Raising Helen (Widescreen Edition) | 
| Director: Garry Marshall
Actors: Kate Hudson, John Corbett, Joan Cusack, Hayden Panettiere, Spencer Breslin
Studio: Touchstone / Disney
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  92 reviews
Sales Rank: 6660
Format: Ac-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 119
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 786936229042
ISBN: 0788849255
UPC: 786936229042
EAN: 9780788849251
Theatrical Release Date: May 28, 2004
Release Date: October 12, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: **NO ARTWORK - NEW BLANK CASE** Guaranteed to play. Normal case wear with stickers, very slight scratches. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
After her sister and brother-in-law die in a car accident, a young woman becomes the guardian of their three children.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 1-NOV-2005
Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com
Kate Hudson wrestles with unlikely motherhood in Raising Helen, a comedy directed with the smooth professionalism of Garry Marshall, the man who brought us such cinematic fairy tales as Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries. Helen (Hudson, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) is an adorable hipster whose swift rise up the fashion industry ladder gets sideswiped when she finds herself responsible for raising three children, left in her care by the untimely death of one of her sisters. It's a standard frivolous-girl-grows-up story with an uneven script, but solidly performed by Hudson, John Corbett (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), ever-sexy Helen Mirren (Calendar Girls), and especially Joan Cusack (In and Out, Addams Family Values), who takes an obnoxious, uptight suburban mom and makes her the movie's emotional core. It's a miracle of acting alchemy; Cusack is one of contemporary comedy's most crucial performers. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 87 more reviews...
 A Bit Sacharine June 1, 2008
Everything is a little too cute and sweet and wholesome. My teeth ache from watching: three orphans, their cute aunt try to raise them, while dating an impossibly wholesome minister. oi-vey!
Still, i DID watch the whole thing, so that's saying something.
"Lorenzo" Not Included. May 12, 2008
The oscar nominated animated short film "Lorenzo", which was screened with Raising Helen in theatres and was originally announced as a part of this DVD release, is not included in the DVD. If you are interested in this DVD simply for Lorenzo please be advised. I hope this was helpful to some and at least informative to others.
 Such an obnoxious movie for Smith and Vassar girls to adore May 12, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Oh how sooooooooooooo overally dramatic and pathetic, the sad tension and overacting is so tiring, it was so painful to endure each moment of the film. Love Kate Hudson, but she simply was unbearably blonde and grotesquely stereotypical of her role that is really quite unengaging. Joan Cusack is brilliant as always, but this is just so boring and useless and pointless and there is nothing remotely funny about the movie in any fashion. Cusack's asking Kate for the shell plates or whatever the case may be, while grieving was kind of hilarious, but that Cusack being spot on perfect with her deadpan ways.
I didn't care about any of the characters. I wanted the boring kids to all get mauled by someone in suburbia with a chainsaw, and was wishiing most of the really decent actors in the film were met by a hit and runner on Reservation Road.
I just will never forget Kate's role as Penny Lane. She was made for that part. This is just unbearable and tastlessly showy.
 Surprisingly good April 6, 2008
I was laid up with the flu and not in the mood for serious thinking so I selected this obviously lightweight romantic comedy mostly for the cast. I love Kate Hudson and John Corbett. When I realized it was directed by Garry Marshall I got a little depressed as I find his movies so formulaic and superficial that I feared for the worst.
However the story was really not so bad and the cast is quite wonderful. Hudson, like her famous mother, lights up every frame she's in and that alone was medicine for my flu. John Corbett who I fell in love with in Northern Exposure was a bit of a disappointment. Maybe it was his hair--it looked thin and dyed. Or maybe he felt hamstrung by trying to play a "sexy man of God." I winced at that line. However he holds his own and Hudson has enough charm and energy for two. Joan Cusack is very good as the uptight older sister, whom we're supposed to dislike. In the end each sister gets a bit of the other's traits and everyone seems to live happilly ever after.
The supporting cast is excellent, too. Helen Mirren, previewing Meryl Streep as the head of a modelling agency, is never bad. The fellow who plays the used car salesman is wonderful. The children are all good, which is not always the case in these Hollywood films. Abigail Breslin is so natural that you just want to hug her. Her brother is quite good, too. I especially enjoyed the Indian neighbor who chased the teenagers out of Hudson's apartment with a baseball bat, scolding them for having baggy pants!
Like several others, I wish that Kate Hudson would play some more serious roles that expand her talent. Perhaps being so adorable is a trap as she is so good at it that she keeps getting these roles.
I found the "extras" featuring out takes hosted by Garry Marshal interesting in the sense that it really shows his heart. He's a nice man, who wants people to be happy. He even wanted to leave in a scene featuring a daycare center at the workplace because he believes in the concept. It gave me a new respect for him. Also he's an old pro. He knows how to put a film together for popular consumption and he did it.
If you're looking for Bergman, as another reviewer here was, you'll have plenty of reason to complain. But if you take the film for what it is intended to be--a light entertainment with some good themes, then you'll probably enjoy it.
Raising Helen April 5, 2008
38 out of 38 found this review helpful
Helen finds herself in a situation she is not familiar with. After her sister's death, she is given custody of the three children. She has always been the party girl, but now she in the position of being a mom, and has no idea how to do it. This is a good film that touches on many issues. How to deal with loss, and how to raise children being at the forefront. Kate Hudson was well chosen to play Helen. You really get the feeling that she was completely out of her element being an authority figure with the kids.
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