Home Video

Beast Video/Simitar Entertainment
47 minutes, $19.98
The life and hip-hop artistry of Chris Wallace, aka the Notorious B.I.G., are put on a pedestal here. Biggie Smalls was killed at age 24 in a drive-by shooting this March in Los Angeles, about six months after the hip-hop community bade farewell to his contemporary Tupac Shakur. This well-produced video is not too light for serious fans of the often-crass subject matters B.I.G.'s music was associated with and not too heavy to be ingested by those with a more casual curiosity. The video tells the rapper's story with lots of photos and film footage, interviews with the artist and his peers, and facts about his prolific life. Also included is coverage of the Brooklyn tribute that brought out the likes of collaborator Sean 'Puffy' Combs, artists Mary J. Blige, Luther Vandross, and others, including former New York Mayor David Dinkins.
PIRATE TALES
Warner Home Video
345 minutes, $29.98
None other than Roger Daltrey hosts this two-video compendium of pirate tales and other high-seas folklore. Legends including the likes of Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, Bartholomew Roberts, and Captain Kidd come to life in a series of live-action re-enactments, unique paintings, and some fine storytelling recalling the mood of any quality fireside gathering. Decked out in the garb of 17th century pirate William Dampier, Daltrey captains the journey back in time when bandits ruled the waterways. Aside from the pirate tales themselves, the program also details the role these legends played in history.
FOREIGN LEGION
White Star/Kultur
100 minutes, $29.95
The notion of running off to join the French Foreign Legion has been romanticized in various fictitious formats. But this title is out to prove that the life of a Legionnaire is really not as glamorous or as easily mastered as it's cracked up to be. The first volume of the two-tape boxed set devoted to the Legion as it approaches its 150th anniversary concerns the process of recruitment and boot camp, as a group of wannabes attempt to earn the right to wear the famed Foreign Legion cap, the Kepi Blanc. Part two focuses on Legionnaires in the call of duty, both in French Guyana guarding a space rocket site and deep in the Amazon testing jungle warfare. This heavily niche product will likely bore all but those who really want the inside scoop on the Foreign Legion, but for those who do, it's pure gold.
DARIA
SMV/MTV Home Video
70 minutes, $12.98
MTV's first animated female heroine makes her video debut in a best-of collection of shorts that have aired on the network, plus the never-seen black-and-white series pilot. At her finest, Daria Morgendorffer, who started life sharing the airwaves with Beavis & Butt-head, glorifies the life of the socially misfit teenager. Highlights of her comically cynical world include enrollment in a self-esteem workshop, where she meets like-minded pal Jane, and a visit to Daria's parents' alma mater that ends up serving as a fast money-maker for Daria. MTV Books' new 'The Daria Diaries: And Other Tales From Lawndale Life' is among the cross-promotional plans in the works.
CASPER: A SPIRITED BEGINNING
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
90 minutes, $19.98
Fox has high hopes that this spinoff from the hit film will be the beginning of a franchise. But the clichƒd plot and lack of interesting characters drag this feature into the nothing-special category. Steve Guttenberg plays the workaholic absentee single Dad who neglects his son Chris, played by Brendon Ryan Barrett. When Casper arrives in town and is unable to muster up the nerve to scare people, he befriends the lonely Chris. Meanwhile, Chris' Dad is trying to tear down Applegate Mansion, the home of Casper and the ghost trio Stretch, Stinkie, and Fatso. A teacher, played by Laurie Loughlin, leads a protest against the demolition. Dad and teach lock horns, Chris runs away when he thinks his Dad doesn't care about him, and Casper saves the day. Surprisingly, there isn't much time devoted to Casper's so-called 'beginning,' but the ghost special effects are some of the best created for a direct-to-video, with fine voice performances from James Earl Jones and Jeremy Foley as Casper. Barrett is convincing as the confused Chris, but Guttenberg and Loughlin sleepwalk through their performances. Cameo appearances by Rodney Dangerfield and Brian Doyle Murray are amusing, but they can't raise the bar on this ho-hum sequel.
(c) BPI Communications, 1997 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED