Setting climate for comedy and issues

Manny the woolly mammoth, Sid the sloth, Diego the saber-toothed tiger and Scrat, the acorn-obsessed saber-toothed squirrel, return in the computer-animated family film “Ice Age: The Meltdown” (Fox, $30).

Though there’s plenty of comedy and even music in the sequel to “Ice Age,” it also has a serious side -- the ice wall surrounding the characters’ valley is melting.

The highlight among the extras is a new animated short, “No Time for Nuts,” in which Scrat happens upon a time machine that hurls him and his beloved nut back and forth through various periods.

There are also some cute “lost historical films” that explore each of the characters, as well as behind-the-scenes featurettes and enthusiastic commentary with director Carlos Saldanha and from producer Lori Forte and other members of the creative team.

Global warming of another sort is the subject of Davis Guggenheim’s lauded documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” (Paramount, $30). The film follows former Vice President Al Gore’s efforts to inform and educate the world on the serious environmental problems caused by global warming. Extras on the DVD include a lengthy update with Gore on new information regarding global warming, including the rise in the ferocity of hurricanes over the last few years, as well as the record-breaking heat waves that have hit the continents.

Also featured are a short “making of” featurette and two stirring commentary tracks: one with Guggenheim and a second with the producers, including Laurie David and Lawrence Bender.

The environment certainly isn’t an issue in “Da Ali G Show: Da Compleet Seereez” (HBO, $50). British comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen introduced the box office phenomenon Borat on his raucous BBC series that aired on HBO.

The anti-Semitic Kazakh TV reporter is just one of Cohen’s outrageous characters. Joining Borat are the foul-mouthed Cockney Jamaican Ali G and the gay Austrian fashionista Bruno.

The four-disc set includes all 12 episodes, rather dull commentary on the pilot with Cohen, Ali G’s ribald commencement address at Harvard in 2004 and previously unseen vignettes with each character, especially Borat, who goes to a dating service to find a new wife (he wants someone with plow experience), addresses a group of Arizona Republicans and tries to learn football. Animal lovers might want to skip the clip of Borat interviewing a hunter.

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Also new

“You, Me and Dupree” (Universal, $30): Even a first-rate cast -- Kate Hudson, Owen Wilson, Matt Dillon and Michael Douglas -- are stymied in this predictable romantic comedy about what happens to a newlywed couple (Hudson and Dillon) when the husband’s wastrel friend (Wilson) moves in with them. The DVD includes some decent interviews with the cast, a look at how the directing team of brothers Anthony and Joe Russo agree to disagree over some scenes, a skillful faux trailer that turns the comedy into a horror film, decent outtakes and passable commentary from the directors.

“So NoTORIous -- The Complete Series” (Paramount, $27): Actress Tori Spelling spoofs herself in her clever VH1 comedy series that is loosely based on her life. Extras include cast interviews, outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes with commentary from the producers and Spelling, and a deliciously entertaining exclusive-to-DVD episode in which she goes to Ottawa to film a movie.

“Classic Comedy Teams Collection” (Warner Home Video, $29): Uneven collection of comedies starring Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello and the Three Stooges.

The 1943 Laurel and Hardy vehicle “Air Raid Wardens” pales in comparison to their classics -- the two play air raid wardens who uncover a Nazi plot in their hometown. Abbott and Costello fare better in their two films in the collection -- 1944’s “Lost in a Harem,” which also stars Marilyn Maxwell, and 1945’s “Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood,” in which the two play studio barbers turned agents.

The Stooges make one of their early screen appearances in the rarely seen 1933 musical comedy “Meet the Baron,” starring radio personality Jack Pearl and Jimmy Durante. Curly Howard is even billed under his real name -- Jerry. Rounding out the collection are the 1944 Laurel and Hardy comedy “Nothing but Trouble” and the 1951 western comedy “Gold Raiders,” with the Stooges and George O’Brien.

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susan.king@latimes.com