Blu-ray Review: Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts (2009)

Now Available on DVD & Blu-ray

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Although the superior version of the same concept can be found via Walt Disney's unfairly maligned Beverly Hills Chihuahua-- which was viewed mostly through the tiny-but-mighty eyes of its feisty canine heroine (voiced by Drew Barrymore)--there's still an awful lot of enjoyment to be discovered in the fifth entry and third direct-to-disc installment of the Dr. Dolittle franchise.

While it doesn't boast the same polish or cast roster of Chihuahua (although honestly, not every movie can include one of the Three Tenors in a supporting role!), it does manage to surpass not just the Buddies franchise of the House of Mouse but also marks the very first entry in the Dolittle series I've been able to stand without pressing stop countless times to go do something else.

This being said, it does contain some trademark rude humor. However, while the debut film in Eddie Murphy's titular take on the series--one of his many family themed box office successes that have propelled unfortunately propelled his career into the state it's in today rather than inspire "quality" work--relied far too heavily on toilet jokes, this one genuinely feels as though it could qualify for a G.

Predictable from the start yet so bright and energetic that at times it appeared as though it could be the movie version of a could be a candy commercial, Million Dollar Mutts offers spirited jokes about a monkey crafting masterpieces on his Etch-a-Sketch and a rapper's bunny who prefers classical music.

The movie reunites us with Kyla Pratt as Maya Dolittle--the teenage daughter of Murphy's character who has inherited her father's ability to talk to animals. And in what will most likely be Maya's last adventure since it finds her embarking on a collegiate career after which her character jokes, she'll be like twenty-five or "OLD," the seventeen year old girl becomes dismayed when she realizes that her course of study in veterinary medicine at San Francisco University is short on hands-on work with animals and heavy on advanced math and science coursework in its roughly seven year time-span.

Understandably frustrated about the length of academic study coupled with the typical sense of teenage wish for instant gratification, desire to skip all the hard stuff and moreover, just not getting why she "should have to do what everybody else does" since she's a Dolittle, Maya begins having second thoughts. While passing on college is the last thing her mother would let her get away with, it only delights her loyal dog Lucky (Norm MacDonald) who selfishly was trying everything in his power to keep her from leaving.

Luckily for Lucky, fate in the form of a TV crew intervenes and after footage of Maya coaxing a cat out of a tree captures the attention of Tegan Moss' ditzy Paris Hilton inspired heiress Tiffany Monaco. Worried about her depressed "Princess" who she's shocked to discover is really a "Prince," Tiffany flies in from L.A. and recruits Maya to costar in a brand new talk show where she promises Maya can help cure Hollywood pets of what ails them on a weekly basis.

Dangling the irresistible carrots of Rodeo Drive shopping sprees, mansions that look like movie studios, face-time with celebrities she admires, as well as sensing a spark between Maya and Branon Jay McLaren's cute TV star Brandon-- Tiffany's lifestyle seems too enticing to resist so Maya trades tuition for television.

And while of course, we foreshadow that soon Maya will start to realize there's more to helping animals than simply talking to them and that compromising her gift for superficial television fame isn't exactly what the original Dr. Dolittle would've ordered.

Yet despite the obvious fact that after five features in eleven years, Kyla Pratt is quickly outgrowing this series and her scenes are starting to feel understandably forced as she ages and ironically in this one, she has more chemistry with the pets than the people in true Dolittle fashion), the film is still a fun time-waster.

Additionally, when delivered in the highest quality of Fox Blu-ray with sparkling picture and sound (they have yet to disapoint as a studio even with direct-to-disc titles), Pratt's Maya and director Alex Zamm's Million Dollar Mutts would've made Dr. Dolittle himself proud. Well, okay if not the author Hugh Lofting who penned the children's series nor Rex Harrison who starred inthe bland '60s musical take on the material than definitely it'd cause her franchise dad, Eddie Murphy (with whom she starred in the first two before venturing out on her own) beam with pride.

Nicely budget conscious, the first-rate performance of the Blu-ray would've been enough on its own but perhaps taking a cue from the studio's awesome Marley & Me package (which offered a DVD and a digital file download), Dr. Dolittle's Blu-ray can be purchased by those who've yet to upgrade to the format as it comes with a bonus DVD which contains all of the same special features that the Blu-ray offers.

Doing a side-by-side comparison of the DVD on both an upconvert player and standard DVD player, there's a marked difference in the picture quality (much more so than the sound) when you move from the Blu-ray to the DVD so owners of the Blu-ray will have fun bringing it along to places equipped with the player to check out the immediate changes from the full 1080HD quality. Yet keeping in mind the fact that its target audience and reason for being is simply to amuse kids and teens, the DVD more than delivers as the Mutt version to the Million Dollar picture of the Blu.

TV on DVD: The Best Years -- The Complete First Season (4 DVD Set)

Now Available on DVD



Created by Aaron Martin of
Degrassi: The Next Generation

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Typically most college freshmen who leave the nest for the first time in their lives are searching for freedom and the polar opposite to their home life. And in doing so, they venture with their shower caddies, over-the-door mirrors, and shiny laptop computers in the pursuit of what they aspire to be their “best years.”

However, for the heroine of Aaron Martin’s original series making its way to DVD from E1 Entertainment—or more specifically actress Charity Shea’s Samantha Best—she’s heading for university in a fierce attempt to move away from the constant revolving door of too many unhappy foster homes. And instead of dreams of partying and all-nighters, Samantha hopes that the subsequent four years of her life will become “the best” indeed, upon arriving at a place she yearns to craft into her very own version of home in the show’s fictitious northeastern Ivy League setting of Charles University.



