"Up" (PG, 1 hr., 38 min.)

A wildly imaginative and colorful new animated film from Pixar, "Up" earns its PG rating for several reasons, and not all of them because of scary bits. The tale of a little boy, Russell (voice of Jordan Nagai), and an elderly widower, Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner), who go on an amazing adventure to South America in a house propelled by multi-hued balloons, has many quiet moments and a bittersweet montage about losing a loved one and about memories. Russell's and Carl's friendship builds slowly, and with some difficulty, especially on Carl's part.

Kids under 6 (The Family Filmgoer witnessed this at a preview screening) may start to fidget and wonder what's going on with the quiet interludes. In addition, there are some genuinely scary scenes when fierce dogs chase our heroes through jungle and canyon. The villain of the piece, a crazed explorer, goes after little Russell and elderly Carl in a dirigible and sends dart-shooting planes after them. He also wields a shotgun. All that noted, and with the added quibble that complications in the second half seem a little overdone, "Up" is a near-total delight -- one that at times approaches profundity.

Carl met his late wife Ellie when they were kids. She was a tomboy who drew the shy Carl out of his shell. This is shown in a touching, droll prologue. A wordless montage recounts what a happy married life they had, though they couldn't have kids (sad moment in a hospital) and how they shared a yearning for adventure that they never fulfilled. After Ellie dies, Carl tangles with builders tearing up his neighborhood, bopping one on the head (some blood). He's ordered to move to an old folks' home. Instead, Carl, a retired balloon salesman, rigs his old frame house with thousands of balloons and takes off into the blue yonder -- only to discover that Russell, a kid who's been trying to get Carl to help him earn a "help the elderly badge" for his Wilderness Explorers troop, is stranded on the porch. Mr. Fredricksen grudgingly lets the boy in and they're off. He and Ellie had always wanted to see a perhaps mythical place in South America called Paradise Falls, where an explorer they'd admired as kids, Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), discovered the remains of a huge rare bird. After a storm knocks the house about, Russell uses a GPS gadget to steer them within sight of the falls. But their floating house is damaged, the old nutty explorer still lurks about, and his trained dogs, their thoughts expressed by (hilarious) talking collars, come after them. One dog is dumb but nice and Russell names him Dug. The chocolate-loving giant bird they meet he calls Kevin. Things do get hairy, but, they end happily.

Before "Up," there's a wordless short, "Partly Cloudy" (G), that is a charmer, about little clouds that make all sorts of babies -- infants, puppies, kittens -- for storks to deliver. But one little cloud can't seem to make anything tamer than alligators or porcupines, and his stork is stressed out.

Beyond the Ratings Game: Movie Reviews for various ages

-- OK FOR KIDS 6 AND OLDER:

"Up" PG (NEW) -- A wildly imaginative and colorful new Pixar animated film, "Up" earns its PG not only for scary bits. The tale of a little boy, Russell (voice of Jordan Nagai), and an elderly widower, Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner), who go on an amazing adventure to South America in a balloon-propelled house, has many quiet moments and montages about losing a loved one, about sadness and memories. Kids under 6 (The Family Filmgoer witnessed this at a screening) may start to fidget and wonder what's going on. There are some genuinely scary scenes, too, in which threatening dogs chase our heroes through jungle and canyon. The villain of the piece, a crazed explorer named Muntz (Christopher Plummer), goes after Russell and old Carl in a dirigible and sends dart-shooting planes after them. He also wields a shotgun. All that noted, and with the added caveat that the complications in the second half are a little overdone, "Up" is a near-total delight, and one that approaches profundity. Mr. Fredrickson met his late wife Ellie when they were kids. A montage shows what a happy life they had, with Carl working as a balloon salesman. After Ellie dies, Carl bops one of the builders in his gentrifying neighborhood on the head and is ordered into a retirement home. Instead, he rigs his frame house with balloons and floats up into the blue yonder -- only to discover that Russell, a kid who's been trying to earn a "help the elderly badge" for his Wilderness Explorers troop, is clinging to the porch. Carl and Ellie had always wanted to see mythical Paradise Falls in South America where an explorer they'd admired as kids found the remains of a giant exotic bird. Russell actually steers them right there, but the nutty old explorer is still there, and his pack of trained dogs with (hilarious) talking collars comes after them. One dog is nice and Russell names him Dug. The rainbow-colored, chocolate-loving giant bird they meet he calls Kevin. "Up" is preceded by a wordless short, "Partly Cloudy" (G). It's a charmer about little clouds that make babies, puppies and kittens for storks to deliver. One little thunderhead can't seem to make anything tamer than an alligator, and his stork is stressed out.

"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" PG -- Bursting with special effects and plot, this lively yet charmless sequel to "Night at the Museum" (PG, 2006) will keep kids 6 and older engaged, if not in stitches. Grade-schoolers may miss the historical references, but they'll catch the Jonas Brothers' voices behind a trio of singing plaster cupids. And despite its often deliberately scrambled facts, the film could spark kids' interest in everything from aviation history to art (famous paintings, sculptures and photographs come to life). The littlest ones may briefly cower at the roaring T. rex skeleton, the giant squid, the Egyptian warriors with shrieking eagles' heads, the huge statue of Abraham Lincoln coming to life or the planes zooming around the National Air and Space Museum. Al Capone (Jon Bernthal) carries a machine gun, and Huns and Neanderthals wield swords and clubs, but no one gets hurt. Larry (Stiller), the nighttime 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 while he was on duty, are being sent to the Smithsonian to be mothballed. Larry bids farewell to Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), but later gets a call from miniature cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) that ancient pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) is wreaking havoc. Larry heads to D.C. and, with a spunky come-to-life Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), saves the day.

