Susan Granger’s dvd/video update for week of Friday, June 26:
Based on Cornelia Funke’s children’s fantasy adventure, “Inkheart” introduces Silvertongues who, when they read aloud from a book, magically bring its characters to life but then a person from the real world is sucked into the realm of fiction. So when 12 year-old Maggie (Eliza Hope Bennett) and her book-collector father (Brendan Fraser) find a rare volume of a mystical medieval tale in Switzerland, it becomes clear what happened to Maggie’s missing mother (Sienna Guillory), particularly when they land at the mansion of eccentric Great-Aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren).
There’s also “Phoebe in Wonderland,” the whimsical tale of an obsessive-compulsive young girl (Elle Fanning) who seeks enlightenment from her drama teacher (Patricia Clarkson), creating conflict with her mother (Felicity Hoffman).
Steve Martin’s piffling “Pink Panther 2” continues his impersonation of Gallic detective Jacques Clouseau who is after a thief who is brazenly swiping priceless artifacts like the Magna Carta, the Shroud of Turin and, eventually, the Pink Panther diamond.
“What Goes Up” is Jonathan Glatzer’s pointless, pretentious drama starring Steve Coogan as a reporter sent to New Hampshire to cover Christa McAuliffe’s space journey that gets sidetracked by teenagers Hilary Duff, Olivia Thirlby and Josh Peck.
Collectible animation is the focus of “Tom and Jerry: Chuck Jones Collection” and fur flies in “Garfield’s Pet Force” in an interstellar battle between the characters of Cartoon World and the evil alien Vetvix who’s determined to control the universe.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Set in Southern California, “Crossing Over” combines elements of “Crash” with “Babel,” as a myriad of characters and storylines converge. There’s an Immigration agent (Harrison Ford) trying to reunite an illegal Mexican (Alice Braga) with her son, his Iranian partner whose sister who has become too assimilated, a Korean teen robbing a convenience store, and a Bangladeshi Muslim teen who faces F.B.I. deportation after writing a provocative school essay. Plus a crusading defense attorney (Ashley Judd) who wants to adopt an African orphan despite the objections of her husband (Ray Liotta) who’s sexually exploiting an Australian starlet (Alice Eve).