From the ArcaMax Publishing, Family Film Reviews Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/familyfilms/s-555148-689587
"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.