Family Film Reviews

NEW THIS WEEK

-- A TIRESOME SEQUEL TO A CUTE 2005 FAIRY TALE SPOOF WON'T TICKLE KIDS MUCH AND MAY MAKE PARENTS FEEL HOODWINKED THEMSELVES:

-- "HOODWINKED TOO! HOOD VS. EVIL" PG -- While it's OK fare for kids 8 and older (younger kids might be scared at times), this animated sequel in uneven 3-D lacks the charm of the original. "Hoodwinked!" (PG, 2005) spoofed "Little Red Riding Hood" and other fairy tales in a glib, modern style that was funny and clever. This time, the humor seems forced and old-hat. The filmmakers use the "Hansel and Gretel" story to make jokes about nasty Germans that were tired 30 years ago, and which kids won't get. Red (voice of Hayden Panettiere) is now studing martial arts and high-end cooking with a group called Sisters of the Hood. Then the frog Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers), who runs the secret Happily Ever After agency, gets word to her that a witch (Joan Cusack) who lives in a gingerbread house has kidnapped two children, Hansel and Gretel, and plans to cook them. Red and Wolf (Patrick Warburton) try to patch up their differences and go on a rescue mission, joined by Twitchy, the caffeinated squirrel. There's something about a secret ingredient to a cake, which could make the witch and her cohorts all-powerful. Too much plot, not enough fun in this sequel.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The many action sequences, most of them more comic than harrowing, do seem more intense in 3-D. Characters engage in martial arts fights and Red uses part of her cape as a bungee cord. Big green ogre-like creatures wear sumo wrestler-style thongs. A weird reference to "The Silence of the Lambs" (R, 1991) seems like a creepy addition, though only adults will get it. And of course, there is toilet humor. The most frequent exclamation is "oh, muffins!," but the dialogue occasionally features an adult-style insult such as "dirtbags."

-- ANOTHER SEQUEL IN THE MACHO SERIES ABOUT MUSCLED DRIVERS AND THEIR MUSCLE CARS, LIVING JUST OUTSIDE THE LAW:

"FAST FIVE" PG-13 -- "Fast Five" is entertainment more suited to high-schoolers, as it depicts extremely violent fights and vehicular chases and barely avoids an R rating by not getting too close when the bullet or the heavy metal pierces the victim. Even the chases, while breathtakingly staged, imply tremendous danger to bystanders and property. Key characters from the other films in the drag-racing series ("The Fast and the Furious," 2001; "2 Fast 2 Furious," 2003; "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," 2006; "Fast & Furious," 2009 -- all PG-13s) turn up in "Fast Five." Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is sentenced to prison as the film opens, but ex-lawman Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and his love Mia (Jordana Brewster), who is Dom's sister, stage a daring crash and free him. Now resigned to living as outlaws, though nonviolent ones, they meet in Brazil and stage a car heist on a train. There's a drug connection they didn't know about, which brings in the relentless Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), an American agent. Still, Dom, Brian and Mia forge ahead with a plan to rob a drug lord in Rio, calling in former cohorts (among them Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris) to plan it.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The dialogue is surprisingly non-profane. Perhaps that was the trade-off for all the violence in order to keep the PG-13 rating. There is, however, some profanity, including rare use of the F-word. The sexual slang and innuendo in the guys' banter gets pretty crude, but not obscene. Women at a drag racing site in Rio dress in extremely scanty clothes. A mafioso makes an implied threat against an infant.

-- TYLER PERRY'S LATEST DRAMEDY BECOMES A RAMBLING SOAP OPERA, TRYING TOO HARD TO DRAW TEARS:

"TYLER PERRY'S MADEA'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY" PG-13 -- Director, writer, and actor Tyler Perry continues his broadly comic, baldly emotional, usually critic-proof exploration of middle-class African-American life, revisiting many of the same characters. "Madea's Big Happy Family" is iffy for middle-schoolers because of its many adult themes, among them incest, teen pregnancy and drug-dealing, plus a character who smokes pot on camera. This installment is a shapeless and rambling saga that will be a bit of a yawn for many high-scoolers. Perry makes occasional drag appearances as the battle-ax Madea, who sets misbehaving teens straight with a smack and helps her niece Shirley (Loretta Devine) gather her self-absorbed, unhappily married children, their offspring and spouses together because Shirley needs to tell them she's dying.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Madea and her pals use lots of crude, but not very profane language, with lusty sexual references to sex. We hear the story of a girl who was raped by a family member and had a child at 13. Teens influenced by watching their parents fight are rude to adults -- until Madea smacks them. A comic subplot involves the paternity of Madea's daughter Cora (Tamela Mann). Parents opposed to corporal punishment may have issues with Madea's hands-on approach to discipline.

