Taste of ‘Chocolat’

On the appetizing DVD of the Oscar-nominated romantic fantasy “Chocolat” (Miramax, $30), it is revealed that all of those mouthwatering chocolates lining the shelves in Juliette Binoche’s chocolate shop were actually made out of plastic. The filmmakers tried to use real chocolates, but, alas, they melted under the hot lights.

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom, “Chocolat” features Binoche in an Oscar-nominated performance as a mysterious woman who arrives with her young daughter (Victoire Thivisol) in a small, repressed French village, where she opens a chocolate shop. Judi Dench (also an Oscar nominee), Lena Olin, Carrie-Anne Moss, Johnny Depp and Alfred Molina also star in the movie, which was nominated for a best picture Academy Award.

The digital edition includes the wide-screen edition of the film, a better-than-average “making of” documentary (in which Binoche admits she was drawn to the project because she loves chocolates), featurettes on the costumes and production design, and several deleted scenes, including a funny one involving Molina and a bowl of cat food.

The commentary track features the soft-spoken Hallstrom (“The Cider House Rules”), who is married to Olin, and producers David Brown, Kit Golden and Leslie Holleran.

The producers looked at numerous French villages for the film. The colorful medieval town of Flauviny was discovered by accident: The production designer stopped there for a bathroom break and fell in love with the picturesque square of the walled village.

The majority of the interiors were shot on a sound stage in England, where Dench joined the cast. She hadn’t made the trip to France because she didn’t want to leave her ailing husband, Michael Williams, who died of lung cancer earlier this year.

The producers also had to pull some strings to get Sally, the terrier who played the role of Charlie, into England because of the country’s quarantine laws.

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Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt headline the caper comedy “The Mexican,” which made nearly $70 million at the box office this past spring but didn’t exactly set the critics on fire, save perhaps for the praise given James Gandolfini for his performance as an unusual hit man who takes Roberts’ character hostage.

The DVD (DreamWorks, $20) features a wide-screen version of the film, an OK “making of” documentary, trailers, production notes and talent files, plus several deleted scenes with commentary from director Gore Verbinski, screenwriter J.H. Wyman and editor Craig Wood.

The original budget for “The Mexican” was just $9 million, but the ante was upped when the well-salaried Pitt and Roberts joined the cast. Still, Verbinski points out, the budget was relatively tight for this type of film and was shot in just over 50 days in both L.A. and in Mexico.

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Disney’s popular animated TV series “Recess” makes the leap to feature films with the comedy adventure “Recess: School’s Out.” In this moderately entertaining family flick, the gang teams with their teachers to stop bad guys from putting an end to summer vacation.

The DVD ($30) features the wide-screen edition, an interactive challenge game that is tougher than it looks, a short look at how “Recess” is brought to life at Disney’s animation studio, a digital comic book, 10 secrets about the series as told by the show’s creators, the trailer and two musical videos, including “Green Tambourine,” performed by none other than Robert Goulet.

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“Fly Away Home,” from 1996, is a lovely family film from Carroll Ballard, who also directed the haunting 1979 children’s movie “The Black Stallion.” Anna Paquin stars as a girl who moves in with her estranged father (Jeff Daniels) after the death of her mother in a car crash. The two become a family when they adopt a flock of orphaned geese and eventually teach them how to migrate.

The enchanting DVD (Columbia TriStar, $25) includes the wide-screen edition of the film, talent files, trailers, a documentary on Operation Migration (the organization that teaches birds new migratory routes) and “The Ultra Geese,” an inspiring documentary by William Lishman, the Canadian sculptor who founded Operation Migration and on whom Daniels’ character is based. Rounding out the disc is easy-going commentary from director Ballard and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, who collaborated on “The Black Stallion.”

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Fans of Hong Kong action flicks will probably want to check out the DVD (Columbia TriStar, $25) of director Tsuik Hark’s latest, “Time and Tide.” Nominated for six Hong Kong Film Awards, the violent, fast-paced thriller stars Nicholas Tse and Wu Bai. The digital edition includes both the wide-and full-screen presentations, filmographies, trailers and Hark’s commentary.

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The ABC-TV movie “These Old Broads,” starring Shirley MacLaine, Debbie Reynolds, Joan Collins and Elizabeth Taylor, arrives on video this week (Columbia TriStar) in a reedited version. The comedy, penned by Reynolds’ daughter, Carrie Fisher, and Elaine Pope, boasts a new title sequence, some musical footage between Reynolds and Collins, and a new comedy sequence between MacLaine and Jonathan Silverman, who plays her son. The video also restored two dramatic sequences between MacLaine and Silverman that had been trimmed. Though the film gets a bit too serious at the end, “These Old Broads” is a lot of fun.

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The British TV drama “Cor, Blimey!” (BFS, $20 for VHS and DVD) chronicles the turbulent love affair between actors Sid James and Barbara Windsor, who were mainstays in the long-running British “Carry On” film comedy series. Though the romantic drama is well-done, its relevance will be lost on most American audiences because the risque “Carry On” never caught on stateside.