The popular children's books by Mary Norton have been filmed before, but never with as much imagination and ingenuity as you'll find on display in this delightful fantasy film released to critical praise in 1998. The eponymous Borrowers are a family of tiny people who live in the walls and under the floorboards in the homes of "normal-sized" humans; they earn their by "borrowing" the household items (string, food crumbs, buttons, and so on) needed to furnish their tiny hiding places and provide their meals. The little Clock family lives happily undisturbed in the home of an aged aunt, but when the aunt dies and her will is stolen by an unscrupulous lawyer (John Goodman), the Clocks face eviction and the frightening hazards of the outside world. Under the ingenious direction of Peter Hewitt, this simple, straightforward movie mixes comedy, adventure, and suspense with some of the cleverest special effects you've ever seen, taking full advantage of effects technologies to immerse you in the world of the tiny people. A climactic chase scene in a milk-bottling plant is a visual tour de force, and the movie's smart and dazzling enough to entertain parents and children alike. After its modest success in cinemas, The Borrowers stands a good chance of becoming a home-video favourite. --Jeff Shannon

The Bounty is the third screen version of one of the best-known stories in naval history, here with Anthony Hopkins as Lieutenant William Bligh and Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian heading an extraordinary cast including Laurence Olivier, Edward Fox, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Bernard Hill and Dexter Fletcher. HMS Bounty's voyage to Tahiti of 1787-9 and its infamous consequences are recounted with far greater historical accuracy than in the 1935 or 1962 Mutiny on the Bounty. The movie is gorgeously shot on location in Tahiti, England and New Zealand as well as on a full-size recreation of the original Bounty.

Roger Donaldson's film benefits from a literate screenplay by Robert Bolt, who here as in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), brings real insight into the English institutional mind in conflict. Hopkins is at his complex best and Gibson offers more depth than his usual two-dimensional hero persona; here Bligh and Christian emerge as complex men gripped by circumstances beyond their control. The haunting score by Vangelis contributes immensely to a very underrated film which deserves to be considered a modern classic.

On the DVD: There is an excellent 52-minute "making of" documentary that mixes historical information with on-location interviews. A 12-minute overview of previous screen versions of the story is narrated by the film's historical consultant, Stephen Walters, who also provides a somewhat stilted but nevertheless informative audio commentary. The second audio commentary is from director Roger Donaldson, Producer Bernie Williams and Production Designer John Graysmark, who genuinely appear to enjoy reminiscing and have real enthusiasm for the movie. Also included is a fascinating 28-page booklet.

This is the stuff Special Editions should always be made of, and this would be one of the finest DVDs on the market were it not for the transfer of the film itself, which appears to be a reprocessed version of the same NTSC anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer found on the bare-bones Region 1 DVD, with no sign of PAL speed-up. The picture not only shows considerable grain in some scenes, but also demonstrates marked compression artefacting and enhancement shimmer on all horizontal lines, making some scenes extremely ugly. For such a beautiful film it is a most disappointing transition to the digital format. Most unusually for a UK release, the disc is region free.--Gary S Dalkin

After years of increasingly farcical action movies, the old-school of espionage thriller makes a welcome return in The Bourne Identity, director Doug Liman's take on Robert Ludlum's bestseller. Though this story of a US government assassin with amnesia on the run across Europe has previously been filmed as a Richard Chamberlain mini-series, this version is much more in the spirit of John Frankenheimer's ice cool nail-bitters (indeed, Frankenheimer made the previous Ludlum cinema adaptation, The Holocroft Covenant back in 1985). The plot here more reflects Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate (1962), while the Paris setting and superb car chase evoke, though not quite surpass, Ronin (1998).

It's a great pleasure to find a blockbuster that's intent on real suspense; and while The Bourne Identity has plentiful action, the set-pieces are played straight to tellingly tense effect. Damon is compelling and there's excellent support from Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox and Clive Owen. If a couple of questions are left unanswered, there are no gaping plot holes to destroy credibility, and the merciless, cold-blooded battle for survival delivers a chilling, gripping two-hour ride. Oddly enough, Damon's buddy, Ben Affleck, simultaneously starred in The Sum of All Fears, a virtual remake of Frankenheimer's electrifying Black Sunday (1977).

On the DVD: The Bourne Identity is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 in a near flawless transfer that perfectly captures the bleak, wintry look of Oliver Wood's cinematography and there are DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. Extras include an alternative ending and one extended scene, all in poor non-anamorphic 2.35:1, which add little or nothing. A Moby video is strictly for fans, and a 14-minute featurette is a shallow MTV-style promotional piece. Also included is the theatrical trailer and sneaks for The Hulk and Johnny English, as well as a section of DVD-ROM material. The only extra of substance is Doug Liman's commentary; fortunately the director proves a great host, packing his track with fascinating information. --Gary S Dalkin

After years of increasingly farcical action movies, the old-school of espionage thriller makes a welcome return in The Bourne Identity.

Robustly entertaining and bracingly sinister, The Boys from Brazil stars Gregory Peck as the infamous Dr Josef Mengele, the former Nazi chief who intends to resurrect the Führer and create a Fourth Reich through genetic experiments that commence with the assassination of some 94 fathers. Elderly Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier, in an Oscar-nominated performance) is tipped to the plot, but his efforts to expose Peck (fiendishly cast against type) are thwarted by a set of menacing triplets played by Jeremy Black.

Back in 1978, The Boys from Brazil (adapted from Ira Levin's novel) was an incalculably tense, straight-faced entertainment whose lack of irony allowed the viewer to indulge the film's outrageous premise without moral offence. But in view of the scientific advancements made since the release of the film, it's now a cautionary tale, and all the more compelling for being so. Jerry Goldsmith's richly conceived, Oscar-nominated score--replete with echoes of Mahler and Strauss--reinforces this impression.--Kevin Mulhall