T. Hee Norman Ferguson Ford Beebe Jim Handley Hamilton Luske Samuel Armstrong Paul Satterfield Wilfred Jackson Bill Roberts Ben Sharpsteen James Algar Groundbreaking on several counts, not the least of which was an innovative use of animation and stereophonic sound, this ambitious Disney feature has lost nothing to time since its release in 1940. Classical music was interpreted by Disney animators, resulting in surreal fantasy and playful escapism. Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra provided the music for eight segments by the composers Tchaikovsky, Moussorgsky, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Ponchielli, Bach, Dukas, and Schubert. Not all the sequences were created equally, but a few are simply glorious, such as "Night on Bald Mountain,""The Sorcerer's Apprentice," and "The Nutcracker Suite." The animation ranges from subtly delicate to fiercely bold. The screen bursts with color and action as creatures transmute and convention is thrust aside. The painstaking detail and saturated hues are unique to this film, unmatched even by more advanced technology. —Rochelle O'Gorman

Peter Boita, Ken Annakin The Disney touch is all over this grand, colorful version of the Johann Wyss adventure of a European family set off for the new world of New Guinea. The film opens on a ship jostled and torn by a raging storm while a family struggles to make it through alive. Tossed into a reef near a deserted tropical island, father John Mills takes charge and the family soon turns their island prison into a veritable paradise. Their multilevel tree house, built in record time, is complete with running water and a working pipe organ scavenged from the ship, while their grand yard is abloom in English roses. As a tale of hardship and pioneer pluck, the tale is pure fantasy, but as entertainment it's energetic and appealing. The island is impossibly populated by ostriches, zebras, lions, and elephants, a private zoo that delights the youngest boy and offers plenty of comic relief. The two older brothers discover even wilder life when they rescue the prisoner of oriental pirates (led by hard-bitten Sessue Hayakawa). There's little real danger anywhere in the film—even the climactic battle with the pirates is a cartoonish affair, with coconut bombs and nonlethal booby traps, until the final desperate, deadly moments. Hardly a faithful adaptation of the novel, but a lush, beautifully photographed film and an entertaining adventure safe for all ages. Dorothy McGuire costars as the proper, worry-prone mother. (Ages 5 and older) —Sean Axmaker

David R. Ellis This movie follows the unwritten law of sequels: bring back the same characters and put them in similar jeopardy with slightly tweaked circumstances. Instead of a cross-country journey, this time the pet trio must get from the San Francisco airport across the Golden Gate Bridge to their suburban home. Michael J. Fox and Sally Field return as the voices of Chance the bulldog and Sassy the cat, with Ralph Waite replacing the late Don Ameche as the elderly golden retriever. Their journey features dogfights, house fires, an epic battle with a pair of petnappers, and a love affair for Chance with a stray from the other side of the bridge (Carla Gugino). Sinbad voices another dog who guides them through the mean streets of the city by the bay, and Robert Hays stars as the father, but, frankly, that hardly matters. What does is the animals' banter, and they're funny. (Ages 3 and up) —Kimberly Heinrichs

Brian Henson Brian Henson directs his late father's creations in the Charles Dickens classic, the best known (and most oft-filmed) Christmas story of all time. Michael Caine plays the old miser Scrooge with Kermit as his long-suffering but ever-hopeful employee Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as Cratchit's wife, and a host of Muppets (including the Great Gonzo as an unlikely Charles Dickens) taking other primary roles in this bright, playful adaptation of the somber tale. Or at least it starts brightly enough—the anarchic humor soon settles into mirthful memories and a sense of melancholy as the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future take Scrooge on a journey of his lonely, wasted life. Michael Caine makes a wonderful Scrooge, delightfully rediscovering the meaning of life as fantastic creations from Henson's Creature Shop (developed specially for this film) take the reins as the three ghosts. While the odd mix of offbeat humor and somber drama undercuts the power of Dickens's drama, this kid-friendly retelling makes an excellent family drama that adults and children alike can enjoy. —Sean Axmaker

Andy Knight Excellent condition, includes the original VHS tape, case, and paperwork, fast shipped, ask me for my VHS List!;

Les Mayfield Disney couldn't resist the temptation to remake 1961's popular comedy The Absent Minded Professor, so they cast Robin Williams as Professor Philip Brainard (a role vaguely related to the character originated by Fred MacMurray), and the result is a comedy that, frankly, doesn't fully deserve its modest success. It's admittedly clever to a point, and certainly the digitally "flubberized" special effects provide the kind of movie magic that's entertaining for kids and parents alike. The professor can't even remember his own wedding day (much to the chagrin of his fiancée, played by Marcia Gay Harden), and now his academic rival (Christopher McDonald) is trying to steal his latest and purely accidental invention—flying rubber, or ... flubber. The green goo magnifies energy and can be used as an amazing source of power, but in the hands of screenwriter John Hughes it becomes just another excuse to recycle a lot of Home Alone-style slapstick humor involving a pair of bumbling would-be flubber thieves. There's also a floating robot named Weebo and some catchy music by Danny Elfman to accompany dancing globs of flubber, but the story's too thin to add up to anything special. Lightweight fun, but, given the title, it lacks a certain bounce. Of course, that didn't stop Disney's marketing wizards from turning it into a home-video hit. —Jeff Shannon

Tom Ellery Bradley Raymond Disney's direct-to-video sequel to their 1995 hit places Pocahontas in harm's way in London, where she is almost tossed into jail and has some other mishaps. She's not alone, however: a cute raccoon named Meeko does a nice job as the obligatory funny animal. The songs are about as memorable as those in the first film, but the art and animation maintain far higher standards than most animated sequels dumped onto tape. If you don't drive yourself nuts thinking about the appalling historical revisionism at work here, this is passable family entertainment. —Tom Keogh

