DVD review: New 'Beatles Anthology' has little that's new to attract you

"The Beatles Anthology" 5-DVD box set (Apple)

It probably won't do any good to tell Beatles fans that if they already own the video box set of "The Beatles Anthology," released in 1996, they really won't need the new DVD version. Real fans will want the enticing special features disc that comes with the DVD version of the definitive, authorized documentary on the Beatles' career, even though its 81 extra minutes include little that's really interesting.

The picture quality is better on the DVD set, but that's what you would expect. One improvement that many fans may want is the new surround-sound audio. It's excellent. But so was the sound on the video set.

The best sections of the new material show Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison talking and playing together outside on the grass on a sunny day in 1994, inside sitting around a table, and in a small studio, playing and singing snippets of old rock songs. But the clips are short and the songs are brief.

Conversations with the anthology's production team reveals some inside stuff, but little to interest the average fan. There is expanded information on the two new songs created for the original anthology, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," and the making of their videos, but there's plenty about both songs and videos in the original video set.

No, "The Beatles Anthology" DVD box set isn't essential if you already have the video set. But if you have that, and the "Anthology" book and the two double-CDs, you're probably going to get the DVDs. And you're probably going to love watching it all over again.

— Patrick MacDonald, Seattle Times music critic