It’s a big week for popular toons on DVD/Blu-ray as DreamWorks’ acclaimed Kung Fu Panda 2 (Paramount Home Ent.) and Family Guy: Season 9 (Fox) both arrive in stores and online on Tuesday.
Directed by talented DreamWorks veteran Jennifer Yu Nelson, Kung Fu Panda 2 finds our warrior Po (Jack Black) searching for the secrets of his mysterious origins once he’s challenged by a new villain (Gary Oldman) who plans to destroy Kung Fu and conquer China. The 3-D pic, which was released in the U.S. on May 26 has made over $663 million worldwide. The 2-disc DVD also includes the new Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters and membership in the online Kung Fu Panda World gaming site. The standard DVD extras include an episode of Nick’s new show Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and footage of Jack Black visiting a real panda in the Atlanta Zoo. A Blu-ray/DVD combo features two segments about the film’s animation. The suggested pricing for the release ranges from $30 to $60 for the different packages. You can get a $5 dollar off coupon from 12/13 to 12/25 by visiting www.kungfucoupon.com.
The week’s other hot toon release is Fox’s Family Guy: Season 9. The three-disc box set features over 6.5 hours of Seth MacFarlane’s popular animated show about the Griffin clan.
Here is the breakdown for the fanatics:
Disc One:
Business Guy
Big Man on Hippocampus
Dial Meg for Murder
Extra Large Medium
Go, Stewie, Go
More From Fox — An Episode of The Cleveland Show with an intro by Mike Henry
Deleted Scenes
Disc Two:
Peter-Assment
Brian Griffin’s House of Payne
April in Quahog
Brian and Stewie – 150th Episode!
Quagmire’s Dad
The Splendid Source
Commentary on Select Episodes
Brian and Stewie: The Lost Phone Call
Side-by-Side Animatics on Select Episodes
Deleted Scenes
Disc Three:
And Then There Were Fewer (Extended Episode)
Excellence in Broadcasting
Welcome Back, Carter
Deleted Scenes
Who Done It? The Making of “And Then There Were Fewer”
The History of the World — According to Family Guy
Family Guy at Comic-Con 2010
Commentary on Select Episodes
The full set retails at $39.98, but we saw it going for $24.99 on amazon.com.
This week’s other hot release has to be Fox’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes which showcases Andy Serkis’ widely acclaimed performance as Caesar (do we smell an Oscar nomination?) and Weta’s dazzling motion caption visual effects. The 2-Disc DVD/Blu-ray combo edition is priced at $39.99 and comes with loads of special features, including deleted scenes, trailers, behind the scenes docs about the motion-capture technology, interviews with Serkis and the digital wizards, commentary by director Rupert Wyatt and the writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver and a special look at the mythology of the apes.
 and Family Guy: Season 9 (Fox) both arrive in stores and online on Tuesday.){kind=link}