-- A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT SELLING OUT TO CORPORATE INFLUENCE THAT'S PRETTY CHEERFUL ABOUT IT:

"POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD" PG-13 -- Part documentarian, part self-promoter, Morgan Spurlock makes nonfiction films that are as much about him as his topics. His style may well appeal to high-schoolers interested in how business is done these days. He ate nothing but McDonald's food for a month to make a point in "Super Size Me" (PG-13, 2004). Now he's delving into product placement in films and television and how it's so pervasive we hardly notice it any more. He financed this movie by getting companies such as POM Wonderful, Hyatt Hotels, Ban deodorant, JetBlue, among others, to invest in his film. The film shows Spurlock pitching to them just like an ad man and how the corporations insist on control over what he says about them. Spurlock gets wry advice from consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader and others for and against the idea of selling out.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Spurlock uses photos at one pitch meeting that imply nudity, but are blurred. Some conversations feature occasional profanity and crude language, including an F-word.

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ALSO PLAYING

-- OK FOR KIDS 6 AND OLDER:

"RIO" G -- Kids 6 and older will have a raucous, funny, even subtly educational time at "Rio," a 3-D animated riot of color about a rare blue macaw named Blu (voice of Jesse Eisenberg). In a prologue, we see Blu as a flightless fledgling, captured by poachers and taken to the U.S. for sale. He's rescued by a little girl, Linda, and they both grow up together. Linda (voice of Leslie Mann) becomes a sweet, bookish young woman, with Blu as her devoted pet. He talks, but not to her -- only to himself and other critters. Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), an ornithologist from Rio de Janeiro, sees Blu in Linda's bookstore and convinces her to bring Blu to his bird sanctuary in Rio to mate with a female blue macaw, Jewel (Anne Hathaway). Jewel terrorizes Blu at first, but after they're captured by poachers, they must cooperate in order to escape. They're chained together and Blu still can't fly, but they get away. While Linda and Tulio search for them with an orphan boy who worked for the poachers, the macaws get riotous help from several birds and a slobbering bulldog. The chase at Rio's big "Carnaval" parade is ingenious.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Scenes in which Blu and Jewel escape a sadistic cockatoo or the human bad guys, could scare some little ones, with the threat of being bitten, falling to earth, or crashing. One bird is injured. We see a roomful of caged exotic birds portrayed as in an old-fashioned insane asylum, pacing and talking to themselves. Adults will get the reference. Kids won't, but will still be moved. The film hints at the poverty in Rio through the orphan boy and offers nice dollops of Brazilian culture.

-- OK FOR KIDS 8 AND OLDER:

"HOP" PG -- A zippy blend of live-action and animation with a surprisingly deft edge to its wit, "Hop" is a confection that will charm kids 8 and older. Kids between 6 and 8 will have fun, too, but miss a good many gags. E.B. (voice of Russell Brand) is the wayward son of the reigning Easter Bunny on Rapa Nui/Easter Island in the South Pacific. E.B. longs to be a rock drummer and not take over his dad's job supervising the making of candy for Easter baskets and delivering them around the world. So E.B. escapes to Los Angeles, where Fred (James Marsden), an unemployed 30-something living with his parents, nearly runs him over. Fred and E.B. hit it off. When the Pink Beret bunny squad, armed with knock-out darts, swoops in to drag E.B. home, he and Fred go on the lam. Back on Rapa Nui, the evil chick Carlos (Hank Azaria) plots to overthrow E.B.'s dad. So with Fred as backup, E.B. returns to save the day.

THE BOTTOM LINE: E.B. poops jelly beans. The battle between the rebellious chicks and the ruling bunnies is mostly funny, but the militaristic minions of chicks and some of the aerial-style fighting could unsettle the youngest kids. The religious aspect of Easter is not dealt with at all.

