Born Free is a bona fide family classic. The tale of how Kenya game warden George Adamson and his wife Joy (on whose book the film is based, with Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers in the principal roles) adopted and raised three orphaned lion cubs, taking a particular shine to the one they call Elsa before helping her return to the wild, is familiar by now; so is John Barry's Oscar-winning title song. And while the movie has its flaws (it contains references to "Bwana George" and such that would be considered frightfully un-PC nowadays), the animal footage, especially that of the lions in their various stages of development, is extraordinary and timelessly entertaining.

The 1972 sequel doesn't quite measure up to its predecessor but, in an era when most "family entertainment" tends toward the insipid at best, Living Free is still a worthwhile venture. Susan Hampshire and Nigel Davenport take over the roles of Joy and George Adamson, the British couple who, while stationed in Kenya, adopted three orphaned lion cubs. Living Free finds the dying Elsa, their favourite of the original three and now a mother herself, returning to the Adamsons, who must figure out what to do with Elsa's three cubs, who develop an unfortunate appetite for domestic livestock. The film is on the slow side, but once again it's the animals who steal the show; the footage of the young lions interacting with other beasts, from wild giraffes and rhinos to a pet dog, is remarkable. --Sam Graham

The second film in Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy moves from the brutality of war in Platoon to its equally traumatic aftermath. Based on the memoir of combat veteran Ron Kovic, the film stars Tom Cruise as Kovic, whose gunshot wound in Vietnam left him paralysed from the chest down. He is deeply embittered by neglect in a veteran's hospital and by the shattering of his patriotic idealism because of the horror and futility of the Vietnam conflict. While painfully and awkwardly adjusting to his disability and a changing definition of masculinity, Kovic joins the burgeoning movement of antiwar protest, culminating in a climactic appearance at the 1976 Democratic national convention. Born on theFourth of July is a powerfully intimate portrait that unfolds on an epic scale and is arguably Stone's best film (if you can forgive its often strident tone). Cruise's Oscar-nominated role is uncompromising in its depiction of one man's personal anguish and political awakening. --Jeff Shannon

Born Romantic is a second slice of what David (This Year's Love) Kane does best: a quirky picture of contemporary London with young and variously screwed-up protagonists getting a second chance at love. This time, the premise is that there is a salsa club somewhere in East London where three boys meet three girls and things go other than smoothly until they actually take the trouble to learn to dance--and in case we didn't guess the metaphoric point of this, Olivia Williams' cold control freak lays it out for Craig Ferguson's Dean Martin obsessed retro-lounge singer at an early stage. The other central characters are Jane Horrocks as a party girl who is not exactly keen to pick up again with David Morissey, the man who jilted her years earlier and who has now come to London to make amends; and Jimi Mistry as an incompetent thief who falls for a neurotic grave-tender. Adrian Lester is the widower mini-cab driver who listens to all six moan about each other and dispenses wisdom on a regular basis; back at the cab office, Ian Hart rants misogynistically until Kenneth Cranham tells him he is wrong. The stylised and schematic script is redeemed by loud La tin music and an affection for these characters' quirks.

On the DVD: The DVD is generously filled with deleted scenes, the trailer and extended interviews with Kane and most of the stars: Horrocks and Williams in particular talk intelligently about the challenges and advantages of working as part of an ensemble cast. The recorded sound is just good enough to give the dance-club scenes a real energy. --Roz Kaveney