There are so many great movies out there, it's hard to choose, but we've selected some of the best.

  Holiday Videos | Hot New Releases 

Holiday Videos

Baby Santa's Music Box  (Buena Vista Home Vid, ages 2 and under, $19.99)
If your grandchild is already familiar with Baby Einstein videos this one will not disappoint.  Just in time for Christmas, Baby Santa's Music box takes the sites and sounds of the Christmas season.  There is sledding, snowmen, ornaments and more.  Children dance, decorate a tree and more.  Throughout the movie the Baby Einstein Music Box Orchestra performs traditional Christmas music. Let the festivities begin!

Jingle Bell Baby (Small Fry Productions, ages 1 to 5, $15.95)
A delightful half-hour holiday video.  Little ones will enjoy watching children baking cookies, images of snow, ornaments and more.  It's a musical adventure that your grandchildren will enjoy watching again and again.

Arthur's Perfect Christmas (Sony Wonder, all ages, $12.98) 
If your grandchild is already a fan of Arthur this will not disappoint.  Arthur, D.W., Buster, Muffy, Francine, and more star in this holiday of holidays movie.  The movie incorporates a little bit about all the winter holidays including Chanukah and Kwanzaa.  For Arthur this Christmas is anything but traditional.  It doesn't snow, D.W. has her own ideas about decorating and Arthur breaks the "perfect" gift he's found for his mother.  Never-the-less Christmas turns out perfect.  It's a one-hour video that kids seem to love -- especially Arthur fans!

The Magic School Bus - Holiday Special (Warner Home Video, all ages, $19.98) 
Our 5-year-old tester thoroughly enjoyed this DVD.  Although she didn't go into too much detail why, her mother reported that she's already watched it about 10 times.  Of the three Magic School Bus episodes her favorite was the Rain Forest.  Her mother really liked the educational message about conservation, preservation and recycling.  It features thethe voices of Dolly Parton, and Lily Tomlin and is as enjoyable for kids as it is for parents.

Hot New Releases

Lilo & Stitch (Buena Vista Home Video, rated PG, $29.99) 
From Amazon: Warm, funny, and imaginative, Lilo & Stitch is the best animated feature the Walt Disney Studios have produced in years. On the planet Turo, mad scientist Jumba Jookiba (voice by David Ogden Stiers) has created a miniature monster programmed for destruction. When the monster escapes to Earth, it's adopted as a pet and named "Stitch" by Lilo (Daveigh Chase), a lonely little Hawaiian girl. Lilo and her older sister Nani (Tia Carrere) have been struggling to stay together since their parents died. Stitch and Lilo share some hilarious adventures, evading welfare officer Cobra Bubbles (Ving Rhames) and galactic police agents. They learn the timely lesson that a family can be something you're born into--or something you assemble. A warmth and sincerity that recall The Iron Giant and the films of Hiyao Miyazaki make Lilo a delightful fantasy adults and children can truly enjoy together. --Charles Solomon [Grandparents Magazine™ Review Coming Soon!]

Beauty and the Beast - The Enchanted Christmas (Buena Vista Home Video, rated G, $29.99) 
From Amazon: Obviously the Disney suits gave more than two figs about the legacy from the first Beast film, as they reassembled the former cast and spent some cash on production and tune-smithing for this straight-to-video effort. The events unfold between the time in the first film where Belle bartered herself to the Beast and her later return to the village to save her father. So the Beast's heart still hasn't been melted yet, and he's susceptible to the inky persuasions of Forte (Tim Curry), a malevolent pipe organ (and former music teacher to the prince). Belle is still trying to win over the Beast and decides that bringing Christmas to the castle will be the way to do it. Please control that gag reflex for this does work remarkably well, and though entirely unnecessary and certainly not a complement to the original, it doesn't tarnish its good name. --Keith Simanton [Grandparents Magazine™ Review Coming Soon!]

Monsters, Inc. (Buena Vista Home Video, rated G, $29.99) 
From Amazon: The folks at Pixar can do no wrong with Monsters, Inc., the studio's fourth feature film, which stretches the computer animation format in terms of both technical complexity and emotional impact. The giant, blue-furred James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (wonderfully voiced by John Goodman) is a scare-monster extraordinaire in the hidden world of Monstropolis, where the scaring of kids is an imperative in order to keep the entire city running. Beyond the competition to be the best at the business, Sullivan and his assistant, the one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), discover what happens when the real world interacts with theirs in the form of a 2-year-old baby girl dubbed "Boo," who accidentally sneaks into the monster world with Sulley one night. Director Pete Doctor and codirectors David Silverman and Lee Unkrich follow the Pixar (Toy Story) blueprint with an imaginative scenario, fun characters, and ace comic timing. By the last heart-tugging shot, kids may never look at monsters the same, nor artists at what computer animation [Grandparents Magazine™ Review Coming Soon!]