From the ArcaMax Publishing, Family Film Reviews Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/familyfilms/s-534258-535516
"Earth" (G, 1 hr., 29 min.)
Though it is rated G, this hour-and-a-half reduction of the 11-hour
"Planet Earth" documentary series that ran in 2006 on the Discovery
Channel has more than its share of harrowing moments. What narrator
James Earl Jones calls "the drama of the hunter and the hunted" in his
trademark baritone is repeated over and over. Animal-loving kids,
especially those under 10, may find it upsetting to see a pride of 30
lions bring down an elephant, or to see a leopard chase down a young
antelope. The gifted filmmakers carefully cut away before any blood
gets spilled, and indeed some nature films on cable television are
much more graphic. But "Earth" does celebrate the beauty of the
pursuit, slowing it down to a kind of ballet as the narrator reminds
us that this is nature playing itself out. Equally poignant is the
doomed male polar bear, struggling to hunt on a melting ice shelf. The
narration repeatedly notes that animals will starve if they don't
succeed in their searches for food and water. So be sure your children
can handle the idea of animals dying.
"Earth" follows the the seasons of the sun and the creatures
beneath it from the Arctic to the Antarctic. The material compiled
from the longer TV documentary does seem abridged and somewhat
disjointed here, with a turgid symphonic score and overdramatic
narration used to compensate. Even so, the footage is gorgeous. We
follow a polar bear mother and her cubs emerging from hibernation,
their father on his lonely hunt, a mother elephant and her calf
trekking with the herd to a watering hole, and a humpback whale and
her calf swimming from the tropics to Antarctica. Amid the three
central stories, other subplots unfold: cranes flying over the
Himalayas, caribou migrating across Canada, ducklings leaping from the
nest, plants blooming in desert and tundra, and more.
"The Soloist" (PG-13, 1 hr., 59 min.)
"The Soloist" blends high art and entertainment in near-perfect
proportions. From its poignant, funny script (by Susannah Grant) to
the fully invested acting of co-stars Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.
to the tough, clear storytelling by director Joe Wright, it works. It
is the story of a friendship based (with some fictionalization) on
columns and a book by Los Angeles Times writer Steve Lopez and
recounts how he (played by Downey) spots a homeless man playing a
violin and is intrigued. Maybe there's a column in it. Nathaniel Ayers
(Foxx), it turns out, was a promising young student at Juilliard 30
years earlier, but dropped out. He has schizophrenia or some other
condition that causes him to hear voices and disassociate from
reality. In flashbacks, we see how young Nathaniel showed signs of
both genius and illness until illness overtook him. Lopez learns that
Nathaniel was actually a cello prodigy, but a cello would be too big
to haul in a grocery cart. Then a fan of Lopez's columns donates a
cello. When Nathaniel plays it for the first time beneath a bridge and
director Wright cuts from his beatific expression to pigeons gliding
over the roiling city, it all comes together.
As the friendship between the writer and the homeless musician grows,
Lopez witnesses firsthand the violent, drug-fueled atmosphere of
L.A.'s Skid Row. Director Wright portrays its denizens (he used many
real homeless people as extras) as the Wretched of the Earth. Lopez, a
workaholic who shirks all personal responsibility except his deadline,
feels responsible for Nathaniel. Despite difficulty and blowups, they
build a friendship. This sounds Hollywood-corny, but the film is smart
and edgy enough to avoid that.
This is a film for thoughtful teens and grown-ups. It has brief
violent scuffles, a bloody crime scene without a body, homeless people
using drugs and unconscious or dead from overdoses. There is
occasional profanity, drinking and smoking, and a bit of gross toilet
humor.
Beyond the Ratings Game: Movie Reviews for various
ages
-- OK FOR KIDS 8 AND OLDER:
"Dragonball: Evolution" PG -- Brightly hued, yet bland, this
special-effects-laden coming-of-age fantasy, based on a Japanese manga
comic, shows martial-arts fights, hurled fireballs, falling rocks and
zapper gunplay. Kids under 8 may be briefly scared by horned beasts,
slime monsters and molten lava. There is a flying dragon, but it's not
evil. The film contains mild sexual innuendo and teen bullying. In a
sci-fi near-future we meet the teenaged Goku (Justin Chatwin). Grandpa
(Randall Duk Kim) has raised Goku and taught him martial arts. As
Goku's 18th birthday nears, Grandpa gives him a pretty glass sphere
that has secret powers -- a Dragonball. There are only seven in the
world, and Goku's true identity is part of their secret. The evil
alien Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) kills Grandpa and comes after the
Dragonball. Goku joins Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat), a young inventor
(Emmy Rossum) and a desert highwayman (Joon Park) to fight back.
