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You loved the movie, what about the DVD?
Find out as we examine the extras on this week's best movie DVDs...
"ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS"
Stars: Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo
Director: Mike Thurmeier ("No Time for Nuts") and Carlos Saldanha ("Ice Age")
Format: DVD, Two-Disc “Scrat Pack” DVD, DVD/Blu-ray Combo
What we said: "Unless you're young enough to still pronounce dinosaurs 'Minothores,' you're too old for this movie."
Extras: DVD: Commentary.
“Scrat Pack”: The above commentary plus two Scrat shorts; five featurettes: “The Sabre-Toothed Squirrel: Nature's Nutty Buddy,” “Scrat: From Head to Toe,” “Buck…Easel to Weasel,” “Falling for Scratte” and “Unearthing the Lost World”; “Scrat: Breaking Story”; “Scrat: News Report”; “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Making a Scene”; “Walk the Dinosaur” music video; three games: “Scrat Pinball,” “Eggshell” and “Bubble Trouble.”
Blu-ray: All of the “Scrat Pack” extras plus a DVD and a digital copy of the film; deleted scenes; “Evolution Expedition” featurette; “Ice Age Story Maker”; “Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character with John Leguizamo”; “Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character with Ray Romano”; “Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character with Queen Latifah”; “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Making a Scene (Ice Age 2).”
Worth watching: “Scrat: From Head to Toe” shows you how to draw the real star of these movies.
Worth skipping: “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Making a Scene (Ice Age 2).” Uh, wrong movie.
Worth adding: A second commentary by Romano, Leary, Leguizamo and Queen Latifah.
Buy, rent or ignore: Ignore the DVD; rent the “Scrat Pack” or DVD/Blu-ray combo.
"ORPHAN"
Stars: Isabelle Fuhrman, Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra ("House of Wax")
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray
What we said: "The acting is richer than the story ... but this is a film designed to live or die on its twist. Good luck with that."
Extras: DVD: Alternate ending; deleted scenes.
Blu-ray: The above extras plus “Mama's Little Devils: Bad Seeds, Evil Kids and Orphan” featurette; digital copy.
Worth watching: Coupled with the movie, “Mama's Little Devils” will show even the most loving of parents that KIDS ARE EVIL, TOO.
Worth skipping: The alternate ending. The original ending is better.
Worth adding: A featurette on real-life adoption to counteract the effects of the film.
Buy, rent or ignore: Rent.
"WHATEVER WORKS"
Stars: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson
Director: Woody Allen ("Manhattan")
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray
What we said: "Allen's execution—dim, repressed Red Staters get liberated in the big city—will register best with his core audience."
Extras: DVD: The original trailer.
Blu-ray: The trailer and BD-Live functions.
Worth watching: Well, with so many extras to pick from you'll probably have to go with the trailer.
Worth skipping: The BD-Live functions have nothing to do with the movie.
Worth adding: Allen famously never does commentary tracks, but we'd still like to hear from him, or from David, Clarkson, Wood and co-star Michael McKean.
Buy, rent or ignore: Rent.
Other DVDs out this week:
— Spooky animated shorts, from foreign countries, make up the oddball creepfest "Fear(s) of the Dark"
— Celebrate the holidays with "Nothing Like the Holidays" (also on Blu-ray)
— Celebrate free speech with the controversial films of "The Sam Fuller Collection" including "It Happened in Hollywood," "Adventure in Sahara," "Power of the Press," "Shockproof," "Scandal Sheet," "The Crimson Kimono" and "Underworld U.S.A."
— Beware the cute animal overload of "March of the Penguins Limited Edition Giftset"
— Get the back story on such classic films as "The Holy Grail" from "Monty Python: Almost the Truth: The Lawyer's Cut" (also on Blu-ray)
— Disney teaches kids about cheap cash-ins with "Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure" (also on Blu-ray)
Also on Blu-ray:
"Stargate: 15th Anniversary Blu-ray"
Also released:
"Afterwards"
"Angel and the Badman"
"Black Devil Doll"
"Election Day"
"Il Divo" (also on Blu-ray)
"Lioness"
"Luis Buñuel's Death in the Garden"
"Medicine for Melancholy"
"National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation: Ultimate Collector's Edition" (also on Blu-ray)
"Night of the Creeps" (also on Blu-ray)
"Soldiers of Conscience"
"Stan Helsing" (also on Blu-ray)
"Z" (Criterion Collection)
