DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES JE-E-NNY, WE'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER ...

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

Watching Jennifer Garner run around in those often provocative outfits on her ABC show ``Alias'' might be considered a guilty pleasure. Maybe drop the word guilty.

Watching the leggy Garner bop around like a young teen with raging hormones in an adult body in ``13 Going on 30'' definitely is - a guilty pleasure. Not that anyone should spend much time thinking about this comedy that amounts to a poor Xerox of the much better ``Big,'' in which Tom Hanks plays a boy who suddenly finds himself in the body of a man.

In 1987, 13-year-old Jenna (Christa B. Allen) is having a tough time adjusting to growing up and just wishes she could be 30 and flirty. A little magic dust later, she is - a grown-up Jenna finds herself working for a fashion magazine but missing the 17 years of experience in between.

The jokes obviously come from Jenna's predicament and how those around her react. Garner throws herself - along with the rest of her body - wholeheartedly into the role, and she succeeds in being charmingly funny much of the time during the film. At other times, though, Garner looks like she's sweating a bit too much in an effort to keep ``13 Going on 30'' from floating away. While the film's primary aim is to be silly fun, it could have used a little weight to it. Jokes usually work better in a 97-minute movie when there is some character development to ground them. But the filmmakers behind ``13 Going on 30'' seem to have tied everything to a concept that has already been done much better. And even Garner's energy can't overcome that.

Since the suddenly grown-up Jenna has an '80s mind, a number of the extras relate to that decade.

``13 Going on 30 - Special Edition'' (Columbia; $28.95) includes commentary by director Gary Winick, commentary by producers Susan Arnold, Gina Matthews and Donna Roth, 18 deleted scenes, a featurette on the high-school years of the film's cast, music videos of Pat Benatar's ``Love Is a Battlefield'' and Rick Springfield's ``Jessie's Girl,'' and ``The '80s Outfit Challenge.''

'Hidalgo'

Frank Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen), an ex-performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, is told by a fellow cowboy that ``the Ocean of Fire is not just a race. It's full of obstacles you can't even imagine. And if the elements don't kill you, your fellow riders will.''

The race being referred to - involving 100 horses across 3,000 miles of Arabian desert for a prize of $10,000 - is the heart of ``Hidalgo,'' a family adventure directed by Joe Johnston (``Jumanji,'' ``Jurassic Park III''). Set in the late 19th century, ``Hidalgo'' - which is the name of Hopkins' courageous horse - is often picturesque and at times exciting. Although clocking in at two hours, 16 minutes, it must have been a bit tedious in theaters.

The film does try to delve into history a bit. Hopkins, based on a real person, is (in this version) part American Indian, and memories of the massacre at Wounded Knee is one of the reasons he has ended up in the Arabian desert. But except for the tragedy, everything else about the film is likely stretched.

Luckily, Mortensen (Aragorn in ``The Lord of the Rings'') is naturally likable. But, as with ``Seabiscuit,'' the horse is the real star of the film, and as long as the camera is on him, ``Hidalgo'' moves along.

``Hidalgo'' (Disney; $29.99) includes a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the film.

'Sliders'

There is only one TV box set of note, ``Sliders - The First and Second Seasons.'' The series that began in the mid-'90s involves an eclectic group traveling to parallel universes where history has taken a different path, as in ``Quantum Leap.'' The four are Quinn (Jerry O'Connell), a grad student who created the wormhole device; his physics professor, Arturo (``Lord of the Rings' '' John Rhys-Davies); his friend, Wade (Sabrina Lloyd); and a bystander (Cleavant Derricks).

As with speculative fiction, some of the ideas are pretty interesting historically or culturally - like ``The Prince of Wails'' episode, in which the British rule the United States, or ``The Weaker Sex,'' which turns out to be men. Some are offbeat, such as ``Into the Mystic,'' which has a ``Wizard of Oz'' flavor. And for the most part - at least for the first two seasons - ``Sliders'' pulled them off with some entertaining flair.

``Sliders - The First and Second Seasons'' (Universal; $89.98) includes commentary by co-creators Tracy Torme and Robert Weiss on the pilot episode, all 10 episodes from 1995 and all 13 from the 1996 season and the new making-of featurette on six discs.

Golden oldies 

For those nostalgic for the late '50s and early '60s, there are a number of discs featuring Elvis Presley, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin. It's hard to imagine anyone but Elvis fanatics wanting to see the King in ``It Happened at the World's Fair'' (1963), and as for ``The Complete Gidget Collection'' (``Gidget''/``Gidget Goes Hawaiian''/``Gidget Goes to Rome''), though not embarrassingly made - Dee was the perky teen in the original movie, while James Darren was Moondoggie, and the Big Kahuna was played by future Oscar winner Cliff Robertson - it's hard to imagine the films' appeal today. (Also likely to irritate fans is the fact that the films are presented cropped for TV, although ``Gidget'' was shot in Cinemascope.)

As for Darin, who died in 1973, Kevin Spacey's upcoming biopic ``Beyond the Sea'' is prompting a re-examination of the talented singer-actor, including a new biography and reissues of his discs. One of the better of the lightweight Darin films out today is ``If a Man Answers'' with Dee. The film is a better-than-average Rock Hudson/Doris Day-style battle of the sexes knockoff. The singer did not have a big film career, but he did pick up an Oscar nomination in a supporting role the next year as a disturbed soldier in ``Captain Newman, M.D.''

``The Complete Gidget Collection (Columbia; $27.95).

``It Happened at the World's Fair'' (Warner; $14.97). Other Presley films out from Warner at the same price are ``Speedway'' and ``The Trouble With Girls.''

``If a Man Answers'' (Universal; $14.98).

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

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MARK RUFFALO and JENNIFER GARNER in ``13 Going on 30''