Dvd Reviews

REISSUE

"The Jungle Book: 40th Anniversary

Edition" (Buena Vista, $30)

This was one of the first movies my parents took me to, and now it has a 40th-anniversary edition. Sigh. But I can cheer myself up by watching this classic animated story about the boy Mowgli, the panther Bagheera, the easygoing bear Baloo and the tiger Shere Khan. This edition is loaded with extras, including the appearance of Rocky the Rhino, a "lost character" brought to life using original storyboards and voice recordings; an informative making-of featurette; interviews with animators inspired to pursue the art after seeing the movie; a game, and commentary by assorted animators.

CURT FIELDS, WASHINGTON POST

"Spider Baby: Special Edition"

(MPI, $20)

Jack Hill wrote and directed this scrumptious 1968 black horror comedy. Lon Chaney Jr. plays a kindly old chauffeur who takes care of the three adult children of his late employer in a rundown mansion. The three siblings (Beverly Washburn, Jill Banner and Sid Haig) suffer from a genetic malady in which they begin to regress at the age of 10 into savagery and cannibalism. Extras include a retrospective documentary, a featurette in which Hill revisits the house he used in the film, a heartfelt remembrance of composer Ronald Stein and enjoyable, nostalgic commentary by Hill and Haig.

SUSAN KING, LOS ANGELES TIMES

CLASSIC FILM

"Jonathan Livingston Seagull"

(Paramount, $15)

Sure, penguins are the must-have film bird of the past few years, but in the early '70s, Hollywood was all about a seagull. Making its DVD debut, this movie, based on a Richard Bach book that spent months atop the New York Times bestseller list, follows a nonconformist bird tired of the boring life among his seagull clan. Critics almost universally hated it, but it did receive Oscar nominations for its cinematography and editing. Neil Diamond won a Golden Globe and a Grammy for his original score.

CURT FIELDS, WASHINGTON POST