Warner Bros

You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
$29.98
Having been long looked forward to, this documentary covering the history of Warner Bros. Pictures is a real disappointment. Compared to the superior, if a bit glitzy, MGM documentary, it is a rather weak entry. The packaging states "Standard Widescreen Version", whatever that means. It also states "Enhanced for widescreen TVs", which it certainly is not. The MGM presentation was presented in a variable format accurately pointing out the differences between widescreen and earlier non-widescreen movies.

The WB presentation is repetitive and the narration shallow. The people being interviewed don't seem to have had much to say that is illuminating, especially when compared to the interviews in the MGM presentation.

The subtitles, giving the names of the interviewees and titles of the movies being shown, appear to have been electronically added as an afterthought and often are too brief to be read comfortably. Apparently, from other reviews I've read, some DVD players don't automatically start these subtitles. In such a case it is necessary to turn on English subtitle no. 5 to get them. These titles should been inserted as an integral part of the film and not as subtitles that can be defeated. Lastly, the closing credits appear to have been forgotten so we don't know who to blame for the poorly written narration. One gets the impression that this project was thrown to a DVD programming beginner.

Considering Warner Bros. Pictures as one of the world's great film producers, which it certainly is, this presentation does them a real disservice.

Scribblenauts
$29.99
Scribblenauts is a game where you create any object you can think of, (copyrighted objects do not apply), and interact with them in order to creatively and uniquely reach your goal. But lemme cut to the chase with some pros and cons.

Pros:
* Hours of gameplay
* Features a "sandbox" mode on the title screen that amounts to hours of play in itself.
* Features two modes: Action and Puzzle mode. The action mode consists of a "starite" in which the player needs to find a way to reach. The puzzle mode, my personal favorite, is a mode that gives you a small hint in the beginning, and relies on the player to make the starite appear as uniquely and creatively as possible, according to said hint.
* Contains over 30,000 different items to create
* Has an "Ollar" Store, in which the player can exchange Ollars, the Scribblenaut currency, achieved from creatively completing levels, and buy character sprites and music, which is used for the Level Editing mode.
* Contains a Level Editing mode, in which the player can create a starite as well as obstacles that come in the way of achieving said starite.

Cons:
* Has very awkward controls. You simply tap on the touch screen where you would like your character to move, and he'll run there. You will find your character randomly jumping around, sometimes resulting in death, as he automatically jumps where he sees fit.
* Level Editor feature is lacking. For instance, you cannot choose for the starite to appear after a certain chain of actions (i.e. giving a character an item that they want), but you are required to make it at the start and have the player get to it.

Overall, Scribblenauts is a very fun, addicting game that will have you hooked for hours.

Warner Bros Scooby-Doo Rolling backpack - Full size Scooby Doo wheeled back pack
$28.99
Cute and practical wheeled backpack featuring Scooby Doo

You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
$50.00
It is fair to say that "You Must Remember This..." is chock full of information, but what information is the important part. I was expecting more detailed history of the studio and instead got more of a movie by movie overview. The short introductions to each chapter by Richard Schickel are great but then the book fades into a very brief explanation of each movie the studio made. I think it would have been great to have a more detailed history of the studio.
The book does include many, many great photos that really pull it together nicely. The pieces by Schickel are also great. I think 3 1/2 stars may be more appropriate. This is definitely for the true Hollywood fan.