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"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" (PG, 1 hr., 45 min.)

Icons of history and art are tossed together with bits of pop culture like so much salad in this lively yet oddly charmless sequel to "Night at the Museum" (PG, 2006). The salad gets served up along the National Mall in Washington, D.C., inside famous Smithsonian museums. Though the movie relies too heavily on clever special effects and an excess of plot, it will keep kids 6 and older engaged, if not in stitches. The seemingly improvised comic riffs by star Ben Stiller and other cast members seem more geared to adults. The youngest will miss many historical references until parents explain, but they will recognize the Jonas brothers' voices behind a trio of singing plaster cupids that come to life. The movie's facts are often deliberately scrambled and/or dumbed down, but it could spark kids' interest in everything from the history of aviation to ancient Egypt to the Tuskegee Airmen to Albert Einstein to Native American and Western history (both Sacajawea and General Custer turn up) to art (famous paintings, sculptures and photographs come to life).

As in the first film, there are moments that could briefly scare the youngest kids, as when the T. rex skeleton roars or the giant squid slithers out of a crate, though both critters are friendly. There are the ancient Egyptian warriors -- human bodies topped with shrieking eagles' heads -- marching out of a tomb exhibit after the evil pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria with a Boris Karloff accent and a lisp) awakens them with the magical tablet. Younger kids may be spooked to see the huge sculpture of Abraham Lincoln (also Azaria) rise up from his memorial chair and talk. Al Capone (Jon Bernthal) and his goons carry tommy guns, though no one gets hurt, and Huns and Neanderthals wield swords and clubs. Little kids may want to duck during a climactic scene at the National Air and Space Museum when early airplanes zoom around.

Larry Daley (Stiller), who in the first film was the hapless guard at the fictionalized Natural History Museum in New York, is now an inventor who sells gadgets on TV infomercials. He hears from the still-clueless museum director (Ricky Gervais) that all the old exhibits (which only came to life at night while Larry was on duty) are being mothballed and sent to the Smithsonian archives for storage. After hours, Larry says goodbye to his pal Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), but later gets a desperate call from the miniature cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) warning that Kahmunrah is wreaking warlike havoc at the Smithsonian. Larry heads to D.C., sneaks into the archives, and with the help of a spunky come-to-life Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), saves the day.

Beyond the Ratings Game: Movie Reviews for various ages

-- OK FOR KIDS 6 AND OLDER:

"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" PG (NEW) -- Icons of history and art are tossed together with bits of pop culture like so much salad in this lively yet oddly charmless sequel to "Night at the Museum" (PG, 2006). Overstuffed though it is with special effects and plot, the movie will keep kids 6 and older engaged, if not in stitches. Grade-schoolers may miss some historical references until parents explain, but they will catch the Jonas Brothers' voices behind a trio of singing plaster cupids. Its facts are often deliberately scrambled and/or dumbed down, but the film could still spark interest in everything from aviation history to art (famous paintings and photographs come to life). The littlest kids might briefly cower at the roaring T. rex skeleton, the giant squid, the Egyptian warriors with shrieking eagles' heads, or the huge sculpture of Abraham Lincoln coming to life. Al Capone (Jon Bernthal) carries a tommy gun, and Huns and Neanderthals wield swords and clubs, but no one gets hurt. Little kids may duck when early airplanes zoom around the National Air and Space Museum. Larry (Stiller), the hapless security guard from the New York museum in the first film, now sells gadgets on TV. He learns that the old exhibits (which only came to life at night, while he was on duty) are being sent to the Smithsonian archives and mothballed. Larry says an after-hours goodbye to Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), but later gets a desperate call from miniature cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) warning that ancient pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria with a Boris Karloff accent and lisp) is wreaking havoc at the Smithsonian. Larry heads to D.C. and with the help of a spunky come-to-life Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), saves the day.

