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Jane Horwitz's "Family Film Goer" has been offering meticulous, informed reviews of all the latest films since August of 1993. Her attention to ...

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"Nim's Island" (PG, 1 hr., 35 min.)

Jodie Foster proves a deft comic actress in this fun South Seas adventure, based on Wendy Orr's 2002 book. The film is a bit of a patchwork, as it mixes occasional animated segments with the live-action story, and features three characters who are more often apart than they are together. Yet nimble-minded kids 8 and older will follow it easily. Abigail Breslin plays 12-year-old Nim, who lives a great life on an uninhabited island paradise with her microbiologist dad Jack (Gerard Butler). They both grieve for her mom, who died years earlier (explained in a fanciful animated prologue). Nim's favorite books are Alex Rover adventures, which she believes completely. She doesn't know they're written by Alexandra Rover (Foster), an agoraphobic woman addicted to hand sanitizer and canned soup. The "real" Alex e-mails Jack seeking information on volcanoes for her latest book. With her dad at sea doing research, Nim responds, thinking the e-mail is from Alex the book hero. When her dad doesn't return as expected after a storm hits, Nim, fearing the worst, begs Alex to come. Alex the writer feels responsible for Nim going out on the volcano and not realizing she's not Jack's assistant, but a kid. So Alex forces her neurotic self onto a plane, her heroic alter ego (also Butler, looking Indiana Jones-ish) urging her on. One of the film's cleverest bits of business cuts between young Nim climbing the side of a volcano to get an answer to Alex's e-mail question, while Alex is at home, afraid to go out her front door to get the mail. Kids will love Nim's pets -- a lizard, a sea lion and a pelican. They have very individual personalities and are mostly real, with occasional animatronic or digital enhancements.

"Nim's Island" could induce anxiety now and then among under-8s, as it depicts the destructive storm, Nim's father stranded on the sea and nearly drowned, a volcanic eruption and Nim nearly falling off the side of the volcano and hurting her leg. The film includes toilet humor, the image of a whole pig roasting on a spit and stereotyped Arab villains fighting the hero Alex Rover in a re-enacted scene from one of Alex's books.

Beyond the Ratings Game: Movie Reviews for various ages

-- OK FOR KINDERGARTNERS ON UP:

"Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who!" G -- A sheer delight, this computer-animated take on the beloved storybook expands the tale without wrecking it. The movie keeps the Seussian whimsy, but adds three-dimensional furriness to the high-haired Whos and weight to Horton the Elephant (voice of Jim Carrey). There's a neat contrast between the pastel Jungle of Nool and the Rube Goldbergian Whoville, the microscopic city-on-a-speck Horton risks all to save. He and the ditzy Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell) communicate by a quirk of sound convergence, but each must overcome his neighbors' disbelief. Kids 6 and younger may cringe at: Vlad (Will Arnett), a bird of prey, chasing Horton and causing Whoville to shake; Horton on a rope bridge that breaks; a Noolian mob capturing him; a scary-funny bit with the Mayor, a dentist, and a hypodermic needle.

-- OK FOR KIDS 8 AND OLDER:

"Nim's Island" (NEW) PG -- Jodie Foster proves a deft comic actress in this fun South Seas adventure, based on Wendy Orr's 2002 book. The film is a bit patchworky, mixing occasional animated segments with the live-action story and features three characters who are often apart. Yet nimble-minded kids 8 and older will followi it easily. "Nim's Island" could be a little harrowing for under-8s, as it depicts a destructive storm, a man stranded on the sea and nearly drowned and a volcanic eruption. Abigail Breslin plays Nim, who lives a great life on an uninhabited island paradise with her microbiologist dad Jack (Gerard Butler). They both grieve for her mom, who died years earlier (explained in a fanciful animated prologue). Nim's favorite books are Alex Rover adventures. She doesn't know they're written by Alexandra Rover (Foster), an agoraphobic woman addicted to hand sanitizer and soup. The "real" Alex e-mails Jack seeking information on volcanoes. With her dad at sea doing research, Nim responds, thinking the e-mail is from Alex the book hero. When her dad doesn't return as expected after a storm hits, a frightened Nim begs Alex to come. Alex the writer forces herself onto a plane, her heroic alter ego (also Butler, looking Indiana Jones-ish) urging her on. Kids will love Nim's pets -- a lizard, a sea lion and a pelican. They're mostly real. There is toilet humor, stereotypical Arab villains in a scene from one of Alex's books, and the image of a whole pig roasting on a spit. Nim nearly falls off the volcano and hurts her leg.

