There are three new Instant Video releases this week kids have been waiting for! Note: all movie descriptions are from IMDB.
Oz The Great And Powerful (PG, 3/5 stars, closed captions available, currently priced at $3.99 to rent and $14.99 to buy)
Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he’s hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz), and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting.
Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
– Written by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Jack The Giant Slayer (PG-13, 4/5 stars, closed captions available, currently priced at $14.99 to buy; this is a digital pre-release, which means you can’t buy it on disc yet and it’s not yet available for rental)
Sent to the market by his uncle to sell their horse and buy thatch for their roof, Jack meets the beautiful Princess Isabelle whom he rescues her from ruffians.
He returns home only with a handful of beans given to him by a monk who claimed they were sacred but that does little to impress his uncle who tosses them away. In the night the Princess arrives having run off to keep from marrying Roderick who is clearly only interested in becoming king.
Soon the beans take root with a giant stalk carrying away the princess and Jack’s house. He soon sets off on an adventure with the king’s guards to rescue the princess only to find that a mythical land filled with giants really exists.
– Written by garykmcd
Escape From Planet Earth (PG, 4/5 stars, closed captions available, currently priced at $3.99 to rent and $12.99 to buy)
On the planet Baab, admired astronaut Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) is a national hero to the blue alien population. A master of daring rescues, Scorch pulls off astonishing feats with the quiet aid of his nerdy, by-the-rules brother, Gary (Rob Corddry), head of mission control at BASA.
When BASA’s no-nonsense chief Lena (Jessica Alba) informs the brothers of an SOS from a notoriously dangerous planet, Scorch rejects Gary’s warnings and bounds off for yet another exciting mission. But when Scorch finds himself caught in a fiendish trap set by the evil Shanker (William Shatner) it’s up to scrawny, risk-adverse Gary to do the real rescuing.
As the interplanetary stakes rise to new heights, Gary is left to save his brother, his planet, his beloved wife Kira (Sarah Jessica Parker) and their adventure hungry son Kip.
– Written by The Weinstein Company