
Release Date
11/1/2011
11/1/2011
11/1/2011
11/1/2011
11/1/2011
Format/ Number of discs
One Disc: DVD
Two Discs: Blu-ray + DVD
Two Discs: Blu-ray + DVD
Five Discs: Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy
11 Disc Total
Cars includes: Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy

Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales includes: Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy

Cars 2 includes: Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + BD

Blu-ray 3D
No
No
No
Yes
Yes (On Cars 2 Only)
Blu-ray
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
DVD
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Digital Copy
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Bonus Features
(Bonus Material Not Rated)
Theatrical Short – Toy Story Toon:  Hawaiian Vacation
All-New, Exclusive Cars Toon: Air Mater
Director Commentary

*Not available in all territories.
Features subject to change


Same as DVD

*Not available in all territories.
Features subject to change

Same as DVD

*Not available in all territories. Features subject to change.

Same as DVD plus:
Nuts and Bolts: A Sneak Peek of Cars Land    
World Tour – Interactive Map
Deleted Scenes
Short Documentaries
Set Explorations from the Different Cities in the Movie

*Not available in all territories. Features subject to change.

Same as DVD plus:
Nuts and Bolts: A Sneak Peek of Cars Land    
World Tour – Interactive Map
Deleted Scenes
Short Documentaries
Set Explorations from the Different Cities in the Movie
And More!

*Not available in all territories. Features subject to change.

List Price: $ 39.99

Price:

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The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Two-Disc Special Edition)

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Two-Disc Special Edition)

It all begins… with a choice. In the third chapter of Stephenie Meyer’s phenomenal Twilight series, Bella Swan is surrounded by danger as Seattle is hit by a string of murders and an evil vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, Bella is forced to choose between her love, Edward Cullen, and her friend, Jacob Black—knowing that her decision may ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf.The third installment of Stephenie Meyer’s blockbuster vampire series is its most action packed, both in terms of fight scenes and human-vampire-werewolf lovin’. In Eclipse, the vampiric Cullen clan and the werewolves–their sworn enemies–unite against an army of “newborn” vampires, whose remnants of human blood in their veins makes them stronger and more uncontrollable, causing a string of murders in the Seattle area. They’ve been created by the vengeful vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard, taking over for Rachelle Lefevre), still keen on destroying human Bella (Kristen Stewart). Thus, Bella is under careful watch, and her undead love Edward (Robert Pattinson) and werewolf best friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) spend a lot of time arguing over who is the better man for her. (In one hilarious scene where Bella’s freezing and only Jacob has the lupine body heat to warm her, he looks over at Edward and cracks, “I am hotter than you.” Go Team Jacob!) But there’s more at the heart of the triangle than love: Bella, against Edward’s warnings, doesn’t want to grow older than him and would willingly give up contact with her parents, the chance to grow old with children, and more to be turned into a bloodthirsty vampire. (Jacob’s trump card is that Bella wouldn’t have to give up her mortality to be with him.) But the unfolding of this love triangle is even clumsier than it was on the page; you’re never really convinced Bella has romantic feelings for Jacob, even during their climactic kiss on top of the mountain. This is likely to confuse non-readers of the book series, as Stewart emotes nothing that intones there’s a real competition here (clearly, she’s Team Edward).

Pattinson, on the other hand, appears to have overcome his awkwardness to become a much cooler Edward; Howard, while missing Lefevre’s mischief as Victoria, brings her own touch of soft-spoken manipulation; and Billy Burke, as Bella’s father Charlie, continues to steal every scene he’s in. The other Cullens also get far more play here, notably Rosalie (Nikki Reed), whose revealing back story is touching and tragic, and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone), who trains everyone in combat and who, halfway through the movie, adopts a sudden Southern accent that he didn’t have before, once it’s revealed he was a Confederate soldier (on a side note, it’s mentioned in the books that Jasper can calm the emotions of others, but that trait isn’t used in the movie). The climactic fight scene is well staged by director David Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy); the violence, while not bloody, is still more abundant and disturbing than in the previous films; and the sex, while not actually happening between anyone (yet), is certainly on everyone’s mind (but Edward wants to get married first). It seems the characters, and the series, are growing up. –Ellen A. Kim

List Price: $ 32.99

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Monsters, Inc. (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition) Reviews