"College Road Trip" G -- If this family comedy were played any more broadly, the cast would be in clown suits. Part slapstick farce, part sentimental saga, it is good-hearted but painfully silly and geared more to kids around 7 or 8 who dream of being grown-up. Martin Lawrence plays a suburban Chicago police chief and obsessively overprotective dad who drives his daughter (Raven-Symone) to an interview at Georgetown University. The more he tries to control events, the more they spin away from him. Youngsters may be startled by a potbellied pig going nuts on coffee beans (a don't-try-this-with-your-pet lesson); father and daughter screaming while sky-diving; Dad getting tasered by a sorority mother.

-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:

"Leatherheads" (NEW) -- "Leatherheads" is a comedy about early, unruly professional football, circa 1925. Director and star George Clooney clearly wants to echo the speedy screwball comedies of the 1930s and '40s, but his handsome film, for all its rich characters and glib repartee, feels a bit slow and heavy. It's still good watching, full of muddy playing fields, boozy speak-easies, harmless fisticuffs and tunes such as "Toot-Toot-Tootsie" and "Over There." He touches lightly on social issues -- World War I vets and guys laboring in mines and factories. Dodge Connelly (Clooney) is a graying pro footballer afraid his team will go under. He cajoles an Ivy League star (John Krasinski) into joining the team. Lexie (Renee Zellweger), a wisecracking newspaper gal, intends to debunk the college star's heroic war record. Dodge and the college kid are both sweet on her. There is much flirting, drinking, smoking and midrange profanity. Fine for teens into old-style filmmaking.

"Superhero Movie" (NEW) -- This is a pretty effective -- if pointless -- sendup of all pretentious comic book-inspired films, including the "Spider-Man," "X-Men," "Batman" and "Fantastic Four" series (all PG-13s except Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," a PG). A nerdy teen bully-magnet (Drake Bell) gets bitten by a mutant dragonfly while on a field trip to a science lab. His altered behavior surprises the old aunt (Marion Ross) and uncle (Leslie Nielsen) he lives with. As Dragonfly, he stops a superhuman scientist, Hourglass (Christopher McDonald), on his killing spree. "Superhero Movie" contains, of course, bawdy sexual innuendo (mutant animals trying to mate with the young hero at the lab; breast jokes), toilet humor, profanity, and gags portraying scientist Stephen Hawking, who is physically disabled, that are beyond tasteless.

"Flawless" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) -- Teens with a taste for films of yore may like the burnished style of this diamond heist yarn, set in early-1960s London, but looking very upscale 1950s. People smoke and drink; women in red lips and nails clack across marble floors in spike heels. Yet "Flawless" unfolds with too little flash -- despite the gems -- to keep all teens enthralled. Demi Moore plays a gifted executive at a huge diamond trading firm, frustrated by the glass ceiling. A grizzled janitor (Michael Caine, at his most Cockney) lures her into a scheme to rob the vault -- just a few stones; they'll hardly notice. The film includes occasional profanity and oblique references to a miners' uprising met with deadly force in Apartheid South Africa.

"21" -- In this slick, unsurprising Faustian fable, Ben (Jim Sturgess), a gifted M.I.T. student, is lured by Micky (Kevin Spacey), a persuasive math professor, into a scam. Every weekend Micky and several handpicked students fly to Las Vegas and win gobs of cash at blackjack using the mental technique of card-counting. Seductive cohort Jill (Kate Bosworth) tells Ben it's not really cheating. But a heavy-fisted casino snoop (Laurence Fishburne) is on the lookout. Based on a true story, the film is oddly lacking in intensity. Only when Ben sees the selfish lout he's become does it grip you, but not his journey there. Along with middling violence, "21" includes a nongraphic sexual situation, other sexual innuendo, suggestive dancing in a club, profanity and drinking. More for high-schoolers.

"Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns" -- Writer/director Tyler Perry's enjoyable, if formulaic recipe blends broad comedy, strong emotion and inspiration. Angela Bassett brings intensity to Brenda, a single mom with three kids by different dads, doing her best to keep them in school and out of trouble in Chicago. When Georgia relatives send tickets to attend the funeral of the father she never knew, Brenda takes the kids and goes. Her small-town kin include buffoonish Leroy (David Mann), drunk Vera (Jenifer Lewis), and kindly L.B. (Frankie Faison). A handsome basketball scout (Rick Fox) interested in recruiting her son (Lance Gross) also turns up. The film includes marijuana use, drug deals, a shooting, stereotypes, jokes about "hos" and sexually transmitted diseases, a hinted threat of sexual assault, drinking, and mild profanity. More for high-schoolers.

"Shutter" -- There's scarcely a plot twist in this remake of a Thai thriller that isn't obvious. Yet the acting is strong, so this ghostly revenge saga could intrigue high-schoolers. Newlyweds Ben (Joshua Jackson) and Jane (Rachael Taylor) move to Japan, where Ben works as a fashion photographer. Jane becomes obsessed with blurry images in their wedding photos and in shots Ben takes at work. She learns they are "spirit photos" of a being stalking them. The film includes midrange profanity, a brief, nongraphic sexual situation, images of skeletal and decaying corpses, a suicide jump, a cremation, and a subplot about arrogant male executives abusing a woman. All this is very understated. Themes of suicide and subtly implied (but not shown) rape make "Shutter" iffy for middle-schoolers.

"Run Fat Boy Run" -- Older teens may enjoy this amiable, if not wholly original London-set comedy (directed by David Schwimmer), about a loser who finally grows up. We meet Dennis (Simon Pegg of "Shaun of the Dead," R, 2004) as he's about to leave his pregnant bride Libby (Thandie Newton) at the altar because he's terrified. Five years later, he barely meets his rent and has a fond but irresponsible bond with his son (Matthew Fenton). When he learns Libby has a rich new boyfriend (Hank Azaria), Dennis, with his beer gut and smoker's stamina, decides to run the London Marathon alongside the smug new guy. Much of "Fat Boy's" humor is locker-room crude, with midrange profanity, rear nudity, implied frontal nudity, sexual slang and innuendo. Characters smoke and drink.

"Drillbit Taylor" -- Owen Wilson plays another charming scalawag in this amusing, slightly bawdy trifle. Three nerdy high-school freshmen -- chubby Ryan (Troy Gentile), skinny Wade (Nate Hartley) and dorky Emmit (David Dorfman) -- advertise online for a bodyguard to save them from a bully (Alex Frost). They hire Drillbit Taylor (Wilson), a fast-talking vet who, unbeknownst to them, lives on the beach, showers (backview nudity) next to the highway, and has criminal pals. He poses as a substitute teacher. It's hard not to like the film, crude and formulaic though it is, for its fresh acting and repartee. It has midrange profanity, make-out scenes, homophobic humor, implied toplessness, jokes about sexually transmitted diseases and hints of beer drinking. OK for most teens.

-- AN R:

"Stop-Loss" -- This is one of the first Hollywood films to portray in a gritty, naturalistic way the lives of Iraq War veterans. The last third founders a bit, but most of "Stop-Loss" is a skillful, nonpreachy, sometimes hard-to-watch drama. Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) comes home to Texas after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. When the Army orders him to return to Iraq, he goes AWOL. He and his buddies (Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) have battle flashbacks, which some cope with better than others. Brandon visits a pal (Victor Rasuk) who lost two limbs and his eyesight in an explosion. An Iraq War prologue depicts an ambush and firefight. It is scary and deafening, showing graphic injuries to U.S. soldiers, and dead Iraqi men, women and children. A flashback shows an Iraqi child shot with his insurgent father. Homefront scenes include fights, gunplay, drinking, smoking and a suicide theme. There is strong profanity, sexual language and innuendo. "Stop-Loss" is not really for under-17s.

(c) 2008, Washington Post Writers Group.

This news arrived on: 04/03/2008

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