A second opportunity to ‘Meet the Robinsons’

Disney’s computer-animated, 3-D family film “Meet the Robinsons” (Disney, $30) had a polarizing effect on critics. But for those reviewers and audience members who fell under the film’s quirky charms, this story about a brilliant orphan named Lewis who wants to have a family has more warmth, humanity and humor than most live-action films.

The extras on the DVD arriving today include games for the kiddies, a look at inventions over the years, a better-than-average production featurette and heartwarming commentary from director Stephen Anderson, who talks about his passion for this project on which he worked four years.

Gut-wrenching may be the best way to describe “Hostel Part II” (Lionsgate, $28), which arrives just in time for Halloween. Eli Roth’s follow-up to his 2006 hit gore-fest stars two alumni from “Desperate Housewives” -- Richard Burgi and Roger Bart -- as well as Lauren German, Heather Matarazzo and Bijou Phillips. Ironically, the behind-the-scenes featurettes -- a look at the visual effects and the gag reel -- are pretty funny. And the commentary with Roth, his brother and second unit director Gabe Roth and producer Quentin Tarantino is anything but dull.

Though it’s nothing like the blood bath of “Hostel,” Kevin Costner’s latest, “Mr. Brooks” (MGM, $30), has more than its fair share of murders. Costner plays a wealthy man with a “perfect” family life who is actually a grisly serial killer. Extras include a production featurette and commentary from director and co-writer Bruce A. Evans and co-writer and producer Raynold Gideon, who talk about the hoops they jumped through to get Costner to read the script.

Also new

“Battleship Potemkin” (Kino, $30): Though Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent epic is one of the most influential films ever made, it has fallen victim over the years to censorship and editing. Prints of the film that depict the 1905 mutiny of the sailors aboard the Potemkin and the subsequent rebellion of the bedraggled citizens of Odessa have often been of poor quality. This two-disc set features the 2005 restoration of the film that reinstates dozens of missing shots, and all 146 title cards have been restored to the Russian director’s specifications. Even Edmund Meisel’s 1926 score has been resurrected. The result is nothing short of spectacular.

“Under the Volcano” (Criterion, $40): Director John Huston and actor Albert Finney struck a sour note with the 1982 musical “Annie.” But the two created beautiful music together with this poetic 1984 adaptation of Malcolm Lowry’s novel. Finney, who received an Oscar nomination for his poignant performance, plays an alcoholic British consul who travels to a small Mexican village during the Day of the Dead celebration to reconcile with his wife (Jacqueline Bisset). Extras on the two-disc set feature a candid interview with Bisset; a revealing 1984 documentary, “Notes from Under the Volcano”; a terrific 1976 Oscar-nominated documentary, “Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry”; and engaging commentary with executive producer Michael Fitzgerald and producer Weiland Schulz-Keil.

“Breathless” (Criterion, $40): This freewheeling 1960 French New Wave classic put director Jean-Luc Godard on the international map. Jean-Paul Belmondo became an overnight sensation as the tough but charismatic small-time hood on the lam. Included on the two-disc set are new interviews with renowned cinematographer Raoul Coutard, assistant director Pierre Rissient and documentarian D.A. Pennebaker; a quirky documentary on the film’s production, and the engaging Godard short, “Charlotte et son Jules,” starring Belmondo.

“Warner Home Video Directors Series: Stanley Kubrick” (Warner, $80): Five-film, 10-disc set features newly restored editions of the iconoclastic director’s “2001:A Space Odyssey,” “A Clockwork Orange,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” “The Shining” and “Full Metal Jacket.”

susan.king@latimes.com