Family Film Reviews

NEW THIS WEEK

-- OK FOR KIDS 7 AND OLDER:

"CATS & DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE" PG -- It's been nine years since "Cats & Dogs" (PG, 2001) was released. Kids who saw it are in middle school, high school, or beyond now. For today's 7-and-up crowd, the sequel offers 3-D (but not too much in-your-face 3-D) and better technology for mixing live action and digital effects. This time, the lips of dogs and cats move quite convincingly when they talk to one another (they don't talk to humans, thank goodness), though, as has been noted previously in this column, there's something vaguely creepy about this. Otherwise, "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" is a reasonably clever, intermittently amusing, if gimmicky, confection. It uses the supposed war between dogs and cats as the hook, and the idea that when humans aren't looking, both species operate high-tech spy networks to prevent one another from taking over human hearts and minds. This time, the leader of the doggy spy agency, the beagle Lou (voice of Neil Patrick Harris), sends out a team including grizzled agent Butch (Nick Nolte) and his new recruit Diggs (James Marsden), a former police dog who was fired for ignoring orders. Their mission -- to stop the rogue MEOWS agent Kitty Galore (Bette Midler) from broadcasting a satellite signal that will disempower all canines and allow cats to rule the world. A pidgeon also joins in the fight.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Kids will not pick up on all the James Bond references and the dogs-playing-poker spoof, but that will amuse parents. There's an explosion, and an amusement park ride that turns into a menacing satellite dish Kitty Galore will use to disable all dogs. There are chase scenes with cats and dogs flying through the air and falling and seeming to be in jeopardy. There are butt-sniffing and hairball jokes.

-- IFFY FOR MIDDLE-SCHOOLERS, OK FOR HIGH-SCHOOLERS:

"DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS" PG-13 -- Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, and a comically gifted supporting cast make this farcical confection great fun. A remake of a 1998 French film, "Dinner for Schmucks" hinges on a cruel concept, then exposes the heartlessness of it. However, the film's R-ish sexual content makes it more for high-schoolers. Rudd plays Tim, an up-and-coming exec at a private equity firm. The boss (Bruce Greenwood) offers him a promotion, contingent upon landing a big new client and participating in a very odd dinner. Once a month, the firm's top executives dine together, each bringing along an eccentric "idiot" guest at whom they all can laugh. Tim is put off by the idea, and his girlfriend Julie (Stephanie Szostak) expects him to refuse on moral grounds. Then he nearly runs over Barry (Carell), a kindhearted nerd who works at the IRS, but in his spare time practices taxidermy on mice and creates elaborate dioramas for them. He also misunderstands everything anyone says to him. Ah, the perfect "idiot" guest. Tim decides to invite Barry. However, a bad back, a disillusioned girlfriend, an impossibly likable fool and his own conscience make the decision a tough one to stick with. Jemaine Clement is a riot as a self-absorbed artist who Tim fears may seduce Julie.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Some of the language is very sexual for a PG-13. (The word "schmuck" itself is a mildly obscene Yiddishism meaning not only an idiot, but also a part of the male anatomy.) There are repeated jokes about venereal disease and a part of the female sexual anatomy, crude sexual slang, an invitation to group sex and partial nudity, along with midrange profanity and drinking. The sheer meanness of inviting people to dinner to humiliate them is a mature element and that, plus the sexual content, makes "Dinner for Schmucks" very iffy for middle-schoolers.

-- OK FOR MOST TEENS:

"CHARLIE ST. CLOUD" PG-13 -- Heartthrob Zac Efron's mere presence in this tear-soaked, irony-free drama about grief, loss, and getting on with life will thrill many a younger teen girl. But when the camera lingers too long on Efron's baby blues or his sculpted torso, audiences can't help but giggle that the camera has a crush on Efron too. And the story, already laced with semi-occult elements, becomes far less convincing. Based on Ben Sherwood's novel, "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud," the film follows Charlie (Efron), a New England teen who's a gifted sailor and student poised to go to Stanford on a boat racing scholarship. Then Charlie and his adored kid brother Sam (Charlie Tahan) are in a car accident. Sam dies and Charlie is so shattered that he runs from the funeral into the woods. Communing with his brother's lifelike spirit, Charlie promises to meet Sam every afternoon for the rest of his life. Five years later, Charlie works as chief caretaker at the cemetery. He's skipped college and has no social life. When he runs into the paramedic (Ray Liotta) who saved him, he's urged to make full use of his "second chance," but Charlie demurs -- that is, until he meets Tess (Amanda Crew), also a lover of sailing, with a major thing for Charlie.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The car crash is not graphic, but intense and emotional once Charlie sees his little brother has died. There is a mild sexual situation with steamy kisses, removal of clothing and an implied overnight tryst. There is drinking, crude language and mild profanity. The film might be tough for teens who have recently lost a loved one.

