Join your berry special friend, Strawberry Shortcake, on another sweet adventure! It may be the first day of Spring in Strawberryland, but it's cold, the wind is blowing, and there's frost on the ground! It looks like Spring isn't going to come this year! So Strawberry Shortcake and her friends Orange Blossom and Ginger Snap go in search of Spring, a young girl who just doesn't want to do her job this year. It's up to Strawberry to convince Spring that everyone needs her and that working together can make any job fun!

System Requirements:

Running Time: 45 Min., Color.

This film is presented in "Standard" format.

Copyright 2003 Twentieth Century Fox.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Ernest P. Worrell, America's lanky, lovable know-it-all (played to perfection by comedian "Hey, Vern! KnoWhutImean?" Jim Varney), stars as the hero of this frenetic, side-splitting comedy. The handyman at Kamp Kikakee, Ernest achieves his greatest ambition and becomes a camp counselor to a gang of juvenile delinquents from the Midstate Boys Detention Center! Not only must Mr. Advice-for-every-possible-occasion wrangle the wayward youths, but he has to save the camp from the ruthless clutches of a giant mining company too. Comic pandemonium ensues in the laugh riot of the summer season ... or any ol' time!

Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, the eighth Pokémonmovie, ranks as one of the best features in this popular franchise. Director Kunihiko Yuyama and writer Hideki Sonoda sensibly keep the adventures and threats to a scale that's appropriate for the characters. (The first movies put the world at risk, and while Ash Ketchum is a good kid, he's not someone who can credibly save the planet.) Ash, Brock, Max, and May journey to Cameron Palace for a tournament that celebrates the valor of Prince Aaron, who saved the realm from destruction 1,000 years ago. Ash and Pikachu win, but the mischievous Mew kidnaps Pikachu, whom he's befriended. Prince Aaron's Pokémon companion Lucario awakens from the victor's staff to lead Ash and the gang to the Tree of Beginning, a mountain that is also a living entity. Ash risks his life to rescue Pikachu, proving the depth of their friendship to Lucario. The film includes lots of CG effects, most of which work well with the drawn animation: the earlier Pokémonfilms tended to look like two different movies spliced together.

The two-disc set also includes The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon: A 10th Anniversary Special. In this 40-minute adventure, Dr. Yung invites Misty and Ash to take part in a special tournament on his new battle system. Yung creates formidable Mirage Pokémon from raw data, culminating in a super-version of Mewtwo, the powerful psychic Pokémon from the first features. Once again, friendship and kindness triumph over greed and arrogance, although the special ends with the words, "To be continued..." (Unrated, suitable for ages 8 and older: cartoon violence) —Charles Solomon

Transplanted from England to the not-so-mean streets of Chicago, the screen adaptation of Nick Hornby's cult-classic novel High Fidelityemerges unscathed from its Americanization, idiosyncrasies intact, thanks to John Cusack's inimitable charm and a nimble, nifty screenplay (cowritten by Cusack). Early-thirtysomething Rob Gordon (Cusack) is a slacker who owns a vintage record shop, a massive collection of LPs, and innumerable top-five lists in his head. At the opening of the film, Rob recounts directly to the audience his all-time top-five breakups—which doesn't include his recent falling out with his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle), who has just moved out of their apartment. Thunderstruck and obsessed with Laura's desertion (but loath to admit it), Rob begins a quest to confront the women who instigated the aforementioned top-five breakups to find out just what he did wrong.

