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"Bratz" (PG, 1 hr., 38 min.)
Girls between, say, 6 and 12 are the prime targets of this confection. A live-action movie about four high-school friends, based on the Bratz "fashion dolls," it will strike many adults as a syrupy "self-esteem" sermon about how we're all special. Yet an army of girls at a preview attended by The Family Filmgoer were thrilled to see their toys get real on-screen, with cool costume changes and accessorizing. And the film offers positive messages, with its focus (like the dolls) on effortlessly mixed-race and multiethnic characters, along with its anti-clique stance. Only a curmudgeon (who, moi?) would note that the racial and ethnic diversity seems strictly cosmetic while the dominant cultural tone echoes suburban mall chic. Even so, little in the film will give parents much pause, though the girls' dress and dance styles seem overly sensual for the 15- to 17-ish age group portrayed. That's just a different generation talking.
Yasmin (Nathalia Ramos) is Latin-Jewish and loves to sing, though she has too much stage fright to try out for chorus. Jade (Janel Parrish) -- who's mother is Asian and father is White -- is a science whiz, and a fashionista who can whip up her own and others' outfits. Sasha (Logan Browning) is African-American and a star cheerleader. Cloe (Skyler Shaye) is a soccer talent, but a klutz off the field. The four friends start high school as pals, but get caught up in exclusive groups involving their various specialties and have a falling out. Two years later, they reconcile, dub themselves Bratz, stand up to Meredith (Chelsea Staub), the school's mean teen queen, and work to get beyond cliques.
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"Becoming Jane" (PG, 1 hr., 53 min.) (LIMITED RELEASE)
This lovely film, which will appeal to many teen girls, even if they're not avid readers, remains essentially true to Jane Austen's voice. Scholars have worried over how "Becoming Jane" would fictionalize the author's life and whether it would sentimentalize and trivialize her talent. The film uses factual fragments to imagine a romance that probably never happened. Yet it is a pleasure to watch -- concocting events and repartee in Austen's young adulthood that might have provided inspiration for passages and characters in her books. In a fine, nuanced portrayal, Anne Hathaway's Jane glows as a brilliant young woman, compelled to put pen to paper and unwilling to stifle her talent or to suffer fools. Gorgeous design details and a fine cast -- James Cromwell as her clergyman father, Julie Walters as her mother, Maggie Smith as the local rich dowager -- bring genteel English country life, circa 1800, vividly to the screen. Irishman Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy) who briefly sweeps Jane off her feet with talk of books and passion is the film's biggest fiction. He combines traits of Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice" and other Austen heroes and cads. The movie includes a briefly frisky bedroom moment between her parents, chaste sexual innuendo among younger people, and a kiss. Characters drink, and ladies at a London inn dress and flirt like prostitutes.
P.S. FOR TEENS: The best thing to do after seeing "Becoming Jane" is to read Jane Austen's actual books -- "Pride and Prejudice," "Sense and Sensibility," "Emma," "Northanger Abbey," "Mansfield Park," and "Persuasion." Sure, it would be easy to rent all the movies based on her books, but those movies got made because the books were so good. Read them first.
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"The Bourne Ultimatum" (PG-13, 1 hr., 51 min.)
The chickens come home to roost in this hyperkinetic thriller -- the concluding film adaption of Robert Ludlum's trilogy ("The Bourne Identity," 2002 and "The Bourne Supremacy," 2004, also PG-13s). All were updated from the author's Cold War settings to a post-millennial, terror-conscious world. A stunning piece of filmmaking, "The Bourne Ultimatum" ought to leave high-school action flick aficionados truly entertained, even as it questions the morality of secret, extra-legal operations in this new age. While the profanity is mild and sexual content nil, the level of violence, as in the earlier two films, approaches R range in the bone-crushing fights, lethality of gunplay, and occasional bloodiness. The foot chases and car pursuits not only last longer, they are breathlessly, dizzyingly shot and edited and not for the weak of stomach, as the action leaps off roofs, or winds through the narrow streets of old Tangier.
