DVDs of the week

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Here's Johnny: Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd

Gorefest: Sweeney Todd

Bumpy journey: Blame it On Fidel

Hive of fun: Bee Movie

Mixed opinion: My Kid Could Paint That

Embracing multimedia: DJ Kentaro

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DVD OF THE WEEK
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Warner Home Video, 18, £23.99
***
For a man who supposedly doesn't like musicals, Tim Burton has had a bloody good stab at one in Sweeney Todd, which uses Stephen Sondheim's stage composition and bucketloads of the red stuff to tell the vengeful story of Fleet Street's most notorious service sector worker. Brooding star Johnny Depp – who sings like Bowie and looks darkly wondrous against Dante Ferretti's production design – got an Oscar nomination for his performance but it's actually Helena Bonham Carter who steals it as the deranged but enterprising Mrs Lovett, bringing a wild warmth to all the dubious pie-making and throat-slashing.

Meanwhile, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Sacha Baron Cohen provide support to savour. Still, one can't help wondering what this would have been like had Burton ditched the tunes and just gone for a straight, quirky gorefest – a movie worth a star or two more is my guess.

Extras: Plenty to get your teeth into, including cast and crew interviews, making-of featurettes, history of Todd and Grand Guignol theatre – and yet more blood.
Sharon Lougher

Blame It On Fidel
ICA, 12, £19.99
***
This film may be based on Domitilla Calamai's 1998 novel but Julie Gavras's directorial debut is an obviously personal effort. As the daughter of political moviemaker Costa-Gavras, she's likely to know more than most about living with left-wing parents and this comes shining through the protagonist, Parisian child Anna. She is less than happy when her bourgeois parents force her to sacrifice her luxuries when they become revolutionaries, engaging in the politicised Paris of the early 1970s and Allende's campaign in Chile.

She screams and stomps in hair-raising rebellion – young actress Nina Kervel-Bey's consummate performance includes a scowl that could terrify a wolf – while she struggles to make sense of conflicting truths. Her parents talk of group solidarity; her right-wing grandparents explain that communists steal and hate; while her anti-Castro Cuban nanny rants about bearded red beasts. Anna's confusion is sensitively explored and Gavras's film is beautifully shot, capturing the bumpy journey of a girl's coming of age.

Extras: None.
Zena Alkayat

Bee Movie
Dreamworks, U, £19.99
***
Fans of Jerry Seinfeld's sitcom will get a buzz out of hearing him back in action but may find the stand-up's trademark humour lacks some of its sting when tailored to a younger audience. However, as a children's film (from the makers of Shrek and Flushed Away) Bee Movie has most of the ingredients that count. Producer and co-writer Seinfeld lends his voice and attitude to Barry B Benson, a young bee fresh out of college and disillusioned with the career that lies ahead of him: making honey until he dies. Escaping to explore the world outside, Barry meets New York City florist Vanessa Bloome (Renée Zellweger) and develops a taste for the Big Apple. But his wonder at his new neighbourhood turns to anger when he discovers humans eat honey – so he mounts a lawsuit against us.

The movie merrily wings its way through a string of Seinfeldisms and puns, teamed nicely with slick animation and a top supporting cast including Matthew Broderick, John Goodman and Chris Rock. And, although it revisits the same insect territory of predecessors A Bug's Life and Antz, Bee Movie is still a hive of fun and laughter for all ages.

Extras: Inside The Hive: The Cast Of Bee Movie, Tech of Bee Movie and Meet Barry B Benson featurettes, commentaries by Seinfeld and film-makers, music video and children's games.
Damian Tully-Pointon

My Kid Could Paint That
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 12, £19.99
****
How many times have you seen some scribble in an art gallery and thought: Pah – a toddler could do that'? Well, in the case of American four-year-old Marla Olmstead, you'd be right. Within months of entering the art market, her colourful splatter abstracts were selling for up to £150,000, prompting a debate both about how we judge art and the nature of genius. Can a pint-sized Pollock with a crayon set really paint a masterpiece'? And did she even paint them anyway? Sympathies constantly shift in this multilayered doc as we share film-maker Amir Bar-Lev's ever closer and more uncomfortable relationship with Marla's family.

Evidence is tantalisingly teased out – the pushy father the sketchy footage of Marla at work, the expert analysts, the supposed exposé on 60 Minutes. And then there's the actual paintings. It's left up to viewers to decide whether Marla truly created them – and if that should even affect our appreciation of them. This will get you arguing on the sofa for hours.

Extras: Doc with deleted footage, Michael Kimmelman on Art.
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

DJ Kentaro: Enter The Newground
Ninja Tune, no cert, £11.99
***
Japan's Kentaro is one of the world's top turntablists, winning 2002's DMC's World Finals with a perfect score. Kentaro's Enter tour is a multifaceted, audio-visual show reflecting the fact it's no longer enough to wow audiences with displays of scratching and beat-juggling.

A split cinema screen broadcasts video game graphics, space scenery and bird's-eye views of Kentaro on the decks. Like Yoda and Coldcut, Kentaro scratches visuals – a man diving into the sea bounces in and out of the water – and six vocalists perform album tracks. He's joined by two DJs for tag-team scratching before a jam with a classical flute player closes this slicker-than-average turntablist show. Kentaro is embracing the multimedia age but it's still good to see a B-boy going hell for leather on two turntables and a mixer.

Extras: Three videos, interview.
Rahul Verma

 

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