John Lounsbery Wolfgang Reitherman Disney's 1977 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Poohmay be the last word on (animated) Pooh because it so faithfully honors the first word on Pooh, penned in the 1920s by British storyteller A.A. Milne. Gently paced, subtly humorous, and blessedly understated, this adaptation reflects Walt Disney's original vision to develop the beloved British bear for a wider audience. The film is essentially a collection of the original Pooh shorts, "The Honey Tree,""The Blustery Day," and "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too." These storybooks are presented in seamless "chapters," narrated by the timeless Sebastian Cabot. The familiar musical score and original voices of Sterling Holloway as Pooh, and Paul Winchell as Tigger, cap this enchanting keepsake. (Ages 2 and up). —Lynn Gibson

Chuck Sheetz Disney's Recess: School's Outdipped in and out of theaters faster than fans of the cable TV show could snap their lunch boxes shut—kind of nice for parents whose idea of grown-up detention is sitting through such fly-by-night kiddie features. Now that home screenings are an option, though, plan for the ages 5-and-older set to settle in for reruns. Also plan to get sucked in yourself—if the screwball plot doesn't do it, the soundtrack will. While TJ and Principal Prickly (the latter the unfortunate bearer of the "saggy butt" that becomes this movie's clunkiest running gag) bust in on a crew of fiendish would-be teachers during summer break, slices of vintage grooviness—Steppenwolf—Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild," Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermints," and Robert Goulet's "Green Tambourine" among them—get you cheering along, whether you're 3 or 43. The reason for all the retro funkiness revolves around the chief bad guy, Phil Benedict, a one-time educational visionary and former Prickly schoolmate. Back in the day, Benedict was a radical school revolutionary, but his manifesto for better test scores misfired when it called for a ban on recess, a concept so barbaric it got him canned from a cushy government job. Now, undeterred in his mission to make life miserable for kids, he's hatching a switcheroo scheme that will forever pull the shade on summer and thus summer vacation. Predictably, right at trigger time, TJ, Prickly, and the gang roar in to the rescue. It's an ending that's as pat as any on the TV show, but so what—this is a movie that aims for summer-linen lightness. Just as the Fifth Dimension promise on the soundtrack, it lets the sunshine, as well as a few well-timed chuckles, in. —Tammy La Gorce

Robert Stevenson There is only one word that comes close to accurately describing the enchanting Mary Poppins, and that term was coined by the movie itself: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Even at 2 hours and 20 minutes, Disney's pioneering mixture of live action and animation (based on the books by P.L. Travers) still holds kids spellbound. Julie Andrews won an Oscar as the world's most magically idealized nanny ("practically perfect in every way," and complete with lighter-than-air umbrella), and Dick Van Dyke is her clownishly charming beau, Bert the chimney sweep. The songs are also terrific, ranging from bright and cheery ("A Spoonful of Sugar") to dark and cheery (the Oscar-winning "Chim-Chim Cheree") to touchingly melancholy ("Feed the Birds"). Many consider Mary Poppinsto be the crowning achievement of Walt Disney's career—and it was the only one of his features to be nominated for a best picture Academy Award until Beauty and the Beastin 1991. —Jim Emerson

Alan Zaslove Toby Shelton Tad Stones This 1994, direct-to-video follow-up to Aladdin(it's actually four episodes of the Aladdintelevision program, back-to-back) is a wash-out compared to the Robin Williams-driven animation feature that kicked off the franchise. The story partially involves the villainous Jafar's parrot—Iago—trying to leave his master and befriend Aladdin and Jasmine. Williams is nowhere to be found, unfortunately; the genie's voice is provided by Dan Castellaneta, and the difference shows. —Tom Keogh

Tom Stoppard Tom Stoppard's modern stage classic finds a pair of film actors worthy of its verbal japery and existential bewilderment: Gary Oldman and Tim Roth are deliciously locked in as the title characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. And yet it remains difficult to tell which one is Rosencrantz and which Guildenstern—even they seem unsure—a clever part of Stoppard's ingenious design. Focusing on a pair of unremarkable characters from Hamlet, Stoppard sees the great play from their confused perspective. Now and again the action of Hamletsweeps them up, but most of the time R&G are left wondering where they are, what they have been sent for, and why they can't remember anything that happened before the beginning of the play. Richard Dreyfuss (fittingly grandiloquent) is the Player King, who seems to know more about the ominous workings of fiction and tragedy than the heroes do. Stoppard's first outing as a film director is handsomely shot but uncertainly paced—although any time Oldman and Roth go into one of their tennis-match debates on probability, identity, or death, the movie crackles. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern may be the "indifferent children of the earth," but for this brief moment they deserve center stage. —Robert Horton

Gary Trousdale The misconception about this animated film from Disney was that it was a movie for kids—something Victor Hugo never had in mind. In fact, despite a cute brace of singing gargoyles who are Quasimodo's (Tom Hulce) best friends, this version of Hugo's classic tale is really adult entertainment, with a strong set of songs by Alan Menken. The story remains mostly the same (though tricked out with a happier ending than Hugo's): Quasimodo, the ward of repressive monk Frollo, falls for a gypsy girl named Esmerelda (Demi Moore)—though she loves one of the king's guards (Kevin Kline). But they are all put in jeopardy by the wicked Frollo, whose secret passion for Esmerelda leads him to seek her death. At times too dark and even a shade kinky, something that may scare younger viewers. —Marshall Fine