Monsters, Inc. (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition)

  • From the Academy Award – winning creators of Toy Story comes the world’s #1 computer-animated film that captured the hearts of fans and critics everywhere. Monsters, Inc. is “visually dazzling, action-packed and hilarious” (Boston Herald), featuring groundbreaking animation, imaginative storytelling and unforgettable voice talent. John Goodman stars as the lovable James P. Sullivan (Sulley) an

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/16/2008 Run time: 93 minutes Rating: GThe folks at Pixar can do no wrong with Monsters, Inc., the studio’s fourth feature film, which stretches the computer animation format in terms of both technical complexity and emotional impact. The giant, blue-furred James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (wonderfully voiced by John Goodman) is a scare-monster extraordinaire in the hidden world of Monstropolis, where the scaring of kids is an imperative in order to keep the entire city running. Beyond the competition to be the best at the business, Sullivan and his assistant, the one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), discover what happens when the real world interacts with theirs in the form of a 2-year-old baby girl dubbed “Boo,” who accidentally sneaks into the monster world with Sulley one night. Director Pete Doctor and codirectors David Silverman and Lee Unkrich follow the Pixar (Toy Story) blueprint with an imaginative scenario, fun characters, and ace comic timing. By the last heart-tugging shot, kids may never look at monsters the same, nor artists at what computer animation can do in the hands of magicians. –Doug Thomas

List Price: $ 29.99

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Cars 2 (Five-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy)

Cars 2 (Five-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy)

Lightning McQueen (voice by Owen Wilson), Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), Sally (Bonnie Hunt), and the rest of the gang from Radiator Springs return to the screen in this sequel to Pixar’s Cars (2006). But instead of evoking a nostalgic vision of Route 66 through the American Southwest, director John Lasseter and his artists spoof James Bond films in a fast-paced adventure that mixes espionage and road racing. After a successful season on the track, Lightning is looking forward to some rest at home, but Mater gets him involved in an elaborate three-part international race sponsored by Sir Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) to promote his new synthetic auto fuel. While serving on Lightning’s pit crew, Mater inadvertently gets mixed up with two British secret agent cars, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer), who are investigating a plot to sabotage the race. Myriad complications ensue before Lightning and Mater get back to the (relative) peace of Radiator Springs. The Pixar artists clearly had a lot of fun spoofing locations in Tokyo, London, Paris, and the Italian Riviera, and creating auto versions of sumo wrestlers, kabuki actors, Queen Elizabeth II, and a doting Italian mother. The use of 3-D adds adrenaline to the racing sequences. Cars 2 lacks the emotional impact of Toy Story 2, Up, and most of the other Pixar features, but that will do little to lessen its appeal to its target audience, boys who love cars, driving games, and car toys. Cars 2 is screening with Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation, a new short with Woody, Buzz, Barbie, Ken, and the rest of the Toy Story gang. (Rated G: minor toilet humor and a few scary moments.) –Charles Solomon


Versions of Cars 2 on Blu-ray and DVD



Title Cars 2 DVD
Cars 2 (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)

Cars 2 (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo in DVD Packaging)

Cars 2 (Five-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy)
Cars Director’s Collection ( 11-Disc Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy)
Release Date
11/1/2011
11/1/2011
11/1/2011
11/1/2011
11/1/2011
Format/ Number of discs
One Disc: DVD
Two Discs: Blu-ray + DVD
Two Discs: Blu-ray + DVD
Five Discs: Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy
11 Disc Total
Cars includes: Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy

Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales includes: Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy

Cars 2 includes: Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + BD

Blu-ray 3D
No
No
No
Yes
Yes (On Cars 2 Only)
Blu-ray
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
DVD
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Digital Copy
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Bonus Features
(Bonus Material Not Rated)
Theatrical Short – Toy Story Toon:  Hawaiian Vacation
All-New, Exclusive Cars Toon: Air Mater
Director Commentary

*Not available in all territories.
Features subject to change


Same as DVD

*Not available in all territories.
Features subject to change

Same as DVD

*Not available in all territories. Features subject to change.

Same as DVD plus:
Nuts and Bolts: A Sneak Peek of Cars Land    
World Tour – Interactive Map
Deleted Scenes
Short Documentaries
Set Explorations from the Different Cities in the Movie

*Not available in all territories. Features subject to change.