-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:

"Drag Me to Hell" (NEW) -- Comedy and horror make inconsistent bedfellows in this occasionally amusing, often gross parable from filmmaker Sam Raimi about a timid bank officer cursed by an angry customer. The film's classic horror images include demons and corpses vomiting maggots and embalming fluid, eyeballs and false teeth popping out, a projectile nosebleed. Violent fights feature implied impalements, and there's a wormy scene in a reopened grave. It's implied that a kitten is killed (off-camera) as a sacrifice. A prologue shows a boy pulled into a fiery abyss by a demon. Christine (Alison Lohman), a loan officer, wants a promotion and needs to impress her boss (David Paymer). She refuses an extension to a deserving mortgage holder, and the old crone, (Lorna Raver), with her blind eye, filthy false teeth and phlegmy cough, jumps Christine in her car, and after a knock-down-drag-out fight, tears a button off Christine's coat, curses it and hands it back. Soon, visits from a shadowy demon tormentor drive Christine to the brink. A fortuneteller (Dileep Rao) warns she's been cursed with a "lamia," which means the demon will drag her into hell. Justin Long plays her boyfriend, who tries to understand. Most of the effects in the film look deliberately cheesy, in keeping with the comedy/horror hybrid Raimi has created. There is rare profanity.

"Dance Flick" (NEW) -- The extended Wayans family of film and TV comics brings us this stunningly crude, surprisingly tiresome spoof of just about every teen-focused dance movie of recent memory. High-schoolers who care (the film is too bawdy for middle-schoolers) will recognize elements of "Stomp the Yard" (PG-13, 2007), "Step Up" (PG-13, 2006), "You Got Served" (PG-13, 2004), "Save the Last Dance" (PG-13, 2001), and even "Fame," (R, 1980), with break dancing and other styles clumsily spoofed. Wannabe dancer Megan (Shoshana Bush) loses her mother in a bizarre series of road accidents (played for laughs), and moves in with her derelict dad (Chris Elliott). At her new inner-city high school, she meets Thomas (Damon Wayans Jr.). They fall in love and work on dance routines for a talent show. But Thomas has to deal with violent rivals from a street dance contest and an oversized gangster named Sugar Bear (David Alan Grier -- who is truly funny). The film has gross humor about female body parts, gay jokes, gags about teen pregnancy and neglectful parenting. There is mild profanity, sexual innuendo and jokes about drinking.

"Terminator Salvation" -- With its unremitting mayhem and gloom, this new chapter in the "Terminator" series 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 could be a hard slog. "Terminator Salvation" has a milder rating, but it's still grimly violent, though with imited gore and rare profanity. A female character faces the briefly implied possibility of sexual assault. There are huge gun battles and many crashing machines. Killer robots from Skynet, the artificial intelligence program that aims to destroy humanity, keep human prisoners underground. In a prologue set in 2003, death row inmate Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) donates his body to science (death by lethal injection shown). Cut to 2018, after a nuclear holocaust unleashed by Skynet. Pockets of human resistance fighters follow 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), in 2018 who is crucial to the human struggle. John must also decide whether the now-bionic Marcus Wright is for humans or machines.

"Every Little Step" (LIMITED RELEASE) -- Emotionally involving and filled with great bits of song and dance, this documentary offers teens who follow "American Idol" or take part in their high-school's drama programs a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the hard work and frequent rejection professional performers face. "Every Little Step" follows the audition process for the 2006 Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line," focusing closely on a few contenders. It also delves into reasons why the late director-choreographer Michael Bennett created the show in the 1970s. He viewed it as a kind of documentary itself about the "boys and girls" in the chorus -- the unsung heroes of the theater world. There is some profanity and discussion of sexuality.

"Angels & Demons" -- Harvard "symbologist" Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) uncovers more secrets that make the Vatican queasy in this sequel (to "The Da Vinci Code," PG-13, 2006), but in "Angels & Demons," it's the Vatican that invites him inside. The pope has died and several cardinals have been abducted. The kidnapper has left clues as well as threats to blow up Vatican City with antimatter. 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 Langdon runs around Rome. Ron Howard again directs heavily, with a lot of pedantry about a secret 18th-century group, the Illuminati, who fought church censorship of science. "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 nibbled by a rat (phobic alert), and a bloodied eyeball. There are shootings and mild profanity. Some will object to Langdon's critical view of church doctrine.

"Star Trek" -- Teens not familiar with the 1960s TV show or the feature films still ought to have a fine time at this "Star Trek" prequel. It works just fine as a popcorn flick and as a true-to-its-source 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) meet as junior officers on the maiden voyage of the starship USS Enterprise and wind up boldly going against the vengeful Romulans at warp speed. The film will also work for many kids 10 to 12, but some may be unsettled by the space battles and the Romulans' ominous-looking ship with 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, romantically and over tactics. In a "disrupted time continuum," young Kirk meets an old Spock (Leonard Nimoy, natch'), 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 and more violent than its predecessors, 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 muddled narrative by force of personality. We meet James Logan and Victor as boy mutants who grow into seemingly immortal soldiers. Logan finally drops out of a violent special ops unit led by Stryker (Danny Huston), and Victor commits a murder just to hurt him. Logan then allows Stryker to experiment on him -- turning his knuckle blades and entire skeleton into metal. Calling himself Wolverine, Logan goes after Victor. There is some profanity, sexual innuendo, and brief nongraphic long-distance nudity.