Forget 12 12 08, The Earth Will Stand Still On DVD 04 07 09

Why buy The Day The Earth Stood Still as soon as possible on DVD? For a limited time, it includes the original 1951 version. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment brings you The Day The Earth Stood Still on DVD and Blu-ray April 7th.

Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) arrives on Earth and he brings bad news: all humans will be exterminated. He comes to this decision after observing mankind’s inability to care for the Earth and the threat this creates to the planet’s unusual ability to sustain life. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) and her stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith) manage to get caught up in Klaatu’s operation and become man’s only hope of survival.

The film’s dismal reception is likely to keep many from purchasing this film. Yes, it did open number one at the box office, but this doesn’t change the fact that moviegoers were disappointed. For those of you who missed this one in the theaters and naively add it to your library, you’ll at least have a nice selection of bonus features to enjoy. The two-disc version ($29.98) only comes with the new and original film, but if you upgrade to the three-disc version for five more bucks ($34.98), you’ll also get deleted scenes, “Re-Imagining ‘The Day’,” “Unleashing Gort,” “Watching the Skies: In Search of Extraterrestrial Life,” commentary by writer David Scarpa, still galleries and a digital copy of the film. If you splurge on the Blu-ray version ($39.99) you can add “Klaatu’s Unseen Artifacts: The Day The Earth Stood Still” picture-in-picture track and the “Build Your Own GORT” BD-Java game.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm in the film, I am slightly interested in the special feature selection. In particular, the GORT game sounds like a good waste of ten minutes.