Family Film Reviews

"Disney's A Christmas Carol" (PG, 1 hr., 36 min.)

It's hard to know what age group this dour, ultra-spooky animated adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" will appeal to. Although the movie is a showcase for actor Jim Carrey and for advances in a particular type of computer animation, it seems too frightening and humorless for kids under 10. Director/screenwriter Robert Zemeckis uses the same "performance capture" technology (shooting live actors on a soundstage, then overlaying their performances with animation) that he used in "Beowulf" (PG-13, 2007) and "The Polar Express" (PG, 2004). This time he's added 3-D and dizzying 360-degree perspectives in some action sequences.

The result is a film that feels more like a bizarre experiment than a good holiday yarn. Zemeckis takes the creepier aspects of Dickens' tale, which was subtitled "A Ghost Story of Christmas," and emphasizes them to such a degree that kids under 10 may be too unsettled watching it on the big screen. Some may even require calming trips to the lobby.

When we first meet him, Ebenezer Scrooge (voiced by Carrey, who also plays the younger versions of Scrooge and the three Spirits who visit him) is so stooped, gnarled and angry that he looks like an out-of-sorts Abe Lincoln. Some children may literally be scared by the 3-D close-ups of his arthritic hands. The head of Marley's ghost (Gary Oldman) appears on Scrooge's door knocker, and from then on, all the "visitations" by spirits are quite chilling. The depiction of 19th-century London looks more like a setting for a Jack the Ripper tale than a holiday fable.

The happier moments -- at Scrooge's clerk Bob Cratchit's house (Cratchit and his son Tiny Tim also played by Oldman); at Scrooge's nephew Fred's (Colin Firth); and at Scrooge's old employer Fezziwig's (Bob Hoskins) Christmas party -- are overpowered by the high-tech chills and general dourness of the film. Even Scrooge's eventual conversion to a loving keeper of Christmas feels anti-climactic, which it never should. Carrey's winning wit is barely in evidence in his performances here.

Scrooge's visit to his own grave with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is played for nightmarish effect (Scrooge falling, falling, falling into the grave). And the ghostly Marley's great message to Scrooge -- "Mankind was my business! The common welfare was my business!" -- loses its sting because Marley's jaw comes unhinged and that bit is overplayed. Zemeckis doesn't exactly ruin Dickens' classic story, but he's made a version so obsessed with techno-trickery that it has become too creepy for its intended audience. There are many, many scary scenes, some vertiginous flying with the spirits, and a quick shot of a 19th- century Londoner taking snuff.

The Family Filmgoer still loves the 1951 version of Dickens' classic (sometimes titled "Scrooge"), starring the great Alastair Sim -- simple, spooky, heartwarming.

Beyond the Ratings Game: Movie Reviews for various ages

-- OK FOR MOST KIDS 8 AND OLDER:

"Astro Boy" PG -- "Astro Boy" is great fun once it gets going -- full of humor, action, vivid characters, and rich in film and literary references parents could expand on later. But the level of mayhem and the theme of parental rejection in this computer-animated sci-fi fable (based on a 1951 Japanese manga comic that begot several TV 'toon shows), make it more appropriate for kids 8 and older. Young Toby (voice of Freddie Highmore) lives among privileged humans who have fled a trash-filled Earth (shades of "WALL-E," G, 2008) to futuristic Metro City, floating above the planet. Toby's father, Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage), a scientist, works for evil General Stone (Donald Sutherland). When a warrior robot accidentally kills Toby early on, a heartbroken Tenma creates a robotic Toby (echoes of "Pinocchio" and "Frankenstein"), but then rejects his artificial "son." General Stone, seeing the robotic Toby is outfitted with weaponry, sends his military to destroy him. Toby escapes to Earth, where he's befriended by orphans (shades of "Oliver Twist"). General Stone sends forces after Toby -- now Astro Boy. The fighting includes guns and much destruction.