"Hannah Montana The Movie" G -- Teen pop star Hannah Montana's
off-stage self, Miley Stewart, gets too big for her high-heeled
sneakers in "Hannah Montana The Movie," so her dad, Robby Ray Stewart,
decides she needs some "Hannah detox" time at the family's Tennessee
farm. Hannah's offstage self, Miley Stewart, is played by Miley Cyrus,
and Miley Stewart's dad, Robby Ray, is played by her real-life dad,
country-and-western star Billy Ray Cyrus, so it's hard to see them as
"just folks" in this saccharine confection. Equally unconvincing is
the premise that Miley Stewart's school friends never realize she's
Hannah. But for little girls, none of this matters. They'll get to see
Hannah/Miley sing, shop, take pratfalls, ride a horse, do a benefit to
save her hometown from a developer, and flirt with an aw-shucks local
boy (Lucas Till). There is mild sexual innuendo. The brashest phrase
is "sweet cheeks," the strongest brew is iced tea. OK for under-8s,
too, but they won't understand everything.
"Monsters vs. Aliens" PG -- Kids 8 and older ought to have a
fine time at this silly, pretty ingenious animated spoof (in 3-D) of
1950s "creature features." The movie fizzes along funnily, apart from
a couple of slow bits midway. Even the "scary" scenes are amusing,
which can calm younger kids. Some under-8s may be spooked when the
human heroine Susan (voice of Reese Witherspoon) walks too near a
just-crashed meteorite and mutates into a nearly 50-foot-tall version
of herself, or when the multi-eyed outer space villain Gallaxhar
(Rainn Wilson) clones himself into an army, or when his killer robot
(which looks like a huge pickle) attacks. Imprisoned by the government
with other mutant "monsters" -- including B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a blob
with an eyeball; Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), a mad scientist; and an
ape-fish called The Missing Link (Will Arnett) -- Susan leads them in
battle against Gallaxhar. There is mild toilet humor, a remark about
"boobies,"and a hint of bare behind. One monster seems to die but is
OK.
-- OK FOR KIDS 10 AND OLDER:
"Earth" G (NEW) -- Though it is rated G, this hour-and-a-half
reduction of the 11-hour "Planet Earth" documentary series that ran on
cable television in 2006 has many harrowing moments. What narrator
James Earl Jones calls "the drama of the hunter and the hunted" occurs
over and over. Animal-loving kids, especially those under 10, may find
it upsetting to see a pride of lions bring down an elephant, or a
leopard catch a young antelope. The filmmakers carefully cut away
before blood gets spilled, but "Earth" still celebrates the pursuit,
slowing it down to a kind of ballet. There is also the doomed male
polar bear, struggling to hunt on a melting ice shelf. We're reminded
that animals can starve in a changing habitat. "Earth" follows the
seasons of the sun from Arctic to Antarctic and focuses on three sets
of animals: A polar bear mother and two cubs emerge from hibernation
as the father goes on his lonely hunt; a mother elephant and her calf
trek with the herd to a watering hole, and a humpback whale and her
calf swim from the tropics to Antarctica. The film also visits cranes
flying over the Himalayas, caribou migrating across Canada, ducklings
leaping from a north woods nest, plants blooming in desert and more.
The film does seem somewhat abridged, with a turgid symphonic score
and overdramatic narration used to compensate. Even so, the footage is
gorgeous. Just be sure your children can handle the idea of animals
dying.
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"The Soloist" (NEW) -- "The Soloist" blends high art and
entertainment in near-perfect proportions. It is based (with some
fictionalization) on columns and a book by Los Angeles Times writer
Steve Lopez (played by Robert Downey Jr.) and his acquaintance with
Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless musician of great gifts but
suffering from a schizophrenia-like illness. Lopez spots Ayers playing
the violin on the street and is intrigued because he's so good. He
learns Ayers was a student at Juilliard 30 years earlier, but dropped
out. In flashbacks, we see how young Nathaniel began hearing voices
and disassociating from reality. Nathaniel was actually a cello
prodigy, but a cello would be too big to haul in a grocery cart. A fan
of Lopez's columns donates a cello. When Nathaniel plays it for the
first time beneath a bridge and director Joe Wright cuts from Ayers'
beatific expression to pigeons gliding over the roiling city, it all
comes together, yet the film is too smart and edgy to be corny. The
violent, drug-fueled atmosphere of L.A.'s Skid Row is almost a
character in the film and many of its denizens are extras in the film.
Lopez, a workaholic who shirks all personal responsibility except his
deadline, feels responsible for Nathaniel. Despite difficulty and
blowups, they build a friendship. There are briefly violent scuffles,
a bloody crime scene with no body, people using drugs or unconscious
from overdoses, occasional profanity, drinking, smoking, and toilet
humor. For thoughtful teens.