Same as DVD plus:
Nuts and Bolts: A Sneak Peek of Cars Land    
World Tour – Interactive Map
Deleted Scenes
Short Documentaries
Set Explorations from the Different Cities in the Movie
And More!

*Not available in all territories. Features subject to change.

List Price: $ 49.99

Price:

Digital SLR Cameras and Photography For Dummies: Book + DVD Bundle (New)
US $38.28
End Date: Thursday Feb-23-2012 2:22:58 PST
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Lions Gate Ella Enchanted [dvd] [ff/eng/fren/span Sub/5.1 Dol Dig]
US $13.14
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Dream With Me in Concert [Blu-ray] Reviews

Dream With Me in Concert [Blu-ray]

Jackie Evancho’s Dream With Me In Concert is the perfect video companion to her chart-topping album, Dream With Me, which was produced by the legendary David Foster.

David Foster has worked with the biggest names in music, including Beyoncé, Prince, Josh Groban and Celine Dion, but he admits that Jackie’s talent astonished him. “Her natural ability and the depth of her understanding of the musical process left me speechless,” he says. Foster has mentored Jackie and appears on Dream With Me In Concert as the show’s host.

The concert was recorded inside and on the grounds of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, which includes the stunning mansion Ca’ d’Zan, known as the last of the Gilded Age mansions built in America. Ringling was the impresario behind the iconic Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus. “This is a big, beautiful place,” said Jackie after she toured the grounds. “My favorite part is the Peter Paul Rubens [art] gallery,” where she performed the haunting song “Dark Waltz” accompanied only by Foster on piano and Conrad Tao on violin — and surrounded by four of Rubens’ largest, and most striking, canvases.

The Blu-ray features two songs ( Mi Mancherai and To Believe ) that were filmed during the live concert but not included in the PBS show. Bonus features include an interview with Jackie and David Foster as well as a photo gallery.

Blu-ray Track Listing:
1.When You Wish Upon a Star
2.Nella Fantasia
3.O Mio Babbino Caro
4.To Believe
5.Imaginer
6.Lovers
7.Dark Waltz
8.Angel
9.Somewhere
10.Mi Mancherai
11.Ombra Mai Fu
12.All I Ask of You
13.The Lord’s Prayer
14.Dream With Me
15.Nessun Dorma

List Price: $ 29.98

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Source Code

Source Code

A helicopter pilot (Gyllenhaal) recruited for a top-secret military operation finds himself on a startlingly different kind of mission in Source Code, a smart, fast-paced action thriller that challenges our assumptions about time and space. Filled with mind-boggling twists and heart-pounding suspense, Source Code is directed by Duncan Jones (Moon).Director Duncan Jones made a stellar first impression with 2009′s Moon, a stylish, gratifyingly deep science-fiction movie that favored heart and soul over flashy special effects. Source Code, Jones’s much anticipated follow-up, proves that his debut was far from a fluke, blending techno-thriller and character study with deceptive ease. Shot in a clean, no-frills fashion, Ben Ripley’s script follows an MIA soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal) who awakes in a mysterious capsule, with contact with the outside world limited to a video feed from a shadowy military officer (the fantastically poker-faced Vera Farmiga). As events unfold, he learns that he’s the participant in an experiment that lets him relive a stranger’s past life in 8-minute chunks, a process that will hopefully allow him to avert the terrorist bombing of a packed commuter train. Jones, aided by Chris Brown’s wonderfully overt ’80s homage of a score, wrings an impressive amount of tension out of the constantly rewinding story, with each time jump revealing another small piece of the overall puzzle, as well as deepening the relationship between Gyllenhaal and fellow passenger Michelle Monaghan. Clocking in at a just-right 93 minutes, this is a funny, tense, and surprisingly moving film that perhaps never quite reaches the ingenuity that its premise suggests. If this counts as a sophomore slump, it’s of an extremely mild, very entertaining variety. –Andrew Wright

List Price: $ 26.99

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Inglourious Basterds (Single-Disc Edition)

Inglourious Basterds (Single-Disc Edition)

