From the ArcaMax Publishing, Family Film Reviews Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/familyfilms/s-518936-991736
"Monsters vs. Aliens" (PG, 1 hr., 34 min.)
Kids 8 and older ought to have a fine time at "Monsters vs. Aliens," a
silly, irreverent and ingenious spoof of 1950s-era "creature
features." It was animated in 3-D, which adds depth and texture, but
the DreamWorks Animation folks don't overuse the in-your-face aspects
of it. The movie fizzes along funnily, apart from a few slow moments
in the middle. Even the "scary" bits are witty, which will keep many
younger kids comfortable.
There is, of course, toilet humor, but nothing too gross. Some smaller
children may be spooked when the heroine, Susan, mutates into a
50-foot-tall version of herself, Ginormica (both voiced by Reese
Witherspoon), or when the villain from outer space, the many-eyed
Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson), clones himself into an army, or when a
killer robot (which looks rather like a giant pickle) battles
Ginormica and her monster cohorts on the Golden Gate Bridge and people
in cars are endangered. All the battle scenes are played for comedy.
There is a remark about "boobies," and a hint of a bare behind.
SPOILER ALERT: Only one sympathetic monster seems to die, but we
learn later that it survived.
A huge meteorite crashes near Modesto, Calif. Susan passes too near it
and later, in the middle of her wedding, she morphs into a giant,
bursting right through the church roof. Her self-absorbed
TV-weatherman fiance, Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd), finds this very
inconvenient. Government forces shoot her with a tranquilizer and take
her away. She awakes in a secret compound. A slightly crazy general,
W. R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland), renames her Ginormica and explains
that he imprisons mutant "monsters" from experiments gone awry.
There's B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a cheery translucent blob with a big
eyeball; the mad scientist Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie); The
Missing Link ape-fish (Will Arnett) and the huge grub worm
Insectosaurus.
The megalomaniac from space, Gallaxhar, needs a substance that was on
the meteorite, so he invades Earth. Gen. Monger convinces the U.S.
president (Stephen Colbert) to use the monsters to fight Gallaxhar.
Susan, who was a timid girl before her transformation, becomes their
leader.
Beyond the Ratings Game: Movie Reviews for various
ages
-- OK FOR KIDS 8 AND OLDER:
"Monsters vs. Aliens" PG (NEW) -- Kids 8 and older ought to
have a fine time at this silly, irreverent and almost always ingenious
animated spoof of 1950s-era "creature features." It was done in 3-D,
but doesn't overuse the in-your-face aspect of it. The movie fizzes
along funnily, apart from a few slow moments in the middle. Even the
"scary" bits are amusing, which will keep younger kids comfortable.
There is toilet humor, but nothing too gross. Many under-8s will do
fine at the film, but some may be spooked when the human heroine
mutates into a 50-foot-tall version of herself, Ginormica (voice of
Reese Witherspoon), or when the many-eyed outer space villain
Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) clones himself into an army, or when his
killer robot (which looks rather like a giant pickle) battles
Ginormica and her monster cohorts on the Golden Gate Bridge. After a
meteorite crashes near Modesto, Calif., Susan (also Witherspoon),
walks too near it and later morphs into a giant right in the middle of
her wedding. Her self-absorbed fiance, Derek (Paul Rudd), finds this
very inconvenient. Government forces tranquilize and abduct Susan. She
awakes in a compound run by Gen. W. R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland), who
renames her Ginormica and explains that he imprisons mutant "monsters"
from experiments gone awry. When Gallaxhar invades Earth, Gen. Monger
suggests to the president (Stephen Colbert) that Ginormica and the
other monsters should fight him. There's B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a silly
translucent blob with a big eyeball; the mad scientist Dr. Cockroach
Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie); The Missing Link ape-fish (Will Arnett), and the
huge grub worm Insectosaurus. There is a remark about "boobies" and a
hint of bare behind. SPOILER ALERT: One monster seems to die, but
later we learn it's OK.
"Race to Witch Mountain" PG -- There are gun battles,
head-slamming fights and chase scenes, all of which could unsettle
sensitive kids 8 and younger watching this unexceptional but diverting
popcorn flick. The chiseled, good-natured presence of Dwayne Johnson
adds a needed center of gravity. Most of the mayhem is loud and fast,
but bloodless, though there is a harrowing moment when the
protagonists are stuck in a railroad tunnel with a spaceship and a
train bearing down. Las Vegas cabbie Jack Bruno (Johnson) picks up
teen siblings Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig), and
later lears that they're alien beings with telekinetic and
molecule-scrambling powers. Grudgingly, he helps them flee government
types and an assassin from their home planet. (SPOILER ALERT:
Unhelmeted, the alien assassin has a big exposed brain.)
"Coraline" PG -- Director Henry Selick's gorgeous stop-motion
animated marvel is fine fare for kids 8 and older who love scary-funny
fairy tales, but easily spooked children as old as 12 may find the
second half upsetting. After all, little Coraline (voice of Dakota
Fanning) enters a menacing looking-glass world where a metallic spider
chases children, and things transform in odd ways. Then she nearly
loses her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman). Coraline follows
mice through a little door in the apartment and lands in a brighter
version of home, where Other Mother and Other Father have buttons for
eyes. She must escape this surreal world. There are some crass words
and lady acrobats in scanty costumes. Try to see it in 3-D.
