DVD and Blu-Ray releases

Arthur Christmas

(Sony, cert U, Blu-ray/DVD)

A British comic adventure about Santa Claus and family that’s witty, gutsy, insightful and entertaining. A new Christmas classic, surely.

Big Boys Gone Bananas

(Dogwoof, cert E, DVD)

Yes, it’s a documentary about a documentary but this is also a quietly important film about how the world’s biggest banana conglomerate, Dole, tried to shut down a film that alleged dubious employment practices, and how the media fell into line behind it.

A Simple Life

(Arrow, cert PG, Blu-ray/DVD)

Slaloming around the clichés about old age, this tender drama follows a Chinese “auntie” as she negotiates her last few months, accompanied by the child — now a movie producer — she raised.

Citizen Kane

(Universal, cert U, Blu-ray)

The extras on the US import are arguably better but, sideshow aside, this new Blu-ray restoration, from the original elements of “the greatest film of all time”, reminds us again of Orson Welles’s impish maverick genius.

The Lorax

(Universal, cert U, Blu-ray/DVD)

The songs are stab-yourself-in-the-ears terrible but the average eight-year-old with a yearning to save the planet might well enjoy this Dr Seuss eco-fable, animated in Despicable Me style.

The Penguin King

(Kaleidoscope, cert E, Blu-ray/DVD)

This standard TV nature doc, set on South Georgia and narrated by Mr Attenborough, doesn’t seem to have realised the penguin thing is now over. Oh, it’s in 3D — that explains it.