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-- OK FOR MOST KIDS 7 AND OLDER:

"RAMONA AND BEEZUS" G -- Children 7 and older are in for a treat. "Ramona and Beezus" is wholly delightful, directed with humor and a light touch by Elizabeth Allen, and acted by a first-rate cast. Based on Beverly Cleary's beloved books, it offers complex emotions instead of fake sentimentality and real family life in all its dust-ups and affection. Ramona Quimby (wonderful Joey King) is "9-and-a-month" years old. She's a sweet, independent and imaginative pixie who daydreams too much in school. She's forever getting into pickles that her older sister Beezus (Selena Gomez) and their parents Robert (John Corbett) and Dorothy (Bridget Moynahan) find more amusing than troubling. But her teacher, Mrs. Meacham (Sandra Oh), wishes Ramona would apply herself more. Ramona often feels misunderstood and confides in her beloved Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin). She feels betrayed when Aunt Bea falls for an old flame, Hobart (Josh Duhamel), and may move away. This comes on top of the fact that Dad loses his job and Mom goes back to work. The family may have to move, too, but Ramona accidentally finds a solution.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Issues such as a parent's job loss and money worries are sensitively handled. So is the idea of parents arguing and Ramona's fear (an idea planted by a school friend) that they might divorce. So is the idea of a favorite adult falling in love and being less available. All these things are part of real life, but in "Ramona and Beezus" they're expertly explored with wit and honest emotion.

"TOY STORY 3" G -- Ingenious and funny, but with an undercurrent of melancholy and a harrowing climax (intensified because the computer-animated film is in 3-D), "Toy Story 3" will enthrall kids 7 and older but could at times be a little too much for kids under 7. Cowboy Woody (voice of Tom Hanks), spaceman Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the other toys face a bittersweet change, because Andy, their owner, is going to college. Only Woody will be going with him. The other toys hope they'll be put in the attic, but they are mistakenly donated to a day care center where toddlers wreak havoc on them. Worse, the toys at the center are ruled by a tyrannical stuffed bear (Ned Beatty). So Woody sneaks in to help his pals escape.

A Pixar short, "Night and Day," precedes the feature. It's a witty but over-intellectualized tale of two blobby beings that embody nighttime and daytime and compete over who's best.

THE BOTTOM LINE: SPOILER ALERT: The toys' climactic escape from a landfill near the end of the film becomes very frightening. They are all headed on a conveyor toward a glowing furnace. They grasp hands, preparing to die. They are rescued and the humor kicks back in, but it is a tough interlude. Earlier in the film, the desolate atmosphere at the day care center echoes classic prison films. There is mildly homophobic humor directed at Barbie's Ken (voice of Michael Keaton) and some toilet humor.

-- 10 AND OLDER:

"THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE" PG -- This live-action update won't set the world on fire, but it is imaginative, fun and likely to please kids 10 and older with its electrically charged special effects, and Jay Baruchel's likable turn as a "physics nerd" and reluctant wizard. In a prologue we see a battle in ancient Britain between the magician Merlin and his nemesis Morgana. Merlin's star pupil Balthazar (Nicolas Cage) remains locked in a struggle over centuries with Morgana's pupil Horvath (Alfred Molina). Cut to modern times. A fourth-grader named Dave (Jake Cherry) chases a wind-blown note into Balthazar's shop. The horrified boy sees Horvath take shape out of a swarm of cockroaches and runs off, but not before Balthazar sees that Dave is Merlin's descendant, destined to take over the fight. Ten years later, Dave (now played by Baruchel) is a physics major who cares only about his experiments and Becky (Teresa Palmer), the girl he's loved since fourth grade. But Horvath is on the loose and Balthazar forces Dave to learn magic and join the battle.

THE BOTTOM LINE: There is much kinetic mayhem, but no blood. However, the death and destruction threatened by Horvath and his minions would be chilling for under-10s. A dragon in a Chinatown parade comes to life and breathes fire. The classic "Sorcerer's Apprentice" scene in Dave's lab lacks the charm of the Disney imagining in "Fantasia" (1940), but the mops are amusing and not scary. There is toilet humor.

"DESPICABLE ME" PG -- Its opening scenes seem grim and mean-spirited at first, but "Despicable Me" soon changes its tune without going all gooey. This animated comedy tells a humorous and refreshingly unsentimental tale of a villain whose heart melts because of three little girls. Gru (voice of Steve Carell) is a hunched, glowering baddie who loves being mean and blasting stuff for fun. It gripes him that someone else just stole the Pyramids. He wants such glory, too. Gru meets with his minions (tiny droll creatures who look like thumbs with eyes) and vows to steal the moon. He needs a shrinking machine owned by Vector (Jason Segel), a rival villain. Gru observes three little orphan girls, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher), selling cookies at Vector's door and being invited in. He adopts them, hoping to use them to get into Vector's lair himself. Instead, the girls turn Gru into a good guy. It's nice for kids to see that their existence can be a tonic for grumpy grown-ups.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Kids under 10 may be unsettled by the threatening tone of the early scenes. Little kids might find Gru's visage scary and his mini-minions creepy. There are childhood flashbacks showing Gru's mother (Julie Andrews) belittling him. There is toilet humor.

