From the ArcaMax Publishing, Family Film Reviews Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/familyfilms/s-550444-135677
"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historical references until parents explain, but they will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.