Other new releases include "Chernobyl Diaries" and "That's My Boy."
Alex the Lion, voiced by Ben Stiller, left, and Gia the Jaguar, voiced by Jessica Chastain, in a scene from "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted." The Washington Post
The following films are available this week on home video”
“Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” – The third outing in the popular series of animated adventures about Alex the lion, Marty the zebra,Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo may be the best of the bunch. To escape from Monaco - where our heroes have traveled from Africa searching for the airplane they hope will take them home - an order is given to shake the Monte Carlo animal control officer who is determined to stop them from leaving. The film may be the best use of 3-D animation we’ve seen since “Up.” Structured around a prolonged yet picturesque chase that takes Alex and company from Monaco to France to Italy to England, it’s a story that lends itself naturally to visual-enhancement technology. What’s really surprising about “Madagascar 3” is just how moving it is, largely because of the emotionally engaging character animation. Extras: commentary, deleted scenes, cast bios, “Mad Music Mash-Up” and “Circus Acts” featurette. Also, on Blu-ray: “The Animators’ Corner” and “Get Them to the Train” featurettes, and a trivia track.
“Moonrise Kingdom” – “Moonrise Kingdom” opens with the sound of raindrops falling on the roof of a cozy house. The house is immediately recognizable as yet another habitat created by Wes Anderson. That opening-scene house has a name, by the way: Summer’s End, which turns out to aptly capture a vaguely autumnal tale of young love that takes place in September 1965. The 12-year-old girl who lives in the house, Suzy Bishop, has struck up a pen-pal friendship with Sam Shakusky, a bespectacled, raccoon-tail-capped kid who has just run away from Khaki Scout camp. Anderson confects a distinctive mix of arch humor and solemnity in which Sam and Suzy confront death, abandonment and burgeoning sexuality in very real terms, but in which a character can also be struck by lightning without suffering anything worse than a pair of sooty glasses. Anderson’s style may not be to everyone’s taste, but he’s that rare filmmaker who seems interested in exploring film, not just as a vehicle for narrative, but as a material object in and of itself. Extras: “A Look Inside Moonrise Kingdom,” “Welcome to the Island of New Penzance” behind-the-scenes guided tours featurette, set tour with Bill Murray.
“Chernobyl Diaries”– Set in an abandoned Ukrainian town next to the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the catastrophic 1986 explosion, the horror film is moderately spooky, visually stylish and tinged with mystery.What - or who - is haunting Pripyat, the former home to thousands of Chernobyl workers who fled after the disaster? The setup is fresh. A group of young travelers pile into the dilapidated van of a shadowy former special-ops agent known only as Uri to explore Pripyat. Uri is one of the best things about the film. Unfortunately, after the van breaks down and the group is stranded as night falls, Uri is the first to go. One by one, the remaining six visitors start to get picked off. There are some decent frights to be had here, and the scenery nicely evokes a decrepit theme park. But the lack of common sense demonstrated by the protagonists, who foolishly venture closer and closer to Chernobyl - Geiger counter be damned! - is truly scary. Extras: alternate ending, Chernobyl conspiracy viral video, “Uri’s Extreme Tours” infomercial, deleted scene.
“That’s My Boy” – Adam Sandler plays Donny, a man trying to reconcile with his estranged son,Todd (Andy Samberg), whom he fathered with his middle school teacher as a 13-year-old. Sandler attempts to mine this disturbing event for comedy, but he also goes after some pretty low hanging fruit: fat people, the elderly, immigrants, washed-up celebrities and others. Samberg, whose role is essentially as straight man, is inoffensive but forgettable as a bridegroom who is mortified when his boorish old man shows up on the eve of his wedding to a wealthy heiress. There’s no evidence of the comic chops he has displayed on”Saturday Night Live.” Sandler has his partisans, but the aggressive awfulness of “That’s My Boy” seems calculated to test even their patience. Extras: Gag reel, three featurettes, deleted scenes.
Also: “Neil Young Journeys,” “The Forgiveness of Blood” (2011, in Albanian with English subtitles, “TCM Greatest Classic Legends” (four separate discs, covering Lauren Bacall, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant and James Stewart, all Warner), “The Cup,” “Chely Wright: Wish Me Away,” “Trooper and the Legend of the Golden Key,” “2016,” “The Heart of Christmas,” “Last Ride,” “Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume 2,” (1997, Criterion Collection), “Bill Moyers: A World of Ideas II - Great Thinkers” (1988, Athena); “The Ambassador,” “Brave New World” (2011, five-part documentary series hosted by Stephen Hawking), “The Christmas Pageant,” “Christmas Miracle,’ “Back From Hell (Ex Inferis)” (Italy), “Chely Wright: Wish Me Away,” “Nobody Else But You” (France) and “Nina Conti: Her Master’s Voice.”
Television Series: “Mad Men: Season Five,” “Psych: The Complete Sixth Season,” “Alcatraz: The Complete Series,” “Cagney & Lacey: The Complete Series,” “Columbo: The Complete Series,” “The Complete Red Green Show: High (Quality) Quantity Collection” (Canada, 1991-2006, 50-disc collector’s edition), “The Firm: The Complete Series,” “Medical Center: The Complete Second Season” (1970-71) and “Power Rangers Samurai: Christmas Together, Friends Forever.”