New on DVD: ‘Kids Are All Right,’ ‘Avatar’ and more

The Kids Are All Right

Focus, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98

Julianne Moore and Annette Bening play a lesbian couple whose teenage children go looking for their “donor daddy” in “The Kids Are All Right,” a low-key indie drama with a strong sense of character. While Moore and Bening are very good as old marrieds who’ve started to take each other for granted, the movie’s MVP is Mark Ruffalo, playing a free spirit who enters the lives of the children he didn’t know he had, giving them an outlet for long-festering complaints. Writer-director Lisa Cholodenko runs her cast through fairly predictable cycles of resentment and mistrust, but she does show some insight into what happens when well-meaning, open-minded folks fall out of sync with one another. The DVD and Blu-ray include a Cholodenko commentary, plus featurettes.

Avatar: Extended Collector’s Edition

20th Century Fox, $34.98; Blu-ray, $54.99

For all those who waited to buy “Avatar” until it had more to offer than just the movie, good news! James Cameron’s blockbuster eco-adventure is now on DVD and Blu-ray in an extended cut, with bonus discs that break down in detail how the movie was made. The sound and picture aren’t quite as expressive as on the Blu-ray that came out this year, but nontechnophiles shouldn’t recognize much difference.

A Christmas Carol

Walt Disney, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99; Blu-ray 3-D, $49.99

The world might not have needed another retelling of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” but there’s certainly a lot to recommend about writer-director Robert Zemeckis’ version: an all-computer-generated affair with Jim Carrey providing the voice and motions for Scrooge as well as all the ghosts that visit on Christmas Eve. Zemeckis turns too many of Dickens’ familiar moments into fanciful action sequences, but the core of the story remains as effective now as it has been for more than 150 years, and the attention to detail in the design of Victorian England and its denizens is frequently stunning. The DVD and Blu-ray add only deleted scenes and a few featurettes.

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

Warner, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99; Blu-ray 3-D, $44.98

As a way to kill time with the kids at a movie theater on a weekend afternoon, “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” wasn’t so bad. It’s cute enough, and its story of animals working together to defeat a devious criminal mastermind features plenty of action and 3-D effects. But unless you have one of those newfangled 3-D TV sets and Blu-ray players, there’s not much reason to bother with the film at home; there are at least 1,000 better family-friendly movies and TV shows that your children probably haven’t seen yet. Chances are they won’t get much out of the paltry featurettes and bonus cartoons on the DVD and Blu-ray either.

The Last Airbender

Paramount, $29.99; Blu-ray, $34.99/$39.99

M. Night Shyamalan is so cold right now that even when he signs on to a can’t-lose project, he fumbles. Hired to helm an adaptation of the popular animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” Shyamalan turns the story of a young superhero and a clash of rival elemental warriors into a turgid, joyless action picture, with dryly explanatory dialogue and endless, tedious fight scenes. The movie did reasonably well at the box office, but “Airbender” fans would be better off sitting down for another viewing of the original program on DVD. For those who can’t resist, the DVD and Blu-ray add featurettes and selected-scene commentary.

And...

“Best Worst Movie” (New Video, $19.95); “Lottery Ticket” (Warner, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99); “Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)” (Warner Blu-ray, $34.99); “The Office: Digital Shorts Collection” (Universal, $14.98); “Sondheim: The Birthday Concert” (Image, $24.98; Blu-ray, $29.98); “Vengeance” (MPI, $24.98).

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