Low on plot and high on self-discovery, High Fidelitytakes a good 30 minutes or so to find its groove (not unlike Cusack's Grosse Pointe Blank), but once it does, it settles into it comfortably and builds a surprisingly touching momentum. Rob is basically a grown-up version of Cusack's character in Say Anything(who was told "Don't be a guy—be a man!"), and if you like Cusack's brand of smart-alecky romanticism, you'll automatically be won over (if you can handle Cusack's almost-nonstop talking to the camera). Still, it's hard not to be moved by Rob's plight. At the beginning of the film he and his coworkers at the record store (played hilariously by Jack Black and Todd Louiso) seem like overgrown boys in their secret clubhouse; by the end, they've grown up considerably, with a clear-eyed view of life. Ably directed by Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons), High Fidelityfeatures a notable supporting cast of the women in Rob's life, including the striking, Danish-born Hjejle, Lisa Bonet as a sultry singer-songwriter, and the triumphant triumvirate of Lili Taylor, Joelle Carter, and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Rob's ex-girlfriends. With brief cameos by Tim Robbins as Laura's new, New Age boyfriend and Bruce Springsteen as himself. —Mark Englehart

After all the controversy and rigorous debate has subsided, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christwill remain a force to be reckoned with. In the final analysis, "Gibson's Folly" is an act of personal bravery and commitment on the part of its director, who self-financed this $25-30 million production to preserve his artistic goal of creating the Passion of Christ ("Passion" in this context meaning "suffering") as a quite literal, in-your-face interpretation of the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, scripted almost directly from the gospels (and spoken in Aramaic and Latin with a relative minimum of subtitles) and presented as a relentless, 126-minute ordeal of torture and crucifixion. For Christians and non-Christians alike, this film does not "entertain," and it's not a film that one can "like" or "dislike" in any conventional sense. (It is also emphatically nota film for children or the weak of heart.) Rather, The Passionis a cinematic experience that serves an almost singular purpose: to show the scourging and death of Jesus Christ in such horrifically graphic detail (with Gibson's own hand pounding the nails in the cross) that even non-believers may feel a twinge of sorrow and culpability in witnessing the final moments of the Son of God, played by Jim Caviezel in a performance that's not so much acting as a willful act of submission, so intense that some will weep not only for Christ, but for Caviezel's unparalleled test of endurance.

Leave it to the intelligentsia to debate the film's alleged anti-Semitic slant; if one judges what is on the screen (so gloriously served by John Debney's score and Caleb Deschanel's cinematography), there is fuel for debate but no obvious malice aforethought; the Jews under Caiaphas are just as guilty as the barbaric Romans who carry out the execution, especially after Gibson excised (from the subtitles, if not the soundtrack) the film's most controversial line of dialogue. If one accepts that Gibson's intentions are sincere, The Passioncan be accepted for what it is: a grueling, straightforward (some might say unimaginative) and extremely violent depiction of the Passion, guaranteed to render devout Christians speechless while it intensifies their faith. Non-believers are likely to take a more dispassionate view, and some may resort to ridicule. But one thing remains undebatable: with The Passion of the Christ, Gibson put his money where his mouth is. You can praise or damn him all you want, but you've got to admire his chutzpah. —Jeff Shannon

Modeled after 1963's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Jerry Zucker's Rat Racelacks the irreverence of Zucker's 1980 hit Airplane!but has enough chuckles to make it an agreeable time-killer. Like Mad, Mad, Mad..., it employs a huge ensemble of comedy stalwarts, assembled by an eccentric hotelier (pearly-toothed John Cleese) to race from Las Vegas to New Mexico for a $2 million jackpot. With a backstage gambling subplot, Rowan Atkinson's Italian-geek lunacy, Seth Green's slacker antics, and some nicely understated work from SCTV alumnus Dave Thomas, the movie has almost as many highlights as clunkers, and Zucker's embrace of easy gags and traditional slapstick will tickle anyone's old-fashioned funny bone. Other ingredients are hopelessly stale: Whoopi Goldberg's frantic mugging, Cuba Gooding's latter-day Stepin Fetchit, "mature" humor that compromises the movie's broad appeal, and the assumption that crashing vehicles are inherently hilarious. Lamentable decisions, perhaps, but Rat Racemaintains a pleasantly altruistic spirit. —Jeff Shannon

