‘Stuart’ Scampers to Video and DVD

“Stuart Little” was one of this past Christmas’ biggest movies. Now Columbia TriStar Home Video hopes the charming family film based on the E.B. White classic will repeat its success on video and DVD this Easter.

“Stuart Little,” which has earned more than $139 million, arrived in video stores this week, just four months after its theatrical release. “I think more and more you are seeing that the window from theatrical to video is shortening,” explains Ben Feingold, president of Columbia TriStar Home Video.

Both the video ($25) and DVD ($28) are being released to the sell-through market. Feingold believes most people who rent the VHS or digital version will also end up buying it for the family library.

“I think there is such a shortage of family films right now, anybody who wanted to see ‘Stuart Little’ didn’t wait for the video to come out. There was a significant repeat business [in the theaters], which bodes well for the sell-through result.”

Feingold also points out that there are economic reasons for getting hit films into the home video market within six months of their theatrical run. Films have become so expensive to make and market, he said, “we do everything we can to bring the revenues forward.”

The DVD of “Stuart Little,” a charming tale about a family who adopts an adorable, spunky mouse named Stuart (voiced by Michael J. Fox), is tons of fun. And the good news is you don’t even have to have kids to enjoy this disc.

It includes a wide-screen format of the film, talent bios, three music videos and a read-along with Fox as Stuart. The visual-effects gag reel includes two funny bits, one featuring Snowbell the cat, as well as the Stouts, the mice who claim to be Stuart’s real parents. A blooper gag reel includes a lot of outtakes featuring the human stars--Hugh Laurie, Geena Davis and Jonathan Lipnicki. Fans can even test their “Stuart Little” knowledge with the clever “Stuart’s Central Park Adventure Game.”

The behind-the-scenes featurette “Making It Big,” which first aired on HBO, is a cut above most of these documentaries, thanks to Stuart’s snappy narration and tongue-in-cheek tone.

Six deleted scenes are featured with optional director’s commentary. A collection of the artists’ screen tests offers insight into the creative process. There’s also a demonstration on the creation of the digitally animated Stuart and examples of how several scenes were animated. Rounding out the DVD are two audio commentary tracks: one from the visual effects supervisor and the other featuring director Rob Minkoff (“The Lion King”) and animation director Henry Anderson, both funny and informative guides.

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Not many people have seen Hilary Swank’s Oscar-winning turn as a young woman passing as a man in “Boys Don’t Cry” because the disturbing, fact-based drama never got a major release. Hopefully, the film will find an audience on video and DVD (Fox). The digital version ($35) includes a wide-screen transfer, TV spots, trailers and a featurette.

Director and co-writer Kimberly Peirce supplies the audio commentary. Although she’s not the most scintillating personality, her commentary offers insight into the trials of low-budget filmmaking, why she decided to begin the film after Brandon transformed herself into a boy, and how difficult it was to cast someone in that role. After looking at more than 1,000 women in a three-year period, she found the perfect Brandon in the former TV actress Swank.

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Despite limited release, “Tumbleweeds” (New Line) brought British actress Janet McTeer an Oscar nomination for her performance as an oft-married Southern free spirit who takes a journey of self-discovery with her bright, sensible 12-year-old daughter (Kimberly J. Brown). The comedy was inspired by co-writer Angela Shelton’s childhood.

The DVD ($25) includes both the wide-screen and full-screen versions, as well as the trailer and cast and crew bios.

Director and co-writer Gavin O’Connor, who also plays McTeer’s temperamental love interest in the film, is tongue-tied when it comes to discussing his own performance. He apparently hates to look at himself on the screen. No wonder: He gained 50 pounds for the role. But he offers some other juicy tidbits. McTeer, for instance, swears like a sailor. So much so, he told her to try to clean up her language because co-star Brown grew up in a very religious household.

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Michael Mann’s terrific “The Insider” (Touchstone, $33) received six Oscar nominations, including best film, director, screenplay and actor (Russell Crowe). The DVD, though, is a disappointment. The disc cries out for commentary from Mann, but this wide-screen edition only includes some trailers, a making-of featurette and a dissection of a dramatic sequence between Al Pacino and Crowe.

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New from Universal Home Video are two vintage films ($15 each for video). “Mary Queen of Scots,” a handsome, 1971 historical drama about the relationship between Mary (Vanessa Redgrave) and Queen Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson). It plays fast and loose with the facts but is well-crafted, and Redgrave is luminous in her Oscar-nominated role.

“Bus Riley’s Back in Town” from 1965, is trashy fun. Penned by playwright William Inge under the pseudonym Walter Gage, it stars Michael Parks as a young man who returns home after spending three years in the service. Ann-Margret plays his old flame, now married to a rich older man. Her erotic dance in the town’s bar has to be seen to be believed.