Director Paul Greengrass' nervous lens mirrors Jason Bourne's (Matt Damon) heightened state of awareness and paranoia as he races to overcome his amnesia, learn how he gave up his identity to become a CIA assassin and discover why the CIA wants him dead. (There are flashbacks to his training, which look a bit like torture.) Bourne, whose lover was murdered in the second film, is forced back into the game after a London journalist (Paddy Considine) publishes a story about the secret program in which Bourne trained. Only one CIA honcho thinks Bourne is on the level and she (Joan Allen) has a rival (David Strathairn) who wants Bourne dead.
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BEYOND THE RATINGS GAME
-- OK FOR 6 AND OLDER:
"Bratz" PG (NEW) (Girls 6 to 12 will delight in this live-action feature based on the Bratz "fashion dolls," while adults may cringe at the syrupy, everyone's-special preachment; the film does offer positive messages, with its focus (like the dolls) on mixed-race and multiethnic characters, and its anti-clique stance -- even if the racial and ethnic diversity seems strictly cosmetic and the tone is suburban-mall chic; cheerleader Sasha (Logan Browning), science whiz/fashionista Jade (Janel Parrish), shy singer Yasmin (Nathalia Ramos) and soccer player Cloe (Skyler Shaye) are pals as they enter high school, but get pulled into different cliques; they reconcile, take on the school's mean girl (Chelsea Staub) and the cliques. Little to give parents pause, though to older generations, the girls' dress and dance moves seem overly sensual.)
-- MORE ACCESSIBLE TO KIDS 10 AND OLDER:
"Arctic Tale" G (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Beautifully shot, but incredibly cloying "nature film" -- a simplified, sentimentalized global-warming documentary -- follows the parallel lives of a polar bear mother and her cubs and a walrus mother and her pups, giving them names and personalities in a sugary narration intoned by Queen Latifah, backed by a treacly musical score; the film examines how melting of Arctic ice is changing the animals' lives; attacks by predators or death from exposure or malnutrition are shown and could upset some, but they are softened and nongraphic.)
"No Reservations" PG (Initially airy romantic family comedy grows soggy -- unlikely to hold kids' interest and marred by slightly miscast adult leads; Catherine Zeta-Jones as Kate, a stern, emotionally bottled-up gourmet chef whose sister dies in a car crash, making her sole guardian of a 9-year-old niece (Abigail Breslin) and clueless how to care for her; Aaron Eckhart as a fun-loving assistant chef hired to help in the restaurant; Kate wavers between grief, fear of failing her niece and job paranoia over a man she's also drawn to. Key theme involves child's trauma over her mother's death; film's portrayal of grief is its strongest element, but makes it too intense for some preteens; adults drinking and at times drunk; understated kissing scene leads to implied overnight tryst.)
"Hairspray" PG (Exuberant adaptation of the Broadway musical based on John Waters' original 1988 film (PG), about fearless, plump Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), a teen in early 1960s Baltimore who infuriates the producer (Michelle Pfeiffer) of a local TV teen dance show by agitating for it to be integrated; Tracy and her pal (Amanda Bynes) befriend African-American classmate Seaweed (Elijah Kelley) and his mom, Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah), emcee of monthly "Negro Day" on the show; John Travolta plays Tracy's mom, Edna (a role played by men since the first film); in fat-suit, wig and Baltimore-ese, his dainty Edna is a treat; she and hubby Wilbur (ideal Christopher Walken) have a lovely song-and-dance. Sexual innuendo, either euphemistic or visually subtle enough so most preteens won't get it (some will, of course); suggestive dance moves; implied teen pregnancy; pregnant women and others smoke, drink. A fun, irreverent dose of cultural history for most kids 10 and up, and all teens.)
"Ratatouille" G (Gorgeous, deftly written computer-animated fable about following your bliss; young French rat Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt) has a genius for food and rejects his family's love of garbage and hatred of humans; he lands in a Paris restaurant, bonds with a gawky kitchen boy (Lou Romano) and turns him into a chef by hiding in the guy's hat. Remy and his (at times swarming) rat pals have cute pink noses, but will still chill the rodent-phobic; harrowing scenes when he is nearly trampled, or chased by humans with guns and meat cleavers; store selling rat poison displays dead rats; wine-drinking; drunkenness. "Ratatouille" preceded by "Lifted," a droll animated short about space aliens clumsily abducting a man, partly baring his behind.)