Brad Pitt takes no prisoners in Quentin Tarantino’s high-octane WWII revenge fantasy Inglourious Basterds. As war rages in Europe, a Nazi-scalping squad of American soldiers, known to their enemy as “The Basterds,” is on a daring mission to take down the leaders of the Third Reich. Bursting with “action, hair-trigger suspense and a machine-gun spray of killer dialogue” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone), Inglourious Basterds is “another Tarantino masterpiece” (Jake Hamilton, CBS-TV)!Although Quentin Tarantino has cherished Enzo G. Castellari’s 1978 “macaroni” war flick The Inglorious Bastards for most of his film-geek life, his own Inglourious Basterds is no remake. Instead, as hinted by the Tarantino-esque misspelling, this is a lunatic fantasia of WWII, a brazen re-imagining of both history and the behind-enemy-lines war film subgenre. There’s a Dirty Not-Quite-Dozen of mostly Jewish commandos, led by a Tennessee good ol’ boy named Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) who reckons each warrior owes him one hundred Nazi scalps–and he means that literally. Even as Raine’s band strikes terror into the Nazi occupiers of France, a diabolically smart and self-assured German officer named Landa (Christoph Waltz) is busy validating his own legend as “The Jew Hunter.” Along the way, he wipes out the rural family of a grave young girl (Melanie Laurent) who will reappear years later in Paris, dreaming of vengeance on an epic scale.

Now, this isn’t one more big-screen comic book. As the masterly opening sequence reaffirms, Tarantino is a true filmmaker, with a deep respect for the integrity of screen space and the tension that can accumulate in contemplating two men seated at a table having a polite conversation. IB reunites QT with cinematographer Robert Richardson (who shot Kill Bill), and the colors and textures they serve up can be riveting, from the eerie red-hot glow of a tabletop in Adolf Hitler’s den, to the creamy swirl of a Parisian pastry in which Landa parks his cigarette. The action has been divided, Pulp Fiction-like, into five chapters, each featuring at least one spellbinding set-piece. It’s testimony to the integrity we mentioned that Tarantino can lock in the ferocious suspense of a scene for minutes on end, then explode the situation almost faster than the eye and ear can register, and then take the rest of the sequence to a new, wholly unanticipated level within seconds.

Again, be warned: This is not your “Greatest Generation,” Saving Private Ryan WWII. The sadism of Raine and his boys can be as unsavory as the Nazi variety; Tarantino’s latest cinematic protégé, Eli (director of Hostel) Roth, is aptly cast as a self-styled “golem” fond of pulping Nazis with a baseball bat. But get past that, and the sometimes disconcerting shifts to another location and another set of characters, and the movie should gather you up like a growing floodtide. Tarantino told the Cannes Film Festival audience that he wanted to show “Adolf Hitler defeated by cinema.” Cinema wins. –Richard T. Jameson

List Price: $ 14.98

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Federer - Baghdatis Final Australian Open 2006 DVD
US $7.00
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US $8.00
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The Little Mermaid (Two-Disc Platinum Edition) Reviews

The Little Mermaid (Two-Disc Platinum Edition)

  • Special Edition Hand-Painted 12″ Ariel
  • Hand-Detailed Sequins & Pearl Gown
  • Elaborate Seahorse Head 12″ Scepter Draped in Pearls that Lights UP
  • Custom Designed Seashell Base Display Stand
  • Clam-Shell Styled Display Box

The Little Mermaid, one of the most celebrated animated films of all time — and winner of two Academy Awards(R) (Best Music, Original Score; Best Music, Original Song, “Under The Sea,” 1989) — splashes onto an exciting 2-Disc DVD with an all-new digital restoration. Ariel, a fun-loving and mischievous mermaid, is off on the adventure of a lifetime with her best friend, the adorable Flounder, and the reggae-singing Caribbean crab Sebastian at her side. But it will take all of her courage and determination to make her dreams come true—and save her father’s beloved kingdom from the sneaky sea witch Ursula! Dive into a world of music and adventure in this new 2-Disc Platinum Edition your family will enjoy again and again!From the moment that Prince Eric’s ship emerged from the fog in the opening credits it was apparent that Disney had somehow, suddenly recaptured that “magic” that had been dormant for thirty years. In the tale of a headstrong young mermaid who yearns to “spend a day, warm on the sand,” Ariel trades her voice to Ursula, the Sea Witch (classically voiced by Pat Carroll), for a pair of legs. Ariel can only succeed if she receives true love’s kiss in a few day’s time and she needs all the help she can from a singing crab named Sebastian, a loudmouth seagull, and a flounder. The lyrics and music by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken are top form: witty and relevant, and they advance the story (go on, hum a few bars of “Under the Sea”). Mermaid put animation back on the studio’s “to do” list and was responsible for ushering Beauty and the Beast to theaters. A modern Disney classic. –Keith SimantonFrom the moment that Prince Eric’s ship emerged from the fog in the opening credits it was apparent that Disney had somehow, suddenly recaptured that “magic” that had been dormant for thirty years. In the tale of a headstrong young mermaid who yearns to “spend a day, warm on the sand,” Ariel trades her voice to Ursula, the Sea Witch (classically voiced by Pat Carroll), for a pair of legs. Ariel can only succeed if she receives true love’s kiss in a few day’s time and she needs all the help she can from a singing crab named Sebastian, a loudmouth seagull, and a flounder. The lyrics and music by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken are top form: witty and relevant, and they advance the story (go on, hum a few bars of “Under the Sea”). Mermaid put animation back on the studio’s “to do” list and was responsible for ushering Beauty and the Beast to theaters. A modern Disney classic. –Keith Simanton

