‘Chicken Little’ springs onto DVD

REVIEWS

By David Germain

updated 5:13 p.m. ET March 20, 2006

“Chicken Little”
After its 10-year partnership with Pixar Animation produced such hits as “Toy Story,” “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles,” Disney made its first solo foray into computer-animated cartoons with this solid though slight fairy-tale tweak. Zach Braff provides the voice of the title character, a chick who cried wolf that the sky was falling and now must save his town when his prediction comes true — in the form of an alien invasion. Among DVD extras are deleted sequences and concepts, including three alternate openings, one in which Chicken Little is a female character. The disc also has half a dozen featurettes examining story development and voice talent, which includes Joan Cusack, Steve Zahn and Garry Marshall, plus music videos from Barenaked Ladies and the Cheetah Girls. DVD, $29.99. (Disney) Read the review

“Capote”

Attila Dory / AP

Last year’s portrait of the artist Truman Capote proved one of the best literary chronicles ever on screen, earning a best-picture Academy Award nomination. Philip Seymour Hoffman won the best-actor Oscar as author Capote, who with help from lifelong pal and “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee (Oscar nominee Catherine Keener) sets out to investigate the murders of a Kansas family. Capote’s research results in the groundbreaking true-crime novel “In Cold Blood” and leaves the author an emotional ruin because of the choices he makes in pursuit of his art. The DVD has two making-of featurettes and a segment on Capote’s life. Oscar-nominated director Bennett Miller teams with Hoffman and his cinematographer on two separate commentaries. DVD, $28.95. (Sony) Read the review

“Derailed”

The Weinstein Co

Jennifer Aniston is the busiest of the old “Friends” gang on the big screen, but between last fall’s romantic misfire “Rumor Has It” and this undercooked sex-and-blackmail thriller, she has yet to prove herself beyond sitcom land. Here, Aniston stars as a business executive and family woman who begins a torrid tryst with a married man (Clive Owen), their affair turning dangerous when a menacing thug (Vincent Cassel) threatens to expose them. The DVD is available with the R-rated theatrical cut or an unrated version that offers a few minutes of heated-up footage. Other extras include deleted scenes and a making-of segment. DVD, $28.98. (Genius) Read the review

“Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story”

DreamWorks Pictures

This “Seabiscuit”-lite family drama has feel-good written all over it and makes for a passable video rental for viewers in search of an uplifting fix. Dakota Fanning and Kurt Russell star as a daughter-and-dad duo who team up to nurse an injured racehorse back to health — and turn it into an underdog national competitor. Along with deleted scenes, the DVD has a batch of horse-related featurettes, including a look at the real-life filly that inspired the story and a segment about grooming the animals. Writer-director John Gatins also provides commentary. DVD, $29.99. (DreamWorks) Read the review

“The Ten Commandments”
When Hollywood thought big, Cecil B. DeMille thought bigger. This three-disc upgrade for DeMille’s 1956 biblical epic packs the same DVD extras contained in an earlier two-disc edition but adds the filmmaker’s original 1923 silent version of “The Ten Commandments.” One of the big screen’s most elaborate spectacles, the 1956 version stars Charlton Heston as Moses from orphan child to slave and finally to prophet leading the Jews out of Egypt and the oppression of Pharaoh (Yul Brynner). The 1923 version is part biblical epic, part modern-day moral tale about a good man and his brother gone wrong. Both versions are accompanied by commentary with DeMille expert Katherine Orrison. DVD set, $24.99. (Paramount)

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