Bring it on: Fight to the finish (3 Stars)

Where this film is concerned, the real fight was being able to see it in the first place. Let me share my experiences with you here.

1. On May 24th I ordered the DVD "Bring it on: Fight to the finish" from Play.com, from Play's marketplace seller YouwantitWegotit (YW). Next to Amazon, Play is the company I order the most DVDs from.The DVD didn't arrive by June 18th, so I contacted YW and asked for a replacement. Louise from YW told me they no longer had it in stock, so I received a refund.

2. The next day I checked Play's site and saw that the DVD was on sale again, once more by YW, though for a slightly higher price. I emailed YW to ask about it, and Louise replied that it must have arrived again after she had emailed me, so I could reorder it. I placed another order, but it didn't arrive by July 10th, so I asked for confirmation that it had been mailed. Louise told me it had definitely been mailed, but they no longer had it in stock, so I received a refund. If it had been any other Play marketplace seller I would have been suspicious about the same item being lost in the mail twice, but I've ordered items from YW in the past and received them with no problems.

3. On the same day, July 10th, I ordered the DVD from Base.com.The website promised delivery within 3-5 days, but after two weeks they contacted me to say that the DVD was unavailable and cancelled the order.

4. On July 26th I bought the DVD on Ebay. The seller was Estocks, one of Ebay's biggest corporate sellers, who sell over one million items every year. The following day I received confirmation that it had been dispatched, but on August 6th it had still not arrived. I contacted Estocks and asked for a replacement. I was sure I would get one, because the sale was still ongoing. It was the last day of the sale, and according to the Ebay page two copies had been sold and eight were still available. Estocks replied and asked me to wait another week, because post is sometimes delayed. On August 13th it had still not arrived, so I emailed Estocks again to ask for a replacement. Estocks told me they had no copies left and sent me a refund. This meant that the same DVD had been lost in the mail three times. I order a lot of DVDs online, and usually they all arrive. I can only remember one DVD being lost in the mail in the last five years.

5. On August 23rd I ordered the film on Blu-ray from DVD Source. On the day I ordered it it was clearly marked as "in stock". Two weeks later it had not arrived, so I checked the site and my order was marked "on backorder from supplier". So what happened to the copy or copies that were in stock? A week later the availability of the item on DVD Source's web page was changed to: "Special Order: This item appears to be available, but we currently have no stock and have not seen any for some time. We'll try to get this item for you, but keep in mind it may take some time and there is a possibility we won't be able to find one". On September 26th I cancelled the order myself.

6. On September 26th I bought the DVD on Ebay again from another corporate seller, TheWorks. It arrived yesterday, September 30th. I was overjoyed, until I sat down to watch it. I couldn't open the case because the red strip anti-theft lock had been left on. From what I've been told, if you try to remove it yourself the case is damaged, and maybe even the DVD as well if it's done clumsily. But luckily I had a solution without sending it back. I went to the DVD department of my local supermarket, Asda, showed them my sales receipt from TheWorks, and they kindly unlocked the case for me.

Wow! I've probably bored all my readers with that story, but I needed to rant. The film was okay. I'll get back to writing normal reviews tomorrow. Probably. My non-review of "Racing Stripes" has been my most popular post over the last two days. Maybe I should just post a photo of Ai Shinozaki for every film that I watch.