Prior to this release, the Happy Tree Friends were the main attraction at a popular Web site, where they developed quite a cult following. It's easy to see why. These hyper-kinetic, ultra-violent, Flash-animated shorts are exactly the sorts of things to provide office workers with an amusing diversion for a few minutes. A large cast of doe-eyed cartoon animals with names such as Cuddles, Giggles and Lumpy are dispatched in a variety of gruesome ways, with results that are like My Little Pony guest-starring in an episode of The Simpsons' own ultra-violent cartoon Itchy & Scratchy. But what works so well on the Internet doesn't necessarily survive the transfer to home viewing. That which is cathartically entertaining to deskbound employees at 3 o'clock on a Friday afternoon is, at times, repetitive and even predictable when viewed from the comfort of one's own armchair. Itchy & Scratchy works so well because of the satire and the increasingly creative and ridiculously elaborate cartoon violence--qualities that are missing from Happy Tree Friends. As a result, it's best to sample this one episode at a time, rather than sit through the whole thing in one go. --Robert Burrow

Two escaped convicts (Jeremy Northam, Steve Zahn) arrive in the town of Happy, Texas, where they are mistaken for a gay couple who...