Like 'Avatar'? Find more blue people on DVD and video

Our DVD/video recommendations for "Avatar" fans begin with Rene Laloux's animated French classic "Fantastic Planet." Its futuristic world is inhabited by Draags, a race of gigantic blue humanoid creatures with glowing red eyes and fin-shaped ears. The also humanlike but significantly smaller Oms live there, too, but seem to only exist to serve the Draags as either pest or pet. But one day an Om named Terr starts to realize the inequalities between his people and their large blue overlords and organizes a revolution. Although in a much-more-stylized manner than "Avatar," it's a great example of so-called "world building" in science fiction. Laloux creates a marvelously detailed alien world and culture with their own beliefs and even sports. Its bizarre imagery has never quite been matched and attracts attention even out of context. When just a few moments appeared on a TV screen in "The Cell," people kept coming in to the shop to ask us what it was.

If you looked at a list of Scarecrow staffers' favorite films of all time, you'd probably see James Cameron's "Aliens," "Terminator" and its just as amazing (if not arguably superior) sequel "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" come up more than once. Cameron has a unique talent for creating visually stunning worlds and injecting them with dramatically suspenseful action sequences, all without sacrificing essential human elements that so many blockbusters leave in the dust. This vision certainly spiked with the phenomenon that was "Titanic." Cameron spends two and a half hours delicately (and sometimes melodramatically) weaving the audience into the lives of Jack, Rose and the boat itself, so once the iceberg finally hits there's no way to shrug them off. We spend the last 45 minutes ensnarled in their tragedy, made all too real with the truly stunning sinking sequences and moments of humanity that bring tears to the eyes whether it's your first viewing or your tenth.

If you're looking for fantasy suitable for younger audiences, we recommend any of Hayao Miyazaki's animated tales, especially "Spirited Away," "Nausicaa and the Valley of The Wind," "Castle in the Sky" and "Princess Mononoke." All are set in fully realized fantastical realms and convey a message of reverence for their worlds and those who inhabit them.

For a much lighter take on environmental themes, there's "Ferngully: The Last Rainforest," the story of a lumberjack in the Amazon rainforest who is saved from a malfunctioning logging machine by a young fairy and aspiring magician who shrinks him down to her size. Once he's at woodland-creature level, he's able to finally see the devastation humans have had on their world and vows to help stop it. "Ferngully" also features the voice of Robin Williams as a wacky bat who escaped from an animal-testing lab.

And lastly, if you and your family enjoy watching movies while digesting the holiday feast and are looking to get lost inside a world of wonder, there's always Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. By the time you finish just one of the extended versions of "The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Two Towers," or "Return of the King," you'll be ready for either a brisk walk around the neighborhood or a long winter's nap.

Contributed by Scarecrow Video, 5030 Roosevelt Way N.E., Seattle; 206-524-8554 or www.scarecrow.com.