New DVDs: ‘Borat,’ ‘Peter Pan’

REVIEWS

By David Germain

updated 2:49 p.m. ET March 6, 2007

“Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
One of the most crude, crass yet beloved overseas observers of the glorious nation of U.S. and A. blusters his way into your homes. Reprising one of the alter egos he created on “Da Ali G Show,” British comic Sacha Baron Cohen delivered a $100 million hit with this uproarious assemblage of sketches, documentary-style encounters and moments of cultural ridicule. Cohen plays the clueless, buffoonish Borat, a Kazakh TV journalist traveling across the United States to report back on the nation and its people to his homeland — and hopefully, to wed Pamela Anderson in the process. The DVD includes five deleted scenes plus a montage of deleted footage, along with coverage of the publicity tour Cohen did last year, always maintaining the Borat persona. DVD, $29.98. (20th Century Fox) Read the review

“Peter Pan”
Another of the most cherished cartoon features ever is re-released from the Walt Disney vaults in a two-disc set with a digitally restored version of the 1953 classic. The adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s tale follows the adventures of three children, Wendy, John and Michael Darling, who are whisked to a magical land of pirates, fairies and Peter Pan, the boy who can fly and refuses to grow up. Among the highlights of the DVD extras is a segment about alternate approaches Disney considered for the film but abandoned, including a different opening that would have started the story in the fantasy world of Never Land, instead of the Darlings’ London home. The set includes a couple of deleted songs, games and storybooks, a making-of featurette and an essay from Walt Disney himself on why he made the film. Walt’s nephew, Roy Disney, is host for audio commentary that includes Disney animators, critics such as Leonard Maltin, and Kathryn Beaumont, who provided the voice of Wendy. The set also has a preview of the upcoming straight-to-video release “Tinker Bell,” centered on the tiny flying pixie who is best pals with Peter. DVD set, $29.99. (Disney)

“Literary Classics Collection”
Three decades of films adapted from classic literature debut on DVD. The five-disc set includes Vincente Minnelli’s 1949 rendition of Gustave Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary,” with Jennifer Jones as the doomed adulteress. Also in the set: the 1948 take on Alexandre Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers,” starring Gene Kelly as the dashing D’Artagnan; 1962’s “Billy Budd,” with Robert Ryan and Peter Ustinov in an adaptation of Herman Melville’s shipboard saga; Gregory Peck in the title role of C.S. Forester’s naval adventure “Captain Horatio Hornblower”; and a double-feature disc containing the 1937 and 1952 versions of Anthony Hope’s “The Prisoner of Zenda.” Terence Stamp, who plays the title role in “Billy Budd,” and his director on “The Limey,” Steven Soderbergh, offer commentary for that film, while the other discs feature vintage cartoons and short films. DVD set, $59.92; single DVDs, $19.97 each (Warner Bros.)

“The Full Monty: Fully Exposed Edition”
It’s been 10 years since a scruffy bunch of out-of-work Brits dropped their drawers and endeared themselves to movie audiences. The comedy that bulled its way into the 1997 best-picture race at the Academy Awards gets a DVD makeover in a two-disc set with a huge range of extras. Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson and Mark Addy lead the cast in the story of unemployed steelworkers who find a new avocation as a team of male strippers. The set includes 10 deleted scenes; featurettes on the Oscar-nominated score, the Sheffield, England, locations, and director Peter Cattaneo; and a look at Britain’s film industry in the 1990s. Addy and Cattaneo team up for audio commentary. DVD set, $19.98. (20th Century Fox)

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