New on DVD: The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code (PG-13)

Dan Brown's widely read conspiracy novel, with its intricate twists on the saga of the holy grail, was rendered effectively in film by director Ron Howard, and it gains a layer of depth on DVD that's both appealing and appropriate. A second full disc of extras is packed with shorts – from the casting of Audrey Tautou (a coup) to well-cut "making of" pieces that have filmmakers describing what it was like to be in the presence of the Mona Lisa in a darkened Louvre at 2:30 a.m. (Howard describes the absurdity of studying a shot list while walking blithely past towering works of art.) A moody soundtrack lends even the extras a cinematic quality. Grade: A