"Paris 36" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) -- This charming, whimsical
French film (with subtitles) may appeal to high-schoolers who've read
about Europe between the wars and the rise of fascism. It will also
win over all hopeless romantics. Set in a blue-collar district of
Paris, the movie recounts how a motley group of stagehands and
concessions workers take over the local music hall from which they've
just been laid off and try to make it succeed. The group's leader,
Monsieur Pigoil (Gerard Jugnot), has his heart broken when his wife
runs off and takes their 12-year-old son JoJo (Maxence Perrin) away.
The communist electrician (Clovis Cornillac) falls for the pretty new
singer (Nora Arnezeder) who is a "protege" of a fascist-supporting
gangster (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu). There are anti-Semitic and racist
jokes at a rally, drinking, smoking, a suicide theme, briefly topless
dancers, a steamy but nonexplicit sexual situation, and brief
nongraphic violence, including two murders.
"17 Again" -- Teen idol Zac Efron will no doubt thrill his teen
fans , but acting-wise, he lacks the nuance to play a 37-year-old man
zapped back into his 17-year-old body. Luckily, the supporting cast
gives him great help. In a prologue set in 1989, 17-year-old Mike
(Efron) walks away from a basketball scholarship and college to marry
his pregnant girlfriend Scarlett (Allison Miller). Twenty years later,
37-year-old Mike (a shlumpy Matthew Perry) is out of work and living
with his oddball best friend Ned (funny Thomas Lennon) because
Scarlett (now played by Leslie Mann) is divorcing him. A visit to his
old high school makes him wish he could be 17 again and a magical
janitor (Brian Doyle-Murray) makes it happen. Posing as a student,
Mike lectures girls about abstinence, tries to help his own troubled
teens (Michelle Trachtenberg and Sterling Knight), and to reconcile
with his wife. There is much sexual innuendo, some of it semiexplicit,
mild profanity, and condoms passed out in a human sexuality class,
though they're not shown. It's implied that some teen characters drink
and engage in sexual activity. Not for preteens.
"State of Play" -- Two-thirds of this political thriller is
smart, taut and terrific, but its third act collapses under too many
red herrings. The movie sketches political Washington and the
shrinking world of old-style newspaper reporting with rat-a-tat
repartee and vivid atmospherics, which pay bigger dividends than the
actual plot. Russell Crowe plays print reporter Cal McAffrey, who
works for the struggling Washington Globe, where his editor (Helen
Mirren) is desperate for a big story. When a prominent congressman's
(Ben Affleck) pretty staffer dies mysteriously, a scandal erupts. Cal,
a buddy of the congressman's, tries to report the story and protect
his pal. He butts heads with Della (Rachel McAdams), a blogger from
the paper's online side. The movie has gun violence but shows little
blood or graphic wounds. There are dead bodies, a liver resting on a
scale in a morgue, midrange profanity, sexual slang, implied
infidelity and promiscuity, drug references, drinking and smoking.
News-savvy high-schoolers may like it.
"Fast & Furious" -- Teens will likely enjoy the ride in
this third sequel, which reunites the moody cast of the original film
("The Fast and the Furious," PG-13, 2001). The acting and dialogue
seem pseudo-serious, but the racing stunts are heart-stoppingly
staged. Parents may worry that kids will imitate the driving. At least
one pedestrian gets run over. The movie has gun violence, explosions
and head-banging fights, but no graphic injuries. It has midrange
profanity, a couple of steamy kisses, briefly implied sexual
situations, young women in skimpy outfits, drinking and drug
references. There are tired racial and ethnic stereotypes. Antihero
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) remains a fugitive from justice. After
his girlfriend is murdered, he reconnects with his sister (Jordana
Brewster) and FBI agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) looking for
revenge.
-- AN R:
"Observe and Report" -- It has arresting moments, but this
dark, nihilistic comedy lurches about, never settling on a tone. It
contains drug abuse and drinking, steaming profanity, a couple of
explicit sexual situations, and prolonged scenes of male frontal
nudity in the form of a flasher tearing through a shopping mall. The
mayhem includes fights, a police beating and gun violence. Comic actor
Seth Rogen plays Ronnie, the mall's stupid, racist, profane, bullying
head security guard. He longs to impress the trashy cosmetics
saleswoman, Brandi (Anna Faris). He also irritates a cop (Ray Liotta),
who rightly views him as an idiot. When Ronnie cares for his alcoholic
mom (Celia Weston) he earns a bit of sympathy. Not for under-17s.