Subtle is not the word to describe Drop Dead Gorgeous, a mock documentary purporting to cover the Sarah Rose Cosmetics Teen America Beauty Pageant in Mount Rose, Minnesota. Ellen Barkin (Sea of Love) and Kirsten Dunst (Interview with a Vampire, Dick) are perfectly cast as a mother and daughter whose only ambition is to use the pageant to get out of their claustrophobic small-town lives. Opposing them are Denise Richards (Wild Things, Starship Troopers) and her mother, Kirstie Alley (Look Who's Talking), who just happens to be the pageant's organizer. The plot, which centers on contestants being murdered (mostly by flaming explosions), is clearly secondary to the backstage shenanigans and satirical portrayals of vanity, small-town corruption, and family dysfunction. There's not much suspense to the pageant itself, but Dunst is an endearing protagonist and along with the broad jokes are some excellent acting turns from the cast, particularly Barkin, Brittany Murphy (Clueless), Nora Dunn (a Saturday Night Livealumna), and the great character actress Allison Janney, who's played small roles in countless movies but finally gets a chance to shine as the supportive neighbor of Barkin and Dunst. In fact, for all the jokes and satirical jabs, in the end it's the characters' relationships that stay in your mind. A bonus: the soundtrack features a hard-rocking version of the theme from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, performed with cool aplomb by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. —Bret Fetzer

Rockydirector John Avildsen championed the briefly famous New Jersey high school principal Joe Clark in this upbeat 1989 drama. Morgan Freeman plays the tough-love educator who wields a baseball bat and bullhorn to keep discipline in his hallways and to motivate underachieving students to keep their acts together. After establishing Clark's controversial methods and showing him giving some punks the boot, Avildsen relies on the usual school-drama clichés to fill out the rest of the movie, including a challenge to Clark's philosophy from timid authorities. Freeman makes a strong impact as Clark, his dignity and integrity a sometimes awesome thing. Avildsen, however, is going for a Rocky-esque emotional crescendo. —Tom Keogh

C.S. Lewis's classic novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobemakes an ambitious and long-awaited leap to the screen in this modern adaptation. It's a CGI-created world laden with all the special effects and visual wizardry modern filmmaking technology can conjure, which is fine so long as the film stays true to the story that Lewis wrote. And while this film is not a literal translation—it really wants to be so much more than just a kids' movie—for the most part it is faithful enough to the story, and whatever faults it has are happily faults of overreaching, and not of holding back. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobetells the story of the four Pevensie children, Lucy, Peter, Edmund, and Susan, and their adventures in the mystical world of Narnia. Sent to the British countryside for their own safety during the blitz of World War II, they discover an entryway into a mystical world through an old wardrobe. Narnia is inhabited by mythical, anthropomorphic creatures suffering under the hundred-year rule of the cruel White Witch (Tilda Swinton, in a standout role). The arrival of the children gives the creatures of Narnia hope for liberation, and all are dragged into the inevitable conflict between evil (the Witch) and good (Aslan the Lion, the Messiah figure, regally voiced by Liam Neeson).

Director (and co-screenwriter) Andrew Adamson, a veteran of the Shrekfranchise, knows his way around a fantasy-based adventure story, and he wisely keeps the story moving when it could easily become bogged down and tiresome. Narnia is, of course, a Christian allegory and the symbology is definitely there (as it should be, otherwise it wouldn't be the story Lewis wrote), but audiences aren't knocked over the head with it, and in the hands of another director it could easily have become pedantic. The focus is squarely on the children and their adventures. The four young actors are respectable in their roles, especially considering the size of the project put on their shoulders, but it's the young Georgie Henley as the curious Lucy who stands out. This isn't a film that wildly succeeds, and in the long run it won't have the same impact as the Harry Potterfranchise, but it is well done, and kids will get swept up in the adventure. Note: Narniadoes contain battle scenes that some parents may consider too violent for younger children. —Dan Vancini

You wouldn't think a movie could look like a Vermeer painting, but Girl with a Pearl Earringis filmed with an amazing range of luminous glows that evoke the Dutch artist's masterworks. Of course, it helps that much of the movie centers on Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Ghost World), whose creamy skin and full lips have a luminosity of their own. Johansson plays Griet, a maid in the household of Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth, Bridget Jones' Diary, Fever Pitch), who finds herself in a web of jealousy, artistic inspiration, and social machinations. Though the pace is slow, Girl with a Pearl Earringgenuinely conveys some sense of an artist's process, as well as offering many chaste yet sensual moments between Firth and Johansson. Also featuring Essie Davis as Vermeer's bitter wife and Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom) as a wealthy patron with eyes for Griet. —Bret Fetzer

