New on DVD 6/26/08

"10,000 BC"

The good old days are back, when men were really hairy and saber-toothed tigers ate them. The latest action spectacle from director Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day," "The Day After Tomorrow") leaps backward from his usual sci-fi mold to prehistoric days, following the adventures of a young tribesman who fights off human enemies and rampaging beasts such as woolly mammoths while trying to retrieve his woman from warlords who have abducted her.

"The Spiderwick Chronicles"

Hollywood's fantasy craze continues with this adaptation from the book series about a strange old house and its other-worldly denizens. A single mom (Mary-Louise Parker), her teenage daughter and twin sons (both played by Freddie Highmore) move into the home of a vanished uncle, Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn), whose "field guide" of the fantastic creatures living in the area helps the family cope with an onslaught of evil beasties.

"Definitely, Maybe"

This how-I-married-your-mother romance features Ryan Reynolds as a hubby and father relating recollections of his past significant others to his young daughter. Reynolds plays a dad newly served with divorce papers who lets his curious kid (Abigail Breslin) in on the secret about the three loves of his life (Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher and Rachel Weisz) without disclosing which one eventually would become her mom.

"Persepolis"

This nominee for best animated film at the Academy Awards is not your typical family cartoon. Co-directing with Vincent Paronnaud, graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi renders an autobiographical coming-of-age tale about a young Iranian girl experiencing terror and tragedy during the Islamic revolution of the 1970s and later searching out her identity as a teenager and woman in Europe.