Having figuratively “graduated” after four successful years as the head writer on the critically acclaimed television series Degrassi: The Next Generation, Aaron Martin reveals in one of the behind the scenes extra features of this four-disc DVD set that he wanted to stay within the same age range where characters can make mistakes but not be considered evil since they're not adults yet, thus offering Martin a great storytelling aspect with which to work.



While, much like to Degrassi, The Best Years can be viewed as a high quality teen soap that airs on Canada’s nighttime teen network The N Channel (also available here in the states to select DirecTV or cable subscribers). However, to simply dismiss it as such would be a great and unfair oversight as he consistently elevates the show with compelling and contemporary plot lines, numerous mystery aspects, and stellar production values.

Cinematically influenced-- as he confesses on the DVD-- by the warm-toned and soft-lighting look and feel employed throughout Peter Weir's film Dead Poets Society to make it a truly beautiful show that immediately catches your eye and invites you into its northeastern setting, The Best Years boasts multiple film inspirations proudly as all 13 episodes are named after some remarkable films such as Vertigo, From Here to Eternity, All That Heaven Allows, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and Five Easy Pieces.

Therefore, it's only fitting that within the core ensemble cast of characters, we’re introduced to the show’s comic relief in the form of the sweet-natured Canadian Noah (Randal Edwards playing a far more believable version of James Van Der Beek’s similar character on Dawson’s Creek) who—despite giving off an erroneous yet strong gay vibe to every girl he meets—has a passion for cinema that manages to make him more than just his beautiful film teacher’s pet.

Rounding out the group that lives in McDonald Hall, we meet the following characters: Samantha's Minnesota native, blonde haired wealthy soybean fortune “heiress” roommate Kathryn Klarner (Jennifer Miller); the clingy and troubled Type A Cynthia Song (Siu Ta); handsome basketball player Devon Sylver (Brandon Jay McLaren); the gorgeous former high school television star Dawn Vargaz (Athena Karkanis) who trades a Saved By The Bell-like show for the halls of Charles University to study serious acting; along with the obligatory mischievously sexy bad boy, Trent (Niall Matter).

Trent—a fourth year junior who incidentally comes from one of the wealthiest and most respected families in the area which he tries to hide with every new bed he hops into in a series of one-night stands—works at the local university bar Colony, which despite our cast being under the age of twenty-one they have no trouble infiltrating from the very first episode.



Although all of the characters have engrossing story-lines and I was most consistently taken in by Karkanis’ portrayal of Dawn (who sadly is one of three major members that won’t be written into the soon to air season two), it’s the young woman whose last name is referenced in the show’s title with whom Martin anchors the show as we’re presented with the increasingly feisty Sam.



Despite being the only girl from South Boston with absolutely no trace of an accent (the boys in Good Will Hunting would be appalled), Sam seamlessly moves from her troubled and humble origins after she receives a full-ride academic scholarship to Charles University from her equally mysterious benefactress, Dorothy O'Sullivan (Sherry Miller).

While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there's some kind of connection with O'Sullivan and Best--much to Martin's credit there's a lot more to her story than one would assume from the get-go and he throws endless hurdles in her path from the series’ startling opener which finds one character dead, Sam meeting her first of two major romantic interests in the form of the frequently shirtless Devon, not to mention the start of some pretty major turns of events in the lives of those who reside in her hall.

Endearing to the audience from the start and fiercely loyal to those who become Samantha’s friends—although admittedly her bossy, gruff, and somewhat unlikable tendency to “tell it like it is” at any given moment (in some pretty awkwardly written speeches Shea has to fumble through with authority by raising her voice and finding her inner diva) makes her at times one of the least enjoyable characters to watch—the show’s heart is in the right place. Likewise, Martin and Shea do their best work on Best when surrounding Sam with other characters to let the drama rip.



This is especially effective when he takes us in several unexpected directions and uses them as an opportunity to prove our first instincts wrong and impart a little subtle wisdom in the process by for example-- going against what could be an Asian stereotype of the quintessential academic overachiever to reveal the reason that pushes her to the edge and letting relatives appear out of the woodwork throughout the opening and completely compelling thirteen episode first season run.



And while it would be fairly simple to American audiences used to Felicity, Beverly Hills 90210, and Gossip Girl to just lump the show together with those, when Martin manages to weave in plot-lines involving bisexuality, HIV, abuse, suicide, and addiction, he does so in ways that feel entirely genuine as opposed to salacious most notably in one subplot involving one character’s decision to make an amateur adult video by never letting us forget we actually care about those we’re watching as if they were flesh and blood individuals rather than merely entertaining “types.”

Of course, The Best Years incorporates an obligatory love triangle, missed opportunities, overheard gossip taken out of context, and other familiar devices but I was surprisingly drawn in by the characters and scripts on a level that went far beyond those of typical teen dramas as there’s something instantly relatable and ageless about Martin’s work that routinely makes you ask yourself hard-hitting questions about how you would handle a situation. Moreover, his sophisticated soap managed to hook me from the start into absorbing all four discs in just three days.

Although unfortunately, I live in an area that doesn’t offer me the opportunity to watch The N Channel to catch up on the second season that should be just hitting the airwaves this month, however if this first set is any indication, you can bet that the stellar widescreen cinematography and Dolby Digital cinema quality surround sound captured in this box set will ensure that we’ll be more than satisfied when Martin brings the second helping of Best to DVD shelves.