Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski. An Australian crocodile hunter, sheltered from modern city life, takes his first trip to New York City. 1986/color/98 min/PG-13.

John Cherry directs Jim Varney in the comedy Ernest Goes to Jail, which comes to DVD with a standard full-frame transfer. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. There are no subtitles, but the soundtrack is closed-captioned. There are no supplemental materials of any consequence, making it quite difficult to recommend this Disney/Buena Vista release to anyone who is not an Ernest fan. There is little here for the average DVD consumer.

The lovable know-it-all Ernest P. Worrell stars in his first adventure with Ernest Goes to Camp. Buena Vista has done a fine job at making sure this 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is clear of any major imperfections or defects. The colors are all fairly rich and textured with only the slightest amount of edge enhancement popping up from time to time. Otherwise, this is a decent looking image to a low-budget '80s family comedy. The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround and is apt, if under-whelming. While the mix lacks any true fidelity or dynamic range, overall the audio track is free of any excessive hiss or distortion. No alternate subtitles or soundtracks are included on this disc. Surely Ernest himself would rant and rave about the lack of extra features on this disc -- not even a theatrical trailer has been included on this DVD edition of Ernest Goes to Camp. Knowhatamean, Vern?

One might imagine that the short, witty "mockumentaries" that result from Christopher Guest's improvisational filmmaking style leave a lot of good footage on the cutting room floor. As the Best in Show DVD demonstrates, that assumption is correct. The DVD includes no less than 17 deleted scenes, some of which originally appeared on the film's promotional website, and many of which could have easily been included in the film without bloating its running time. It's clear that Guest's editing instincts were at their most ruthless when it came to his own scenes as low-key babbler Harlan Pepper, but each of the main characters shows up at least once in this section. A nice touch is that the scenes can all be viewed in succession without returning to the menu after each one. The DVD also includes information on eight cast members and one theatrical trailer. Guest's commentary with co-star and co-writer Eugene Levy is disappointingly sparse, considering their off-screen friendships with many of their castmates and the fact that they have five of the movie's credits between them. There are a few minor sound-related glitches, as actors' voices sometimes shift channels abruptly and for no clear reason. The best reason to own this DVD is the movie itself and the material that never made it to the big screen.