Of the twenty-five novels credited to action/adventure author Robert Ludlum after his death at the age of 73 in 2001, only one was actually written by Ludlum himself. Those twenty-four other books are credited to Robert Ludlumtm with the name of the “real” author inside the cover of the book.

The first three Bourne films starring Matt Damon were the only ones written by the author during his lifetime. The new to DVD The Bourne Legacy is based on the first of seven thus far sequels credited to Robert Ludlum. They were allegedly written by Eric Van Lustbader, which sounds like a pseudonym for someone who doesn’t want to reveal his real name. There are currently in the works, two more films made from original Ludlum novels, The Matarese Circle with Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman, scheduled for release in 2013, and The Chancellor Manuscript with Leonardo DiCaprio, scheduled for release in 2014.

The Bourne Legacy takes a while to get off the ground and even longer for it to start to make sense, but Jeremy Renner makes as good as any substitute for Matt Damon that we could imagine. His scenes with Rachel Weisz as a concerned lab technician provide some of the best action and romance yet to be found in the series. Alas, the rest of the cast is pretty much wasted playing stock characters. Edward Norton is the requisite lead bad guy with Stacy Keach and Donna Murphy as his main cohorts. Joan Allen and Albert Finney are given star billing on the DVD cover but have absolutely nothing to do. Both are in very brief scenes. Finney, in fact, is seen only in a scene in which a tape recording of a meeting in which he gives a brief speech is being reviewed by the bad guys.

The Bourne Legacy, directed by Tony Gilroy, is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Like a meal filled with empty calories, Seth MacFarlane’s Ted satisfies in the short term, but leaves you feeling hungry an hour or so later.

MacFarlane, who came up with the story and wrote the screenplay with two other writers, directs as well as supplies the voice and movements of the toy teddy bear that comes alive as the result of a child’s wish.

Mark Wahlberg is the child grown up and Mila Kunis is the girl who comes between the man and his bear. The jokes fly fast and furiously, but the story requires a suspension of disbelief for the film’s entire 106 minute running time, 112 minute running time if you watch the unrated version included in the new DVD release. It’s good for a few belly laughs, but a few days later you won’t recall much about it.

Ted is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Victor Herbert’s operetta Babes in Toyland made its Broadway debut in 1903 and was revived three times through 1930. It has been filmed periodically for screens big and small ever since, most notably in 1934 by Paramount as March of the Wooden Soldiers and in 1961 under its original title by Disney. The 1934 version has been a TV fixture for years and the 1961 version has its admirers as well, but neither version is particularly good. The big sell of the 1934 version was the team of Laurel and Hardy but they play minor roles despite their star billing.

The 1934 version, in addition to playing up Laurel and Hardy’s minor characters, the scraps most of Herbert’s music and replaces some of the songs with other childhood nursery songs. The Disney version restores most of the score but aside from the classic “Toyland, Toyland”, none of the songs are particularly memorable even if the film did receive an Oscar nomination for Best Scoring of a Musical. The look of the film, despite an additional Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design, is extremely garish. The acting is dreadful. Annette Funicello is cute as Bo-Beep, but not much of an actress. Tommy Sands is just as inept as Tom Tom the Piper’s Son. Ray Bolger is way over-the-top as the villain and Ed Wynn hams it up to a fare-thee-well as the toymaker. On the other hand, if you have a fondness for either version, they’re both available on DVD.

Both March of the Wooden Soldiers and the newly released Babes in Toyland are available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Disney has also released restored Blu-ray editions of two more recent hits, 1990’s Dick Tracy and 1993’s The Joy Luck Club.

Warren Beatty’s film of Dick Tracy from Chester Gould’s long popular comic strip was a long-gestating labor of love for which he tried to obtain Hollywood support for a long time before getting the green light from Disney’s Hollywood Pictures.

Not everything in Beatty’s film works, but Beatty’s affection for the material is there in every gleam of the actor-director’s eye, in the detailed art direction, costume design and makeup. Supporting players including Oscar nominee Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Paul Sorvino and others reflect their characters’ appearances in the original strips. Glenne Hedly makes a nice, if a bit dense, Tess Trueheart and gifted young actor Charlie Korso makes an excellent Kid. Madonna, in perhaps her best screen role, gets to sing several Stephen Sondheim songs including the Oscar winning “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)”, one of the film’s three Oscar wins out of seven nominations.

Wayne Wang’s lovely film from Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is an engrossing tale of four women born in feudal China and their American born daughters. Kieu Chinh, Tsai Chin, France Nuyen and Lisa Lu portray the mothers Ming-Na Wen, Tamlyn Tomita, Lauren Tom and Rosalind Chao the daughters.

New DVD releases this week includeTrouble with the Curve and Arbitrage.