We start with something special:

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

****
Rated PG-13, 112 minutes.
Coming Tuesday to video and DVD.

Artist Julian Schnabel directed this, his third film, with his highly trained eye. The French language film shatters movie convention, while remaining an entertaining, warm, revelatory work.

Courtesy photo

Anne Consigny, top, and Mathieu Amalric star in 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,' which tells the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of French 'Elle' who suffers a debilitating stroke in the prime of his career.

It initially disorients by unfolding from the point of view of a paralyzed, bedridden man who wakes to find himself suffering from “locked in syndrome,” where­in nothing on his body functions except his left eye.

Mathieu Amalric plays Jean-Dominique Bauby, the man lying in bed and who wrote the memoir on which the film is based. Bauby wrote the book the way he communicates in the movie, that is, by a succession of rapid eye blinks, decoded by an endlessly patient scribe who interprets his words.

The first thing Bauby requests, after finding himself in this condition, is to die. Previously, Bauby edited a tony French magazine and enjoyed the company of the many friends and family who parade in and out of his hospital room.

Ronald Harwood’s Oscar-nominated script fleshes out this flavorful array of characters, while also giving cinematographer Janusz Kaminski’s camera license to roam.

The DVD offers commentary by Schnabel, and it also holds a 13-minute “making of” featurette, “Submerged,” which includes cast and crew interviews. Plus, a seven-minute segment, “A Cine­matic Vision,” covers some of the filming difficulties. Also included is a 21-minute interview with Schnabel by Charlie Rose.

27 Dresses (***) Katherine Heigl stars in this ultra-light romantic comedy, the year’s first official Guilty Pleasure. If labels must be applied, chick flick might also suit this fluffy opus from screenwriter Aline Brosh Mc­Kenna (The Devil Wears Prada), director Anne Fletcher (Step Up), and, most important, costume de­signer Catherine Marie Thomas.

Heigl carries the day, however, by showing off her flair for comic material in a standard role. She modulates her voice when necessary, performs various physical demands, and is not above mugging through a series of various facial expressions.

She plays Jane Nichols, who fell in love with love as a child, when she discovered her un­healthy penchant for attending and appearing in weddings (which results in 27 of Thomas’ creations).

Jane works for and has an unrequited crush on seemingly perfect George (Ed Burns). When not working, she reads about weddings in the newspaper column by Kevin Doyle (James Marsden). Doyle qualifies as the cynical guy who doesn’t like weddings, setting him up to be the obvious, eventual love interest.

But first, writer McKenna finagles a subplot of Jane’s beautiful but shallow younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman, The Heartbreak Kid) winning over George and putting the selfless Jane in an awkward position. The script forces Jane Nichols into seemingly false situations, but director Fletcher keeps her action apace even if straining to juggle various themes of honesty, loyalty, and friendship

Rated PG-13, 107 minutes. The amply packed DVD holds three deleted scenes and some half-dozen featurettes. Be sure and catch the five-minute “The Run­ning of the Brides,” which looks at the odd phenomenon that takes place annually at Filene’s Base­ment, an East Coast outlet store that offers one-time-only bargain prices on wedding gowns. Pros­pective brides come from across the country to camp out for the store’s opening, which signals a mad rush for merchandise. The 15-minute “The Wedding Party” serves as a “making of” featurette. The seven-minute “You’ll Never Wear That Again” takes a look at Thomas’ flavorful array of costume creations.

Walt Disney Classic Cabal­le­ros Collection: Saludos Ami­gos and The Three Caballeros Walt Disney Studios has once again dipped into its bottomless treasure chest to delight children with some lost, or overlooked, jewels. Arriving perhaps in time to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, these two films offer separate looks at Mexico and parts of South America.

Amigos garnered three Oscar nominations in 1943, as it captured, in a mix of live action and animation, Walt himself along with a team of musicians, animators and others who travel from Bolivia to Argentina and beyond.

Caballeros also offers a live-action/animation mix and, in 1944, earned two Oscar nominations, like Amigos, including Best Musical Score. Both films come on a single disc, which also offers a vintage interview with Walt Disney, a “South of the Border” featurette, and two Donald Duck cartoons.

Caballeros is rated G, 69 minutes. Saludos Amigos is not rated, 40 minutes.

Trevor Romain: If You Don’t Take Care of Your Body, Where Else Are You Going to Live? In a blend of live action and animation, renowned children’s advocate Trevor Romain cheers, coaxes and cajoles kids into leading more active lives, eating better and facing life with honesty and perseverance.

Not rated, around 60 minutes with bonus features.

The Waltons: The Complete Seventh Season Our week’s Top-TV-Series-To-DVD marks the seventh season from an all-time family favorite. In this season, as usual, much happens to the close-knit Walton family of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. In the 24 episodes on three discs, Pearl Harbor is attacked, Olivia becomes sick, John Boy (Richard Thomas) becomes a military reporter, Mary Ellen a military nurse, and Jason, Ben and Jim-Bob prepare to join up. And a new Walton is on the way.

Not rated, 1,148 minutes.