-- OK FOR MANY KIDS 10 AND OLDER:

"Disney's A Christmas Carol" PG (NEW) -- It's hard to know what age group this grim animated version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" will appeal to. Although the movie is a showcase for actor Jim Carrey and for advances in a particular type of computer animation, it seems too frightening and humorless for kids under 10. Director/screenwriter Robert Zemeckis uses the same "performance capture" technology (shooting live actors, then overlaying their performances with animation) he used in "Beowulf" (PG-13, 2007) and "The Polar Express" (PG, 2004). This time he's added 3-D and dizzying 360-degree perspectives in some action sequences. Zemeckis takes all the spooky aspects of the Dickens' tale and emphasizes them to such a degree that kids under 10 may need lobby breaks. When we meet him, Scrooge (voiced by Carrey, who also plays the younger versions of Scrooge and the three Spirits who visit him) is so stooped, gnarled and angry he looks like an out-of-sorts Abe Lincoln. Kids may literally be scared by 3-D close-ups of his arthritic hands. Marley's ghost (Gary Oldman) appears on Scrooge's door knocker, and from then on, all the spirit "visitations" are quite chilling. Carrey's winning wit is barely in evidence in his performances here. Happier moments -- at clerk Bob Cratchit's home (Cratchit and his son Tiny Tim are also played by Oldman) and with Scrooge's cheery nephew Fred (Colin Firth) -- are overshadowed by the dourness of the film as a whole. When Scrooge visits his future grave with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, it is played for nightmarish effect. There are many scary, spooky scenes, some vertiginous flying with the spirits, and a shot of a 19th-century Londoner taking snuff.

"Michael Jackson's This Is It" PG (NEW) -- Michael Jackson fans and anyone 10 and older interested in how great performers work will be more than satisfied with this posthumous tribute -- put together by director Kenny Ortega after Jackson's sudden death on June 25 at age 50. Ortega had been rehearsing with Jackson for what was to be a series of 50 sold-out "This Is It" comeback concerts in London. Ortega had 100 hours of footage shot during rehearsals as he, Jackson and a team of musicians, choreographers, backup singers, dancers and special effects wizards put the show together. Jackson is preserving his voice a bit, but even so, the film is rich with him singing and dancing his many hits -- more than enough to remind people of why he was such a pop icon. The odder aspects of his personality are not on display much. He comes across as a perfectionist and a hardworking pro. While Ortega and others treat their star with kid gloves, they also seem to have a good creative dialogue with him. The dancers, includng Jackson, do a lot of his trademark 1980s crotch-grabbing and there's some joking about that. A few other dance moves are mildly suggestive, too. Children may be startled by fireworks and flame effects.

"Amelia" PG -- Unlike its subject, legendary aviatrix Amelia Earhart, this film never quite gets off the ground. Even so, teens and preteens with a taste for history and heroes may be transported by the rich 1920s and '30s look, the flying and the gossipy bits about Earhart's love life. Hilary Swank's portrayal seems spot-on in voice and manner, based on newsreels we've seen, yet it lacks soul. Director Mira Nair's entire film is the same -- detailed but dry. The film does explore whether Earhart was as skilled a pilot as she was a celebrity and examines her marriage to publicist George Putnam (Richard Gere). There are mildly harrowing aviation sequences, including a nonlethal crash and moments woven throughout the film that imagine Earhart's final round-the-world flight, in which she and navigator Fred Noonan (Christopher Eccleston) disappeared over the Pacific. The film does not try to imagine how they died. Characters smoke and drink. There is rare mild profanity, gently implied premarital and extramarital trysts in silk nightwear, and a club singer who dances suggestively.

"Where the Wild Things Are" PG -- Some parents may decide that this unusual adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved 1963 picture book is too intense to be a family film, but they'll be surprised at how easily kids 10 and older (and many who are younger) will get director Spike Jonze's unique take. He mixes live action with puppetry and animation to achieve a startling level of realism as he expands upon the story. Young Max (terrific Max Records), whose tantrums and unhappiness seem urgently authentic, has a fight with his mom (Catherine Keener) and runs away. Realism becomes fantasy as he sails through a storm and lands on an island where he becomes pals with the huge, furry, Wild Things. All his traits and troubles are echoed among them. The friendship starts as bumptious fun, but degenerates into arguments and sadness. Yet there is reconciliation as Max heads back to reality. This film is not for kids who have short attention spans, who find strongly portrayed emotions hard to deal with, or who could be scared into nightmares by the idea of stuffed animals becoming huge and alive in an alternate world. The Wild Things fight and hurt one another at times (not lethally, but a feathered arm gets pulled off), and say mean things.

