A romantic comedy vehicle for X-Files star David Duchovny, Return to Me costars Minnie Driver as Grace, an ailing waitress whose life is saved when she receives a heart transplant. Meanwhile, Duchovny's architect Bob is grieving over the death of his zoologist wife and sweetheart since childhood Elizabeth (Joely Richardson), killed in a car accident. A year on, he agrees to go out on a disastrous blind date redeemed by his encounter with the comely and witty Grace. Abetted by her redoubtable Irish Catholic grandfather (played by Carroll O'Connor), they hit it off and start dating. But when Grace accidentally discovers from whom she received the vital organ that saved her life the blossoming relationship is tested to its utmost.

Return to Me is not for the hardboiled cynic-it's a gentle, funny and very charming tragi-comedy. It's sweetly chaste, too, with Grace's self-consciousness about the chest scar from her operation precluding any steamy sex scenes. All this adds to its old-world charm, which is further exacerbated by O'Connor and his ageing restaurant staff's late-night card games, in which they discuss the merits of Sinatra and Dean Martin and generally function as a seven dwarves-type collective to Driver's Snow White. James Belushi also chimes in as the lovably slobbish hubby of Grace's best friend. Ultimately, however, the success of the film is down to the shy chemistry between Duchovny and Driver.

On the DVD: The feature itself is presented in 16:9 widescreen. Numerous extras include trailers, a deleted scene, a music video for the featured big band number "What If You Loved Me", and an audio commentary by writer/director Bonnie Hunt, in which she talks about the unpredictable joys of working with Sydney the Gorilla, whose on-screen performance outshines those of many of the humans. --David Stubbs

Return to Oz is a 1985 live-action sequel that split critics and audiences alike: you don't fool with Mother Nature, spit into the wind, remake Casablanca, or trash the land of Oz. The 1939 classic musical is so beloved that it's almost impossible to imagine seeing Dorothy in shock therapy, a crumbled yellow brick road, the ruins of Emerald City, and the Tin Man turned into stone. But L Frank Baum, the author of the original Oz books, portrayed just that with his continuing stories of Dorothy. When you get by these tough facts, the film version is solid entertainment for the over-seven set.

Dorothy (a 10-year-old Fairuza Balk in her debut) is back in Kansas, where Aunt Em (Piper Laurie) is at the end of her rope: her niece is not sleeping and going on about a place called Oz. Therapy may be the answer, but luckily the scary clinic goes dark before Dorothy can be, er, cured (but the lead-up will scare the munchkins out of most kids). She wakes up in the land of Oz, now in tatters, and searches for its king, the Scarecrow. A new set of friends, including a tin soldier, a talking chicken, and a pumpkin man, help her against new villains, including Princess Mombi (Jean Marsh)--complete with a set of detachable heads--and the evil Nome King (Nicol Williamson with a great assist from Will Vinton's Claymation). The sole directorial effort of Oscar-winning editor Walter Murch is stuffed with marvellous effects that foreshadow later works by Tim Burton and the Henson non-Muppet films. --Doug Thomas