DVD Picks & Passes 10.04.09

Inaugurating the new Disney “Diamond Edition” series, the great classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs returns this week in a two-disc Blu-ray edition with standard DVD included. (The previous edition from 2001 is out of print.)

The first animated feature-length film in Hollywood history, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs remains a masterpiece of the first order, with the Disney team transitioning flawlessly from cartoon shorts to feature-length storytelling. The spirit of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale is beautifully brought to life, and the musical template that would serve Disney so well works perfectly.

A number of bonus features were previously available on the 2001 DVD, but this release carries several brand-new extras, including a featurette on the impact of Snow White and a new animated short based on rediscovered vintage storyboards.

Another much-beloved musical, My Fair Lady returns to DVD from Paramount, which recently ac--quired distribution rights from Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.’ discontinued 2004 two-disc special edition is out there, and probably Paramount will be giving the 1965 Best Picture winner the same special Centennial Collection treatment that Sabrina, Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s have lately received.

For many fans, though, this inexpensive one-disc edition may be just the right size.

Much as I love Audrey Hepburn, I have to admit My Fair Lady isn’t quite my cuppa. I know, it’s all about the joyous songs, Hepburn’s Eliza Doolittle spunk, the satire of upper-crust pretensions and Henry Higgins’ misogynism, and the tension of a musical comedy-romance where there are no professions of love, no rapturous embrace, not even a chaste kiss.

It’s certainly gorgeous to look at, and I can see why people adore it, but I can’t share the love. Rex Harrison recites his lyrics, Hepburn lip-synchs (dubbed by Marni Nixon), and the social satire of Shaw’s Pygmalion takes a back seat to musical spectacle. De gustibus ...

Also new this week, My Life in Ruins came billed as “From the star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” but it could just as truthfully be described as “From the director of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”

It may not be quite as unpleasant as director Donald Petrie’s How to Lose a Guy, but My Life in Ruins falls well short of the family-centric charm of Greek Wedding. Nia Vardalos may be back with the same shtick that made her a name six years ago, but the new film’s bawdy humor is more How to Lose a Guy than the comparatively sweet PG Greek Wedding.


Content advisory: My Life in Ruins: Crass sex-related dialogue, suggestive humor and both casual and marital sexual liaisons (nothing explicit); a somewhat blasphemous running gag. My Fair Lady: Acerbic attitudes; comic drunkenness. Might be okay family viewing. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Some scary and menacing scenes. Fine family viewing.