It’s a big week for DVD releases, with some of the best films of the year so far now available for home viewing. Chances are you saw neither sophisticated high school comedy Charlie Bartlett nor the dark hit man comedy In Bruges in theaters because they both got extremely limited releases, but now’s your chance to see Robert Downey, Jr., and Colin Farrell as you’ve never seen them before. But amid lots of adult fair, a kids' movie equal parts stunning and serious stands out. 

A Ferris Bueller's Day Off for this generation, Charlie Bartlett stars Anton Yelchin (Alpha Dog) as a wealthy, precocious teen who gets kicked out of private school and becomes a bathroom pseudo-psychologist (complete with drug prescriptions) in an effort to be popular at his new public school.  Hope Davis plays his long suffering mother, and a pre-Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. plays the principal in a cunning casting twist.

Even if assassin films aren’t your cup of tea, you’ll be intrigued by In Bruges, a brooding and original comedy about a couple of professional killers hiding out in Belgium. Colin Farrell is at his best, displaying remarkable chemistry with his senior partner in crime, played by Brendan Gleeson. It's not one for the kiddies, as Farrell was never one to shy away from language and violence, but definitely worth a watch once the little ones are in bed.

You can make the kids happy this week with The Spiderwick Chroicles, in which the infinitely talented young Freddie Highmore plays both members of a pair of American twins, without a hint of his native British accent. Young Irish actress Sarah Bolger plays his (their?) older sister, and accomplishes the same feat. It's an edge-of-your-seat fantasy about a recently broken family that moves into a scary old house that contains the secrets to a magical, and sometimes brutal, world right under their noses. The CGI that makes up that world is a wonder to behold.

Persepolis is an animated flick out today you might mistakenly rent for your children. You’ve probably heard of it, since it was nominated for an Academy Award, but it’s no kiddie flick. Using very flat, black-and-white animation, it tells the story of a young girl growing up in the midst of Iran’s Islamic revolution, and it’s mostly in French with subtitles. Though not a kid-pleaser, many adults will find it interesting, educational and touching.

Parents also might be fooled into renting Definitely, Maybe for their children because it stars young uber-star Abigail Breslin. Ryan Reynolds plays her single father, trying to explain his love-life to her when she becomes curious about her mother. The audience gets to guess which one of the women he’s describing is really her mother. Some people found the twist amusing, and you’ll probably be happy you waited to see it until it came out on DVD.

The same goes for 10,000 BC, which, even though it’s not even close to being historically correct, is still a major CGI spectacle that takes you back to the days when woolly mammoths roamed the earth. You’ll see what filmmaker Roland Emmerich envisions to be the world’s first action hero. Hey, he made Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, so this pre-historic epic can’t be all bad.