TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : Excellent Good Fair Poor : AUDIOCASSETTES

“The Unicorn in the Garden and Other Fables for Our Time” by James Thurber. Read by Peter Ustinov. Caedmon. This enchanting blend of Thurber, master humorist, and Ustinov, masterful raconteur, should make anybody’s Top 10 list of the best cassettes so far. Ustinov tells Thurber’s updated fables (the hare crosses the finish line before the tortoise has gone nine feet) in a dazzling array of accents. Little Red Riding Hood pulls out a pistol and plugs the wolf from a safe distance--little girls, says Thurber’s moral, are not as easy to fool as they used to be. Perfection. Information: (800) 223-0420 or (212) 580-3400.