new on home video This week’s DVD releases

March 23, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

“Bolt” (PG, 95 minutes): As sprightly and determined as its fuzzy, yappy lead, this new Disney animated film works hard to be all things to all people, with mixed results. The story of Bolt, a TV-star pooch (voiced by John Travolta) who’s accidentally mailed from Los Angeles to New York, the movie follows our hero (plus a cat and a daft hamster) across America in search of his owner and co-star, Penny (Miley Cyrus). But because Bolt, sheltered by his producers from the outside world, believes he truly is the superdog he plays on the tube, the film’s simple dog-meets-girl, girl-loses-dog, dog-seeks-girl story jockeys for attention with some fairly sophisticated Hollywood satire, complete with a smooth-talking agent and splashy action scenes. The result is a family film with an identity crisis: “The Incredible Journey” meets “Entourage” meets “The Truman Show.” Contains mild action and peril. DVD Extras: “Super Rhino” bonus short; deleted scenes; in session with John Travolta and Miley Cyrus; music video; digital copy. (All extras, excluding the bonus short, are available on the two-disc special edition only.)

“Quantum of Solace” (PG-13, 106 minutes): In his breakout 2006 performance as 007 in “Casino Royale,” Daniel Craig proved an able successor to the man who defined the role, Sean Connery. In its sequel, all the dash and elan of that film has been leached out, leaving Bond little more than a serial killer with Bombay Sapphire eyes and a good tux. Gone are the lush locales, libidinous sex scenes and playful puns. Gone, indeed, is all the fun. Adding insult to injury, they justify the whole enterprise in a ludicrous environmental cautionary tale about corporate control of water. Olga Kurylenko does her best in a regrettably glum role as Bond’s sultry love interest; Mathieu Amalric plays the villain with the same catatonic stare he affected to far more engaging effect in “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” Thank heaven for Judi Dench, whose M provides the film its sole quantum of peppery brio. Contains intense sequences of violence and action, and sexual content. DVD Extras: SE contains featurettes and commentary.

Also: “Big Stan,” “The Cake Eaters,” “Columbus Day,” “Fling,” “Gardens of the Night,” “The Grudge 3,” “Passengers” and “Side Effects.”

— The Washington Post