-- FINE FOR KIDS 10 AND OLDER:

"AFRICAN CATS" A G, BUT SHOULD BE A PG -- Supposedly geared to family audiences, this Disney -- and totally Disneyfied -- nature documentary shows animal violence that is far more intense than the G-rating implies. Parents of kids under 10 could be quite blindsided. Almost worse, the overheated narration (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) shamelessly humanizes these real creatures and turns their lives into melodrama. Beautifully shot, at least, the film follows a few lions and cheetahs in the Masai Mara National Reserve in southwestern Kenya over a couple of years. An older, injured lioness, "Layla," is raising her 6-month-old female cub, "Mara." The River Pride, to which Layla and Mara belong, is ruled by a grizzled male, Fang. Across the river a younger male, Kali, cast here as a classic villain, waits for his moment to kill or banish Fang and also Kali, since Fang fathered her, so he can take over the pride. The story cuts between the lions and "Sita," a gorgeous female cheetah who's a "single mom" with adorable cubs. They're under constant threat of attack by hyenas and even other cheetahs.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The hunting sequences and power plays among the cats surely warrant a PG. The violence is not graphically bloody, it's tough: The camera shows the capture or the fight, but cuts away before the kill. Hurt animals may limp, but we don't see injuries. When cats feed on carcasses, we don't see the innards. When one lion goes off to die, the narration says she "wants to be alone" and "gives up the fight."

-- A PG MORE FOR TEENS:

"SOUL SURFER" PG -- A heavy-handed, overlong blend of faith-based drama and real-life sports saga, "Soul Surfer" will appeal to some kids in middle-school and beyond, with its emotional, true-story elements and its intense surfing footage. AnnaSophia Robb plays competitive Hawaii surfer Bethany Hamilton, who as a teen lost an arm in a shark attack while surfing with friends in Hawaii. Bethany's injury proves a test of faith and courage for her and her strongly Christian, surf-loving parents (Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt) and home-schooled siblings. With great effort, Bethany regains her ability to surf competitively. A trip with her church group to aid victims of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand proves life-affirming for Bethany, but the chapter embodies this movie at its sentimental worst. The Thai victims seem there merely to help Bethany buck up.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The actual shark attack is portrayed very briefly and the biting off of Bethany's arm is not really seen. However, there is much blood in the water, and blood soaking through the makeshift bandage her friends use to bind the wound. After she heals, we see a stump (digitally created) just below shoulder level and a scar. The emotional stress on Bethany and her family is a grown-up element, too.

-- PG-13s:

"WATER FOR ELEPHANTS" PG-13 -- "Water for Elephants" (based on Sarah Gruen's 2006 novel) offers teens gobs of emotional intensity and old-timey atmosphere, despite its circus-movie cliches and dips into turgid melodrama. The film is handsomely made and surprisingly engrossing. Kids who have trouble seeing animals hurt, even though it's fake, should be aware that circus animals are mistreated in the story. It opens with the elderly Jacob (Hal Holbrook) recalling for a young circus manager his adventures with the Benzini Bros. Circus back in 1931. Young Jacob (Robert Pattinson) is about to graduate from veterinary school when his parents are killed in an accident (we see their bodies) and he learns that they were broke. Penniless, Jacob hits the rails and jumps unwittingly aboard a circus train. He falls immediately for the show's peroxided star Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), a trick horse rider and wife of the tyrannical owner, August (Christoph Waltz). August hires Jacob as the circus' vet. When August sadistically beats the new elephant, Jacob nearly gets killed trying stop him. Once August is wise to their love, Jacob and Marlena rebel against his brutality and everything explodes.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Scenes in which the elephant is hit with a sharp hook, with sounds of it roaring in pain, are partly off-camera, and the on-camera images were, say studio publicists, totally faked. In another scene, a sick horse is put out of its misery with a quick gunshot, just off-camera. The mayhem includes rough fights, with knives and batons. We hear that the owner's goons sometimes toss workers off the moving train and we see the bodies of two. Characters drink and smoke. The film features a nonexplicit sexual situation with removal of outer garments, a circus act with implied toplessness, and rare crude language.

