Animated releases include real gems

The less-inspired but still fun "Mulan II" features much of the same voice cast, including Ming-Na as the title character. (But Donny Osmond is missed as the singing voice for Shang, as is Eddie Murphy, as the voice of the smart-alecky dragon Mushu.)

Bonus features: Deleted scenes, "Discovering Mulan," "DisneyPedia" and music videos ("Mulan"); deleted scenes, Mushu's Guess Who Game, music video and "Voices of Mulan II" ("Mulan II").

• "Tortoise vs. Hare" (Genius Products/The Weinstein Co., rated G, $19.98) also comes from the Jim Henson Co. and is part of its "Unstable Fables" series.

The film, which is being released Sept. 9, revisits the much-told tale, with Danny Glover and Jay Leno voicing the longtime rivals. (Keke Palmer and Drake Bell supply voices for their respective children, who are dragged into their competition.)

"Tortoise vs. Hare" has an unfortunate penchant for dumb slapstick and flatulence humor and has limited appeal — except for maybe very young audiences.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com