THE BOXCAR CHILDREN: Surprise Island Brings Animated Family Adventure to Bluray and DVD

Jeri Jacquin

On Bluray & DVD this week from directors Dan Chuba and Mark Dippe along with Legacy Classics and SHOUT! Kids Factory comes a story of family and a summer like no other for THE BOXCAR CHILDREN: Surprise Island.

Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny are spending the summer on a private island that belongs to their grandfather. Every day they do something special together like make cabinets for their cabin and making lunches together. They also meet young Joe who is a mystery to many people on the island.

Out wandering they take to the beach and soon run the beach looking for clams and exploring. Chasing sandpipers they soon discover a platform in the water. Violet and Benny meet Joe who shows them amazing things about the ocean. Wanting to know more, Henry decides to create a museum from their exploration.

Joe volunteers to help them learn by getting books from the library. They begin to create an amazing collection of items from the island and continue to explore even more about the island finding an unusual cave. They tell Joe who is as excited about what is inside.

When Grandfather returns, he sees that the children not only have made the cabin a home but turned the upstairs into a wonderful museum. A man named Mr. Browning arrives looking for a friend when the kids offer him something to eat.

And quickly the kids discover that their friend Joe has a surprise for everyone but what a joyous surprise it is!

The cast is voiced by Joey King as Jessie, Talitha Bateman as Violet, Griffin Gluck as Henry, Carter Sand as Benny, Gil Birmingham as Mr. Browning, Stephen Stanton as Captain Daniel, Dane DeHaan as Joe, J.K. Simmons as Dr. Moore, and Martin Sheen as James Alden.

SHOUT! Factory brings the best to fans offering up feature films, classic television series, animation and specials. For more of what they have to offer go to www.shoutfactory.com. 

Legacy Classics is dedicated to family entertainment and educational tools based on classic and award-winning children’s literature. The Boxcar Children, written by Gertrude Chandler Warner, has sold over 70 million books world-wide. Most do not know that there are over 150 books in the series that reaches over 1 million kids!

The DVD of THE BOXCAR CHILDREN: Surprise Island includes the Special Features of Interviews with Cast & Crew, Interview with the Composer, and Behind-The-Scenes Interview with the Sound Editing and Mixing Team. Also included is a Watch-Anywhere code that allows you to experience the film on your PC, Mac, iPhone, and iPod and a fantastic book mark showing the wonderful cover of THE BOXCAR CHILDREN: Surprise Island.

THE BOXCAR CHILDREN: Surprise Island is a beautiful film with a deep connection to a simpler life and a hunger for learning. These are kids who are very close and take care of each other. The story sweeps the viewer in quickly because the relationship between the siblings is one of mutual respect and love.

The characters in the story gave me plenty of reason to giggle, smile and remember what it was like to spend summers on the beach with my own siblings. The animation is vivid and extraordinary to tell this touching story.

This film is absolutely a must have for the home film library and a story I want my own grandchildren to watch again and again. These are important stories to be told and they are made sweeter by a studio that takes such amazing care in the way a story is presented to those of us who love the books.

THE BOXCAR CHILDREN: Surprise Island has so much to teach us all about beauty, family, love and support along with believing in a few life surprises.

In the end – on a small island they find big adventure!