"ARTHUR" -- Thirty years ago, "Arthur" (PG, 1981) was a hit -- a near-perfect farce with heart. This cruder remake lacks heart and much else, though it is not unamusing at times, and some teens will find it fun. However, it's definitely not for preteens, nor is it great fare for middle-schoolers. The crass sexual humor and Arthur's perpetual drunkenness are both adult themes. Russell Brand plays Arthur and the British actor-comic's style proves a tad too chilly and self-involved, which hurts the film. A 30-something man-child, the witty, promiscuous Arthur lives off his trust fund and drinks to keep adulthood at bay, as well as the gorgeous tyrant, Susan (Jennifer Garner), whom his family wants him to marry. Then he meets Naomi (Greta Gerwig) as she's leading a tour of Grand Central Terminal. It's true love, but Arthur's family objects. His lifelong nanny, the acerbic Hobson (Helen Mirren), helps him find his way.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Besides Arthur's drinking, the film's adult elements include strong sexual innuendo, nonexplicit sexual situations, and hints of kinky sexual encounters. The script contains midrange profanity, drug references and toilet humor. Susan's thuggish dad (Nick Nolte) nearly saws off Arthur's tongue. A sad subplot deals with illness and death.

"SOURCE CODE" -- Ingeniously conceived and elegantly executed, "Source Code" will grab teens who like thrillers that cleverly mix real science and science fiction. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a war vet who wakes up on a train heading toward Chicago. His flirty seatmate (Michelle Monaghan) seems to know him, but he doesn't know her. In the restroom, he doesn't recognize his face in the mirror -- then the train blows up. He awakens in a kind of capsule where a military officer (Vera Farmiga) speaks to him via computer screen. She tells him he will be sent "back in" to the train, and have another eight-minute window in which to prevent the explosion and find the bomber, who plans an even worse terror attack on Chicago itself. The vet learns that he is part of an experiment in short-term time travel, his mind and spirit taken from his injured body and inserted into someone else's frame.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The film does not depict serious injuries, apart from a quick, bloodless visual near the end. However, the vet gets into rough, sometimes deadly fights. One passenger appears Middle-Eastern and racial profiling comes up. The script includes occasional midrange profanity. The idea of a nuclear device going off near a city is very chilling. The film also delves into the ethics of the experiment.

"HANNA" -- Though it's too violent for middle-schoolers, "Hanna" could literally transport high-schoolers who like smart, visually striking action flicks powered by complex emotion, intricate plots and slowly revealed secrets. Erik (Eric Bana) lives with his teen daughter Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) in a remote cabin near the Arctic Circle. He's been training her as an assassin who can survive on her own. Someone named Marissa (Cate Blanchett) will try to kill Hanna one day, for reasons explained later. Erik wants Hanna to decide when she's ready to fight, then to kill Marissa first. Hanna flips a switch, alerting Marissa of their whereabouts and the chase is on. It takes Hanna to North Africa, where she befriends an oddball British teen, Sophie (Jessica Barden), and her family, then to Berlin.

THE BOTTOM LINE: "Hanna" enters R territory for its often intense and startling violence, with lethal shootings, neck-breaking fights, stabbings, and hangings. There are no graphic injuries, but much spattered blood. Hanna kills a deer early on, and later we see her with a small animal she's skinned. The film contains occasional profanity, including the F-word, and mild sexual innuendo. Adults recall youthful promiscuity and are heard making love. Teen characters discuss sexual experimentation. Hanna and Sophie's friendship has a mild sexual undercurrent.

-- AN R:

"SCREAM 4" -- High-school age slasher-flick fans who haven't seen the first three "Scream" movies on video (all Rs, from 1996, 1997 and 2000) will find this cleverly plotted reboot a bloody hoot on its own. In the smart-aleck "Scream" tradition, it's a slasher flick about slasher flicks and the people who love them. It's not for teens under high-school age, but horror buffs 15 and older -- with parental permission and strong stomachs -- can handle it. It's worth noting, however, that characters exhibit a disturbing, sarcastic, coldness throughout the film. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is back in Woodsboro, selling a book about her experiences years ago as the killer's harassment target. Dewey (David Arquette) is now the sheriff, married to one-time TV reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) who covered the killings. When the murders start again, Sidney's teen cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) and her pals (Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Marielle Jaffe, Erik Knudsen), seem more thrilled than chilled.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The killings are predictably very bloody, but one moment goes over the line, depicting a disemboweled victim. The realistic-seeming crime scene briefly takes the film out of its own horror-comedy zone. The dialogue abounds in strong profanity, but relatively mild sexual innuendo and semi-crude sexual slang. Teen characters drink.