More ambitious in scope than any of its other animated films (before or to come), Disney's 1940 Fantasiawas a dizzying, magical, and highly enjoyable marriage of classical music and animated images. Fantasia 2000features some breathtaking animation and storytelling, and in a few spots soars to wonderful high points, but it still more often than not has the feel of walking in its predecessor's footsteps as opposed to creating its own path. A family of whales swimming and soaring to Respighi's The Pines of Romeis magical to watch, but ends all too soon; a forest sprite's dance of life, death, and rebirth to Stravinsky's The Rite of Springtoo clearly echoes the original Fantasia's Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Mariasequence. But when it's on target, Fantasia 2000is glorious enough to make you giddy. Hans Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is a perfect narrative set to Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Donald Duck's guest appearance as the assistant to Noah (of ark fame) set to Elgar's Pomp and Circumstancemarches is a welcome companion piece (though not an equal) to The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the one original Fantasiapiece included here. The high point of Fantasia 2000, though, is a fantastic day-in-the-life sequence of 1930s New York City set to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blueand animated in the style of cartoonist Al Hirschfeld; it's a perfect melding of music, story, and animation. Let's hope future Fantasias (reportedly in the works) take a cue from the best of this compilation. The music is provided by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine, interspersed with negligible intros by Steve Martin, Bette Midler, Itzhak Perlman, James Earl Jones, and others. —Mark Englehart

Plane crashes, pickpockets, hurricanes—heaven and hell is moving to prevent our able hero Ben (Ben Affleck) from marrying his sweetie (Maura Tierney) in Savannah. At every turn he runs into someone else despairing about the woes of married life. And of course, temptation proves overwhelming in the face of traveling companion Sarah (Sandra Bullock), the wild woman whom he can't seem—or doesn't want—to lose.

After a wayward bird flies into the engine of his airplane, Ben is forced to find another way to his wedding. He finds himself stuck with Sarah, whom he carried from the plane after she was whacked in the noggin by his laptop. The heat between them is unmistakable, and the drama in the film comes from the "will he or won't he," both in terms of sleeping with Sarah and meeting up with his bride. Forces of Natureis a fun and sentimental road-trip film, but Ben is such a strait-laced noodge, you can't help but want him to fall flat on his face just a little. Bullock is the life of this film, although her free-spirited ways get a bit tired (responsibility is not allbad). The highlight of this movie, though, is definitely the cinematography. The beautiful rain shots and the colors of the scenes lend to the unsettling mood. While the jokes are not rip-roaring, Forcesis to be reckoned with for those times when a lighthearted film is what you need. —Jenny Brown

The fifth collection in the series concludes the Robotech Mastersstory line (originally Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross). Like the previous story, this adventure centers on a conflict pitting the freedom of thought and action that humans enjoy against the repressive civilization of the Robotech Masters. The endless spaceship and mecha battles ultimately prove less significant than the actions of the rebel clone Zor Prime. Having tasted freedom and love, he defies the Masters and destroys what amounts to a high-tech slave culture, where masses of clones and mecha labor to support a ruling elite. But the Second Robotech War ends as the first did, in a bittersweet Pyrrhic victory. The Robotech Masters have been destroyed, but much of the Earth has been devastated. And the spores of Flowers of Life ("the Three Who Act As One") have been dispersed to summon the alien Invid, setting the stage for the final episodes. The Elements of Robotechnology Vdisc includes portfolios of pre-production designs for "The Sentinels," unproduced "Southern Cross" designs, and the pilot episode of "Space Fortress Macross" (which would become "Booby Trap," the first installment in the Macross Saga). Unrated; suitable for ages 8 and up: Mild violence restricted to spaceship and robot battles. —Charles Solomon