After the box-office failure of his first dramatic film, A Woman of Paris, Charlie Chaplin brooded over his ensuing comedy. "The next film must be an epic!" he recalled in his autobiography. "The greatest!" He found inspiration, paradoxically, in stories of the backbreaking Alaskan gold rush and the cannibalistic Donner Party. These tales of tragedy and endurance provided Chaplin with a rich vein of comic possibilities. The Little Tramp finds himself in the Yukon, along with a swarm of prospectors heading over Chilkoot Pass (an amazing sight restaged by Chaplin in his opening scenes, filmed in the snowy Sierra Nevadas). When the Tramp is trapped in a mountain cabin with two other fortune hunters, Chaplin stages a veritable ballet of starvation, culminating in the cooking of a leathery boot. Back in town, the Tramp is smitten by a dance-hall girl (Georgia Hale), but it seems impossible that she could ever notice him. The Gold Rush is one of Chaplin's simplest, loveliest features; and despite its high comedy, it never strays far from Chaplin's keen grasp of loneliness. In 1942, Chaplin reedited the film and added music and his own narration for a successful rerelease. -Robert Horton.

This six-part OAV (original animation video) begins as a freewheeling spoof of mecha adventures with plenty of slapstick comedy, robots of all types, a crazed villain, scantily clad babes, and a resident hunk. In the not-too-distant future, nerdy Hiroshi Ozora creates a power suit later dubbed "Moldiver" designed to make him into an invincible superhero with muscles like his best friend Misaki's. When Hiroshi's younger sister Mirai gets into his computer, she makes some changes: the Moldiver acquires curves, a miniskirt, stockings, and high heels. In her battles with the nefarious Dr. Machinegal and his army of robot women, Mirai proves an effective but destructive heroine, leaving a trail of ruined buildings and fallen roadways wherever she passes. No wonder Machinegal refers to her as "that leggy girl who breaks everything!" Unfortunately, the plot-and the fun-begin to fall apart in part 4, "Destruction," when Mirai and Hiroshi's brother Nozomu gets into the act and behaves like an obnoxious brat. Mirai has to fight three villains: Machinegal; his chief robot, Isabelle; and Nozomu as "Moldiver 3. " The last-minute romance between Mirai and Misaki feels forced, making you wish you'd stopped watching at the end of episode 3. Rated 13 and up: nudity, minor profanity, violence, and sexual and toilet humor. -Charles Solomon.

This six-part OAV (original animation video) begins as a freewheeling spoof of mecha adventures with plenty of slapstick comedy, robots of all types, a crazed villain, scantily clad babes, and a resident hunk. In the not-too-distant future, nerdy Hiroshi Ozora creates a power suit later dubbed "Moldiver" designed to make him into an invincible superhero with muscles like his best friend Misaki's. When Hiroshi's younger sister Mirai gets into his computer, she makes some changes: the Moldiver acquires curves, a miniskirt, stockings, and high heels. In her battles with the nefarious Dr. Machinegal and his army of robot women, Mirai proves an effective but destructive heroine, leaving a trail of ruined buildings and fallen roadways wherever she passes. No wonder Machinegal refers to her as "that leggy girl who breaks everything!" Unfortunately, the plot-and the fun-begin to fall apart in part 4, "Destruction," when Mirai and Hiroshi's brother Nozomu gets into the act and behaves like an obnoxious brat. Mirai has to fight three villains: Machinegal; his chief robot, Isabelle; and Nozomu as "Moldiver 3. " The last-minute romance between Mirai and Misaki feels forced, making you wish you'd stopped watching at the end of episode 3. Rated 13 and up: nudity, minor profanity, violence, and sexual and toilet humor. -Charles Solomon.

A full-length animated musical inspired by Bobby "Boris" Pickett's song, "Monster Mash. " As the story unfolds, we meet the three main monsters: Frank, the monster from Frankenstein; Drac, the vampire, and Wolf, the werewolf. They were once the scariest of monsters, but now they have become associated with "fun. " That's why they have been called before the Court of Horrors. They must prove that they can still be scary, and if they fail they will be sentenced to an eternity of entertaining at children's parties. They are given 24 hours to terrify the Tinklemeister family, but what should be a no-brainer turns out to be a nightmare. Mom and Dad Tinklemeister are easy to scare, but Stella and Spike, the Tinklemeister children, are another story altogether. The monster trio becomes frustrated and finally lets the family in on their dilemma. The Tinklemeisters understand and help them try to gain back their scary status. Just when it looks like the threesome will win their case, three new modern monsters show up to foil their plan. [+]

A visual knockout, Titan A. E. is an ambitious animated feature that combines traditional animations, computer-generated imagery, and special effects in the service of a science fiction adventure plotted with narrative conventions familiar from Star Wars and Star Trek. Credit directors Don Bluth (An American Tail, The Secret of NIMH, Anastasia) and Gary Goldman with crafting a vivid, convincing look to this deep space saga, which conjures some stunning images. A tense opening sequence climaxing in the destruction of Earth, a watery planet where delicate but deadly hydrogen trees float, joyriding in a starship while pursued by playful "space angels," and a nerve-wracking journey through a lethal maze of massive ice crystals each qualify as mesmerizing sequences in any film context. What's visually stunning proves intermittently stunted on the narrative front, however. Orphaned when the evil Drej atomize Earth, protagonist Cale (voiced by Matt Damon) must journey across space to unlock the mystery of his late father's final project, the Titan spacecraft, in a test of faith and filial identity that echoes Star Wars. The Titan itself ultimately poses a cosmic potential familiar to admirers of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Comical sidekicks (Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, John Leguizamo), a sultry love interest (Drew Barrymore), and a roguish mentor (Bill Pullman) all verge on the generic, narrowly redeemed by dialogue from a writing team including Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. It's likely that Titan's target audience of young males prompted the filmmakers to walk a tightrope between softer family features and more violent, hard-edged anime. [+]