New on DVD and Blu-ray: 'Snow White and the Huntsman' and More

By Robert DeSalvo

September 10, 2012 / 3:00 PM

This week: Kristen Stewart is the fairest one of all in "Snow White and the Huntsman," an action-packed update of the fairy tale featuring Charlize Theron vamping it up as the evil queen and Chris Hemsworth as the titular Huntsman.

Also new this week is a gaggle of actors in the pregnancy farce "What to Expect When You're Expecting," a 3-D Blu-ray edition of "Titanic" and a 3-D Blu-ray presentation of James Cameron's "Titanic" companion piece "Ghosts of the Abyss."

'Snow White and the Huntsman'

Box Office: $155 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 48% Rotten

Storyline: The classic fairy tale becomes an action-adventure epic with the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) dispatching the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to track down the fair princess Snow White (Kristen Stewart) so she can consume the young woman's heart and remain forever young.

Extras! Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain the theatrical and slightly longer extended edition of the movie. The best Blu-ray exclusives are a 360-degree set tour and "Citizens of the Kingdom," a four-part featurette that takes a closer look at the characters in the movie.

We Say: Forgetting, for a moment, all the drama that happened in the aftermath of this film (K.Stew hooking up with married director Rupert Sanders), the movie itself is visually arresting — a giant troll lurks under a bridge, the infamous mirror on the wall oozes into a gold river, fairies frolic in a magical forest — and it's fun to watch Oscar winner Theron chew all the scenery like a drag queen having a meltdown about getting old.

'What to Expect When You're Expecting'

Box Office: $41 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 23% Rotten

Storyline: Based on the book of the same name, this romantic comedy with a huge ensemble cast (Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Chace Crawford, Dennis Quaid, Brooklyn Decker and many more) follows five Atlanta couples as they "suffer the many joys of the childbirth process."

Extras! Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain "Dudes Unscrewed," "'What to Expect' and the Pregnancy Bible" and deleted scenes.

We Say: There might be something here of interest to new parents that spend nine months in wide-eyed amazement about all the weird and wonderful things a woman's body goes through during a pregnancy. For the rest of us, the stale bits of humor that seem like a tedious sitcom will induce morning sickness regardless of whether you are currently eating for two or not. "Expect" to be nauseated by fetus mania.

'Titanic' Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack

Box Office: $659 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Fresh

Storyline: James Cameron's Oscar-winning romantic drama follows two people from different social classes (Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio) who fall in love on the "Titanic" only to fight for their lives with the rest of the doomed passengers when the ship has her historic close encounter with an iceberg.

Extras! This Blu-ray 3-D combo pack also includes a standard Blu-ray and DVD of the film, but the real treat is getting to watch the digitally remastered movie that has been converted to 3-D for its recent theatrical run. There are more than two and a half hours of new bonus content, too, including "Reflections on 'Titanic'" and "'Titanic': The Final Word with James Cameron." We'll hold you to that, Mr. King of the World.

We Say: A sumptuous movie of this scope demands a high-definition presentation, and with this limited 3-D edition combo pack you have the choice of seeing the movie in two dimensions or three. Even if you're not onboard for 194 minutes of Kate and Leo courting on the high seas, the third act after the ship begins to go down is a must-see in 3-D.

'Ghosts of the Abyss' Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack

Box Office: $17 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 80% Fresh

Storyline: This documentary and companion piece to "Titanic" follows James Cameron, Bill Paxton and a team of marine experts on an expedition to the bottom of the ocean to explore the wreckage of "Titanic" with two robotic cameras.

Extras! This combo back includes a Blu-ray with the 60-minute theatrical feature as well as the 90-minute extended feature, but the Blu-ray 3-D only contains the original 60-minute movie. Also included on the standard Blu-ray is "Reflections From the Deep," which features bonus footage and more interviews with Cameron, Paxton and the entire crew.

We Say: If your heart still goes on about "Titanic," you'll want to go to the ocean floor with Cameron and take a look at the haunting images of the sunken ship in 3-D. The problem with this presentation is that it was originally shot for IMAX and features too many scenes with little video inserts on top of the main movie. This might have worked wonderfully on a giant IMAX screen, but even shrunken down to a relatively large 60-inch HDTV the impact is lost because the proportions are off for home viewing.