List Price: $ 29.99

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The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid

KARATE KID – DVD MovieA remake of the 1984 film of the same name, The Karate Kid well exceeds expectations, delivering a powerful viewing experience filled with action-packed martial arts scenes, great footage of China and its many wonders, and an absorbing story of a preadolescent boy’s struggle to find his own inner strength. The title Karate Kid is really a misnomer as it is the art of kung fu that is practiced in this remake, not karate, and other details, including the film’s setting in China, also differ from the original film. What remains the same, and just as powerful, is the underlying story: a young boy moves to a new place where he feels isolated and is bullied by his peers. Through an unlikely relationship with an adult, the boy not only learns to protect himself through martial arts, but develops the much more important qualities of respect and the mastery of one’s own mind and body. Relative newcomer Jaden Smith (son of actors and producers Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith) is excellent as the main character Drek Parker; Jackie Chan gives a restrained and highly effective performance as his mentor Mr. Han; and Zhenwei Wang is eerily believable as the bully Chen. This is an intense and often violent film that fully engulfs its viewers–be prepared to gasp and cheer out loud, and know that you may never look at the act of putting on and taking off a jacket in the same way again. (Ages 8 and older with parental guidance) –Tami Horiuchi

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Taken (Single-Disc Extended Edition)

Taken (Single-Disc Extended Edition)

  • Condition: New
  • Format: DVD
  • AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC

Prepare to get Taken for the ride of your life! “Liam Neeson is an unstoppable force” (Premiere) in this action-packed international thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. When his estranged teenage daughter (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped in Paris, a former spy (Neeson) sets out to find her at any cost. Relying on his special skills, he tracks down the ruthless gang that abducted her and launches a one-man war to bring them to justice and rescue his daughter.

  • Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby Surround / Spanish & French: Dolby Surround
  • Language: Dubbed & Subtitled: English, French & Spanish
  • Theatrical Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 2.40:1

What could be a skillful but ordinary action flick gets a surprising emotional heft from the presence of Liam Neeson as the hero. Bryan Mills (Neeson) has given up his career as a spy to form a relationship with his estranged teenage daughter–but when, on a trip to Paris, she’s kidnapped by slavers, Mills uses all his connections and skills to turn the city of lights upside down and rescue her. Like most of the movies that writer/producer Luc Besson has a hand in (such as La Femme Nikita, The Transporter, Unleashed, and many other French action movies), Taken drips with lurid violence (a bit toned-down to get a PG-13 rating, but there’s still plenty of it), deranged sentimentality, and stereotypes of all kinds. But this doesn’t stop his movies from being effective thrill-rides, and Taken is no exception. Taken pays just enough attention to the illusion of procedure–making it seem like Mills knows all the right steps to track down his daughter–that the movie cheerfully seduces your suspension of disbelief, despite many plot holes and scenes where Mills doesn’t get scratched despite bullets flying in all directions or pretends to be a French policeman despite not speaking French or even adopting a French accent. What holds it all together is Neeson; his gravitas and emotional availability make his character–the usual action fantasy of impossible competence and righteous fury–somehow seem real and relatable. –Bret Fetzer

Stills from Taken (Click for larger image)

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