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"Knowing" -- This parable about the end of humankind is
occasionally chilling, but too often overwrought and silly. Its makers
blur the line between science fiction and theology, which
high-schoolers may find arresting. The tall, ghostly men in black
coats who speak to children telepathically could be space aliens or
angels. In the prologue, a haunted little girl, instead of drawing an
image of the future for her school's time capsule, fills a page with
numbers. Fifty years later, MIT professor John Koestler (Nicolas
Cage), a hard-drinking, still-grieving widower, attends the capsule's
reopening. His little boy Caleb (Chandler Canterbury) gets the paper
with the numbers. John deduces that they are dates of disasters past
and future. He ruminates about cosmic "determinism" versus randomness.
It's heady stuff, but "Knowing" is too clunky in its execution to
work. There are quick, intense depictions of disasters -- the Asian
tsunami, hurricane Katrina, 9/11, a plane crash, an out-of-control
subway train mowing people down, a rain of fire. We see the injured
and dead, but nothing graphic. There is a suicide theme and rare mild
profanity.
"Duplicity" -- The Family Filmgoer is in the critical minority
here, in finding "Duplicity" a smug, confusing bore. It may, however,
capture the imaginations of teens 15 and older. Two impossibly
good-looking former spies, Claire and Ray (Julia Roberts and Clive
Owen), use their skills to get into higher-paying industrial
espionage. The story cleverly loops back and forth in time, showing
Claire and Ray in contradictory roles as enemies, co-conspirators,
lovers and betrayers, but after an hour, one could stop caring how it
all plays out. Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti are fun as rival CEO's.
There are steamy but nongraphic sexual situations and implied
overnight trysts, verbal sexual innuendo, implied nudity, rare
profanity and drinking. More for 15 and older.
-- R's:
"I Love You, Man" -- Paul Rudd plays Peter, a charming nerd, in
this cleverly observed, but crass buddy comedy about a sensitive
fellow so devoted to his fiancee (Rashida Jones), and so lacking in
macho, regular-guy qualities -- hates sports, can't play poker, tells
lame jokes -- that he has no male friends at all. He starts going on
guy "dates" to find a friend who can be his best man. He meets Sydney
(Jason Segel), a shambling, profane jokester who still acts like the
biggest slacker in the frat house, and they hit it off. Whenever the
movie threatens to take a pat, cliched route, it almost always veers
in a more rewarding, funny direction. It is, however, truly crude.
There is strong profanity, very graphic sexual slang, toilet
humor, implied marijuana use and drinking. 17 and up.
"Sunshine Cleaning" (LIMITED RELEASE) -- In this fresh,
eccentric and immensely enjoyable grown-up indie comedy, two
20-something sisters, sweet single-mom Rose (Amy Adams) and wild,
undependable Norah (Emily Blunt), start a cleaning service, scrubbing
away "organic" matter from murder, suicide and natural death scenes.
Watching them learn the trade is comical, but it is the emotional
journey these two struggling young women take -- along with Alan Arkin
as their quirky dad -- that makes "Sunshine Cleaning" so rewarding. It
gets syrupy once or twice, but mostly not. Aside from the graphic
nature of the cleanups (the bodies are gone), the film touches on
suicide and loss of a parent, and contains profanity, sexual
situations -- one is explicit -- and pot-smoking. Film buffs 17 and
older.
"The Last House on the Left" -- Good acting makes you care
about the victims in this ultraviolent update of Wes Craven's 1972
gore fest, but it's still a raunchy crime drama that revels in
bloodlust. A teenage girl (Sara Paxton) comes with her parents (Tony
Goldwyn and Monica Potter) to their lake house. She and a friend
(Martha MacIsaac) are abducted and brutalized by a teen's (Spencer
Treat Clark) sociopath father (Garret Dillahunt) and two accomplices
(Aaron Paul and Riki Lindhome). The story then shifts into
survival/vengeance mode between the parents at the lake house and the
criminals. The film shows extremely graphic murders and a vicious
rape, partial nudity, drug use, drinking and profanity. Not for
under-17s.
"Watchmen" -- Dark, violent, visually stunning, intellectually
edgy and sexually explicit, this adaptation of the 1980s comics and
graphic novel is problematic for under-17s, and its plot is a muddle.
It is 1985. Richard Nixon is still president and the Cold War could go
hot. Masked superheroes are illegal, but ex-Watchman Rorschach (Jackie
Earle Haley) remains a vigilante, alerting the others when another
one-time cohort, The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), is murdered. The
only Watchman with real superpowers is the atomic Dr. Manhattan (Billy
Crudup). The film shows the murder of a pregnant woman in Vietnam, the
remains of a murdered toddler, an attempted rape, other explicit
sexual situations, nudity, profanity, drinking and smoking.