Charming 'Up' among new DVDs

This overview of new movies on DVD leads off with one of 2009's best, another blue ribbon winner from Pixar.

"Up" (Disney/Pixar/Blu-ray, 2009, PG, four discs, $45.99). Critics are a cynical lot, but I'm not sure I've encountered any who don't have high expectations every time a new Pixar film is announced. And once again, Pixar has topped itself with an inventive, touching and funny animated feature that's better than most of the year's live-action films.

Unless you spent the summer in a cave, you know this one's about an aging grouch (perfectly voiced by Edward Asner) who hoists his home aloft with balloons to travel to South America, as an overeager Scout tags along. The creatures they encounter are wonderfully developed characters, alternately hilarious or scary, and the film genuinely tugs at the heart.

As you might expect, it's also loaded with eye candy, especially in this high-definition Blu-ray edition. Keep telling yourself it's animation; some of it looks like photography.

Extras: widescreen, alternate endings, audio commentary, featurettes, short cartoon: "Partly Cloudy," game; digital and DVD copies of the film (also on two-disc DVD, $39.99, or one-disc DVD, $29.99)

"Monsters, Inc." (Disney/Pixar/Blu-ray, 2001, G, four discs, $39.99). In tandem with "Up" comes this high-definition, spruced-up edition of another Pixar gem, a very funny yarn about the monsters in our closets. Who knew they really just want to make us laugh?

As voiced by John Goodman and Billy Crystal, the lead characters are utterly winning, if unconventional. And in this Blu-ray version, notice the detail of the blue fur on Goodman's monster — still one of the most astonishing uses of computer animation.

Extras: widescreen, audio commentary, featurettes, game, short cartoons: "For the Birds" and "Mike's New Car"; digital and DVD copies of the film

"Godzilla" (TriStar/Blu-ray 1998, PG-13, $24.96). The Team behind "Independence Day" and the new "2012" tried to reinvent "Godzilla" in 1998, but there's no denying how much this film owes to "Jurassic Park," with the giant lizard moving a little faster as he takes on Manhattan instead of Tokyo.

A miscast Matthew Broderick, a couple of actors most famous for voicing characters on "The Simpsons" (Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria) and a mayor and his aide who are goofing on movie critics Siskel and Ebert don't help. Is this a comedy?