-- PG-13s:

"SALT" -- The Cold War reignites, sort of, in this implausible thriller. One wonders whether teens will find "Salt" all that interesting, though it does have excellent, breathless chase scenes. Angelina Jolie plays a CIA operative accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper agent and assassin. This may be a minority view, but The Family Filmgoer found Jolie less than credible. In every toss of her various fake locks, one senses she's "ready for my close-up." And at a preview screening the twists and turns of the plot elicited giggles the filmmakers perhaps didn't intend. We meet Evelyn Salt (Jolie) in a prologue, being beaten by the North Koreans (in her lingerie, naturally). She's saved by a prisoner exchange engineered by a CIA colleague (Liev Schreiber), reunites with her scientist fiance (August Diehl), and moves back to Washington, D.C. When the defector names her as a double agent, Evelyn makes a run for it, her ultraviolent actions murky till the finale.

THE BOTTOM LINE: For a PG-13 film, the violence is quite intense, with bone-crushing blows and point-blank shootings, though not much blood. There is occasional midrange profanity and mild sexual innuendo.

"INCEPTION" -- Teens who love sci-fi and complex video and computer games will jump into Christopher Nolan's epic with both feet. The tortuous storyline spins into quite a knot and there are bouts of tedium, but that's less important than the film's genius concept and fabulous surreal visuals. Teen film buffs will love how dream-induced cityscapes upend and slugfests go suddenly weightless. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, an "extractor" who, under the guise of helping people safeguard information locked in their brains, actually enables thieves to get those secrets. He and his team (Joseph Gordon-Levitt as his right hand man) bring victims into synthesized, drug-induced group dreams, making their minds accessible. But Cobb is hired by a Japanese magnate (Ken Watanabe) to do something else -- inception -- to plant an idea into someone's brain. The team's newest member (Ellen Page) suspects Cobb has an obsession about his wife (Marion Cotillard) that could interfere dangerously with the group dream.

THE BOTTOM LINE: There is considerable gun play, and we see life-threatening injuries and a little blood. The other action sequences are mostly pure, balletic, mayhem. There are ongoing themes dealing with grief and suicide, occasional mild profanity, brief wine-drinking, and mild sexual innuendo. Intellectually, this film may be more for high-schoolers.

"THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE" -- The emotional and (semi-repressed) sexual tug-of-war evolves and intensifies between high-school seniors Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), her gentlemanly vampire love Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and her vampire-killing werewolf friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) in film no. 3, again based on Stephenie Meyer's novels. One could wish this moody, teen-angsty film took itself slightly less seriously. Bella's longing for Edward to change her into a vampire continues to stand in for sexual longing. Edward wants her to marry him first. Jacob tries to make Bella realize she loves him, too. An army of rogue vampires threatens them all. Edward's vampire clan and Jacob's Native American werewolf pack become uneasy allies.

THE BOTTOM LINE: "Eclipse" is OK for high-schoolers and some middle-schoolers. The sexual tension seems heightened, but still rather innocent. Edward and Bella spend a lot of time lolling on beds, kissing and talking about the future. The dark, violent prologue shows a young man attacked by a vampire. The climactic battle is mostly digital effects with nongraphic injuries and screams of pain, but no blood. The werewolves may be the scariest thing for younger kids. There is rare mild profanity.

-- R's:

"THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT" (LIMITED RELEASE) -- This character-driven dramedy will impress college-age film buffs with the magic that happens when the bells and whistles on-screen are just words and gestures -- fine writing and acting. The R is for very adult sex scenes. Teen siblings Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson) have two mommies -- doctor Nic (Annette Bening) and would-be landscaping entrepreneur Jules (Julianne Moore). They are a reasonably happy family, but Laser is obsessed with meeting the sperm donor who fathered him and his sister. So Joni, who's older, finds out. Their biological father is Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a good-time guy whose introduction into their nuclear family causes major emotional fall-out.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Very sexually explicit in its bedroom scenes, "The Kids Are All Right" is truly a film for grown-ups. There is also teen drug use, considerable drinking, strong profanity and partial nudity. The whole issue of sperm donors and kids wanting to meet their biological fathers is a complex one to parse, and the film makes a very thoughtful try.

"PREDATORS" -- High-schoolers 16 and older into horror and science fiction may glean a nice chill from this intermittently arresting, ultraviolent remake/update of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle, "Predator" (R). This time, space-alien hunters (giant, lizard-skinned beings who can be invisible) transport human prey from Earth to their own jungle planet and track them for blood sport. Their newest collection of Earthlings represents various nationalities snatched from war-fighting jobs, chief among them an American mercenary (Adrien Brody). The odd ducks are a mild-mannered doctor (Topher Grace) and a death-row convict (Walton Goggins). They must all try to outsmart the alien killers.

THE BOTTOM LINE: There are many scenes of literally gut-spilling, decapitating violence, as well as strong profanity and brief sexual innuendo. Not for those 16 and older who cringe at gory screen violence.