Today’s home video debuts offer two action-packed flicks for fans of creature animation. First up is Sony Screen Gems’ surprisingly effective subterranean monster movie, The Cave, starring Cole Hauser, Morris Chestnut and Piper Perabo. The film’s digital animation and other visual effects were provided by Luma Pictures under the guidance of visual effects supervisor James McQuaide (Underworld, Underworld: Evolution). DVD extras include filmmaker commentary and the featurettes Designing Evolution and Into the Cave. Sony lists the disc at $28.95.
Director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) tackles a fantasy classic with Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island, a 2005 made-for-TV Hallmark miniseries starring Patrick Stewart, Kyle MacLachlan and Gabrielle Anwar. While the beloved 1961 screen adaptation features giant, stop-motion critters by animator Ray Harryhausen, this island is inhabited by CG-animated scorpions and other overgrown beasties. This Echo Bridge Home Entertainment release retails for $28.98 and includes cast and director interviews and a production design featurette.
Verne’s literary legacy continues to thrive, having inspired filmmaker Anthony Lucas’ Annecy 2005 Grand Prix-winning animated short, The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello. In addition, Disney and Walden Media, who teamed to produce current box office champ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, have announced plans to make a large-format, stereoscopic 3-D adaptation of the 19th Century author’s Journey to the Center of the Earth for New Line Cinema.
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