New DVD releases for week of Dec. 9

DVD Guardians of the Galaxy: The most absurdly tongue-in-cheek of all the superhero movies, it makes The Avengers look like Schindler’s List.

Likable Chris Pratt is Peter Quill, a rogue and scavenger in a galaxy far, far away. Kidnapped from Earth in the late ’80s, Quill has grown into a rapscallion with a fondness for a music no one in this part of the universe knows a thing about.

While on a mission to track down a mysterious orb that could bring him a small fortune, Quill finds himself in the middle of a galactic space hunt. Everyone wants this object, especially the evil Ronan (Lee Pace) who wants to (what else?) rule the universe, his warring warrior daughters Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) and some strange guy who just goes by the name of The Collector (Benicio del Toro).

As directed by James Gunn, Guardians never takes itself seriously and it’s often a visual and musical treat.

Yet, for all of that, the film begins to run out of steam in its second half as, like with so many superhero movies, things start to go kaboom and it becomes more like the films it had been slyly parodying. On DVD and Blu-ray.

— Cary Darling

Also new: Dolphin Tale 2; When the Game Stands Tall; Frank; Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead; Under the Dome: Season 2

This story was originally published December 8, 2014 at 6:00 AM with the headline "New DVD releases for week of Dec. 9."