-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:

"Terminator Salvation" (NEW) -- This new chapter in the "Terminator" series, with its post-nuclear landscape and unremitting mayhem and gloom, could give dystopian science fiction a bad name. Teens may find the intensity gripping, but if they don't know the earlier films ("The Terminator," 1984, "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," 1991 and "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," 2003 -- all R's), this one will be a hard slog. "Terminator Salvation" has a milder rating, but it's still grimly violent, though with relatively little gore (a little blood and some needles) and rare profanity. A female character faces the briefly implied possibility of sexual assault. There are huge gun battles and crashing of machines. Killer robots from Skynet, the artificial intelligence program that aims to destroy humanity, have glowing red "eyes." They hold human prisoners underground. In a prologue set in 2003, death row inmate Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) donates his body to science before dying by lethal injection (shown). Cut to 2018, after the nuclear holocaust unleashed by Skynet. Pockets of human resistance fighters get radio pep talks from John Connor (Christian Bale), their prophesied leader. John knows from his mother Sarah's audio tapes that he'll meet a teenager, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), who one day will be sent back in time to protect her, and with her, conceive John. John also encounters the now-bionic Marcus Wright. Can he trust him?

"Every Little Step" (NEW) -- Emotionally involving and full of fine bits of song and dance, this terrific documentary offers teens who may follow "American Idol" or who take part in their high-school's drama programs a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what professional performers go through. "Every Little Step" follows the tortuous audition process for the 2006 Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line," focusing on a few people who either make it or don't, and on their lives, dreams and frustrations. It also delves into reasons why the late director-choreographer Michael Bennett created the show back in the 1970s. He actually viewed it as a kind of stage documentary about the "boys and girls" in the choruses of Broadway -- the unsung heroes of the theater world. There is some profanity and discussion of sexuality.

"Angels & Demons" -- Harvard "symbologist" Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) again uncovers secrets that make the Vatican queasy, only in "Angels & Demons," it's the Vatican that's invited him inside. The pope has died and several cardinals have been abducted. The kidnapper has left clues and threats to blow up Vatican City with antimatter stolen from a supercollider. So beginneth another leaden thriller based on a best-seller by Dan Brown. Many high-schoolers will enjoy following the clues and seeing all the (re-created) church interiors and Renaissance art. As he did with Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" (PG-13, 2006), Ron Howard directs with a heavy hand and a lot of pedantry -- this time about a secret 18th-century dissident group, the Illuminati, who fought the church's censorship of science. Langdon and various cohorts chase clues from one ancient church to the next. "Angels & Demons" has more violence and disturbing images than "The Da Vinci Code," and may be too intense for middle-schoolers. We see victims with raw brands on their chests, or burning alive (not graphically), a corpse being eaten by a rat (phobic alert), and a bloodied eyeball. There are shootings and mild profanity. Some will object to Langdon's critical take on church doctrine.

"Star Trek" -- Teens not familiar with the 1960s TV show or the feature films ought to still have a fine time at this "Star Trek" prequel. It works just fine as a popcorn flick and as a myth-origin tale for purists. It recounts in boisterous and occasionally jumbled detail how the young and frisky James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Bones (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin) met as junior officers on the maiden voyage of the starship USS Enterprise and wound up boldly going against the vengeful Romulans at warp speed. Fine for teens, the film will also work for many kids 10 to 12, but some may be unsettled by the space battles, the Romulans' ominous-looking ship and its planet-killing drill. There is a hint of torture, intense fighting, and an implied impalement, as well as mild sexual humor and innuendo, a brief nongraphic sexual situation, and rare mild profanity. Kirk and Spock clash over how to fight the Romulans. Spock struggles with emotions when his Vulcan father (Ben Cross) and human mother (Winona Ryder) are in peril. And thanks to a "disrupted time continuum," young Kirk meets an old Spock (Leonard Nimoy, who else?), who offers crucial advice.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" -- Though a PG-13, this brooding film about the back story of X-Man Wolverine is darker than its predecessors -- more violent than enlightening, and an iffy proposition for middle-schoolers or preteens. Innocents die, and there are implied impalements and a beheading, though little graphic gore in the vicious fights. Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine and Liev Schreiber as his amoral half-brother Victor/Sabretooth guide us through a puzzling prologue and a muddled ending by force of personality. We meet James Logan and Victor as boy mutants and follow the seeming immortals as soldiers in the Civil War, both World Wars and Vietnam, then in a special-ops unit of violent mutants led by Stryker (Danny Huston). Logan quits out of conscience, and Victor commits a murder just to hurt him. Logan submits to an experiment in which Stryker turns his skeleton and retractable knuckle blades into metal. Calling himself Wolverine, Logan goes after Victor. There is some profanity, sexual innuendo, and brief nongraphic long-distance nudity.

"Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" -- Owing its plot to Charles Dickens and its sensibility to "Sex and the City," this crass, yet semi-clever fable lets Matthew McConaughey spoof his own image as Connor, a smarmy fashion photographer who beds all his models. The spirit of his late uncle (Michael Douglas), a now-repentant womanizer, appears, warning that three ghosts will visit to help save Connor's soul. This unfolds during his younger brother's (Breckin Meyer) wedding weekend, where Connor has been trashing marriage and trying to fluster Jenny (Jennifer Garner), who broke his heart back in middle school. The movie dodges an R with witty euphemisms for sex and promiscuity. There is much sexual innuendo and a few briefly steamy nongraphic sexual situations. There are verbal references to drugs, midrange profanity and toilet humor. Connor shows signs of alcoholism and others also drink. There is a theme about losing one's parents very young. Too bawdy for middle-schoolers.

"Obsessed" -- Beyonce Knowles pouts, gets angry and yells a lot as Sharon, a wife and mother threatened by a woman who is literally crazy for her husband in this cheesy, predictable thriller. Idris Elba gives the only nuanced performance as Derek, Sharon's stockbroker spouse. Lisa (Ali Larter), a flirty/snarky temp at Derek's office, makes a play for him and won't accept his rebuff. Her psychopathic behavior -- jumping into his car wearing lingerie, drugging him at a company retreat so she can sneak into his bed, attempting suicide by overdose -- grows threatening. The film has considerable sexual innuendo and brief nonexplicit marital sexual situations. Lisa's attempted seductions are steamy, but stylized and nongraphic. Sharon and Derek's baby is briefly endangered. There is smoking, drinking and midrange profanity. Not for middle-schoolers.

"The Soloist" -- High art, edginess and entertainment mix in near-perfect proportions in "The Soloist." With some fictionalization, it is based on columns by Los Angeles Times writer Steve Lopez (played by Robert Downey Jr.) and his discovery of Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless musician of great gifts, but hobbled by mental illness. Flashbacks show the young Ayers beginning to hear voices and disassociate from reality while at Juilliard. When Ayers plays a cello donated by one of Lopez's readers, director Joe Wright cuts from his look of ecstasy to pigeons gliding over the city. The moment could be corny, but it isn't. Lopez and Ayers slowly build a friendship. L.A.'s roiling Skid Row becomes another character. There are briefly violent scuffles, a bloody crime scene, people using drugs or unconscious from overdoses, occasional profanity, drinking, smoking, and toilet humor. For thoughtful teens.

-- R's:

"Rudo y Cursi" (LIMITED RELEASE) -- Half brothers from rural Mexico get a chance at the brass ring in this raw, wry look at how professional sports can alter the lives of people who have no other chances. The film's sexual content and language make it inappropriate for those under 17, but it could fascinate college-age teens looking to enlarge their world view. An unscrupulous scout (Guillermo Francella) for Mexico City's professional soccer teams, discovers Tato (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Beto (Diego Luna), playing with an amateur local league. The brothers' naivete about money, women and professional sports sinks their big-city sojourn. The film has an explicit sexual situation with seminudity and locker-room initiation rituals that are crudely sexual, but more implied than explicit. There is strong profanity, drinking, smoking, drug use and nongraphic violence. In Spanish with subtitles. 17 and older.

"Next Day Air" -- Violent, profane, lewd, full of drug references, illegal drug sales and some drug use, "Next Day Air" is not for under-17s. That noted, the movie is likely to attract some teens. It takes a droll satirical jab at inner city life, where choices seem so limited that drug dealing looks like an answer to some. Leo (Donald Faison of TV's "Scrubs"), a delivery guy for the parcel service Next Day Air, is always high on pot. He mistakenly drops a package at the apartment of petty crooks, Brody (Mike Epps) and Guch (Wood Harris of TV's "The Wire"), who find it's full of cocaine. They plan to sell it, but the drug runner down the hall (Cisco Reyes) and his wife (Yasmin Deliz) were supposed to get that package and the mix-up puts everyone on a collision course. The film also has sexualized comedy and brief seminudity.

(c) 2009, Washington Post Writers Group.

This news arrived on: 05/21/2009

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