-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:

"The Fourth Kind" (NEW) -- Bunk and hooey are words that come to mind while viewing this barely scary sci-fi thriller about a psychologist in Nome, Alaska, who comes to believe her insomniac patients are actually victims of nighttime alien abduction. Director/screenwriter Olatunde Osunsanmi intercuts grainy videos of "actual" treatment sessions on which the movie is supposedly based, but the people in the videos are clearly actors, too, so it smells like a big hoax. Milla Jovovich as the psychologist lacks the acting chops to carry off her complex role as therapist, a bereft widow, a mother, and a reluctant believer in aliens. With a weak lead and a poorly conjured premise, the film never grabs its audience. It shows people seeming to relive horrific events while under hypnosis. There are themes about suicide and children missing their dead father. In a tragedy more implied than shown, a distraught man kills his family, then himself. In a climactic scene, children are snatched by alien forces. There are flashbacks to a violent murder, and occasional mild profanity. Too intense for middle-schoolers.

"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" -- This droll, offbeat fable takes the idea of feeling like a "freak" during the tricky teenage years and runs with it in a really inventive way. Honor student Darren Shan and his rebellious friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson), bored with their conformist town, go to see the "Cirque du Freak" show. Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) and his trained spider fascinate both boys. Crepsley is a vampire and through a series of tortured plot twists, the boys become involved in his world. Crepsley demands that Darren "die," become his assistant, and live among the Cirque freaks. The film has vampire-versus-vampire mayhem that is more supernatural than graphic, but there is moderate bloodletting, a snapped neck, a couple of stabbings, not to mention the Cirque du Freak woman (Jane Krakowski) who can tear off her limbs and grow them back. At one point Darren's human family is in danger. OK for most teens with strong stomachs.

-- R's:

"The Men Who Stare at Goats" (NEW) -- Highly amusing, deeply ironic and terrifically acted, this tale about the American military, while a mild R, is likely to leave high-schoolers cold. "The Men Who Stare at Goats" is a fact-based satire, and geared to folks who know more about the Vietnam War and the 1960s. Based on a nonfiction book by Jon Ronson, the movie spoofs actual military research into "alternative," mostly nonviolent psychological and paranormal, warfare -- attempts at mind-reading, walking through walls, killing animals by staring at them. Ewan McGregor plays Bob, our narrator, a wet-behind-the-ears journalist who goes to the Middle East in hopes of covering the Iraq War. In Kuwait he meets Lyn (George Clooney), a quirky vet who educates him about the (fictionalized) Vietnam-era New Earth Army and psychological "psi ops" warfare. At an American base in Iraq, they find that the nastiest New Earth alumna (Kevin Spacey) and the hippie-ish officer (Jeff Bridges) who founded it are still experimenting. The film includes a battle flashback showing a pile of bodies, implied torture of Iraqi prisoners, implied harm to animals, a suicide theme, gunplay, soldiers tripping on LSD, other drug use, drinking, profanity, and backview nudity. OK for high-schoolers, but more likely to amuse adults.

"Paranormal Activity" -- A young couple, Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat), try to get rid of a ghost -- or demon -- that has begun to disturb their slumbers in this entertaining, if derivative hit, made for barely $15,000 with improvised dialogue. There is no on-screen violence (though there is briefly implied off-screen violence), only disturbing noises and an invisible force that moves doors and leaves other evidence of its presence. Micah decides to record their sleep on video to capture the disturbances, and what they see when they play it back becomes more and more eerie. Micah insists on trying to contact the spirit with a Ouija board -- bad move. The R rating reflects profanity and muted innuendo about the unwed couple's sex life. Characters drink wine. OK for high-schoolers and some middle-schoolers.

"Law Abiding Citizen" -- Strong performances still don't give this bloody revenge drama, with its exploitative violence, any gravitas. Gerard Butler plays a man who loses his wife and daughter in a vicious home invasion, then orchestrates -- even from prison -- painful deaths, not only for the killers he believes got off too easily, but for law enforcement officials he thinks failed him. Jamie Foxx plays the prosecutor on the original case. In one upsetting scene a child accidentally watches a video showing torture and dismemberment. While not hyper-graphic, the scene feels gory. There is an execution by lethal injection that becomes "cruel and unusual," and a mini-explosion that blows someone's brains out. The film contains some strong profanity and briefly crude sexual innuendo. Not for under-17s.