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY AND ARTY PGs MORE FOR TEENS:
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (NEW) (Hyperkinetic thriller -- gloriously dizzying and paranoid -- is a stunning finale to the Bourne trilogy ("The Bourne Identity," 2002; "The Bourne Supremacy," 2004, also PG-13s), updating Robert Ludlum's Cold War novels to the terror-laced present; Matt Damon as amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne, gets to the source of his secret training, who he used to be, and why most (but not all) higher-ups in the agency want him dead. Violence approaches R levels in bone-crushing fights, lethal gunplay, blood; protracted foot chases, car pursuits are breathlessly shot and edited could actually induce motion sickness in some; mild profanity; no sexual content. High-school-age thriller buffs.)
"Becoming Jane" PG (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Lovely film won't please Jane Austen purists, but its clever imagining of romance in the author's early years makes Jane (in Anne Hathaway's smart, glowing portrayal) a character in an Austenesque story, finding and losing romance, seizing literary inspiration from events around her; an Irish lawyer (James McAvoy) nearly wins her heart, embodying traits of Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice" and the cads and heroes in all her books; a fine cast and gorgeous design make genteel rural England, circa 1800, feel real. Briefly frisky bedroom moment between Jane's parents; chaste sexual innuendo among younger people; a kiss; characters drink; ladies at a London inn seem to be prostitutes.)
"Vitus" PG (LIMITED RELEASE) (Poignant, if predictable tale of a young Swiss piano prodigy (Fabrizio Borsani as 6-year-old Vitus, Teo Gheorghiu as 12-year-old Vitus) whose mother (Julika Jenkins) and dad (Urs Jucker) push him too hard; he seeks solace with his grandfather (Bruno Ganz); fine portrayal of well-intentioned parents who live through their kids without understanding them. Rare mild profanity; adults drink; a child drinks champagne; smoking; boy's dangerous escape attempt. In German with subtitles. Fine intro to European films for teens.)
"Hot Rod" (NEW) (Excruciating doofus flick mines for laughs and finds none in sophomoric saga of klutzy, naive stuntman wannabe ("Saturday Night Live" cast member Andy Samberg), determined to impress his bullying stepdad (Ian McShane) by jumping a row of school buses Evel Knievel-style on a moped; the prize money would pay for his stepdad's heart transplant; Isla Fisher as the nice girl next door; Will Arnett as her snarky boyfriend. Gross humor; crude language; sexual innuendo; beer; drug humor; graphic description of fatal accident; "Jackass"-style stunts; video of dogs mating; fistfights. Teens, if they must.)
"The Simpsons Movie" (Mighty funny animated feature-length episode of iconic TV series loses momentum only briefly in the middle; boneheaded Homer Simpson (voice of Dan Castellaneta) dumps pig poo into Lake Springfield, causing such pollution that the EPA puts a dome over the town; Homer, Marge (Julie Kavner) and the kids escape being lynched by townsfolk and flee to Alaska. Often tasteless and politically incorrect, but never raunchy: Homer dares son Bart (voice of Nancy Cartwright) to skateboard naked, offering a glimpse of Bart's sketchily drawn "doodle"; characters drink and smoke -- including, at times, kids; evangelical Christianity spoofed; mildly crude language; rare profanity; start of a bedroom scene with Homer and Marge; two gay policemen kiss, then disappear into a motel; bomb-detecting robot commits suicide. More esoteric gags will be lost on kids 10 to 13, but -- with a parental OK -- they will find it highly amusing, as will teens on up.)
"I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" (Cheesy comedy spews tasteless anti-gay gags, then tries to preach tolerance; Adam Sandler and Kevin James as firefighter pals who enter into a same-sex marriage to get life insurance benefits for widower Larry's (James) kids; insensitive subplot about Larry's grade-school son (Cole Morgen), who may be gay. Surprisingly explicit sexual humor, slang; veiled references to arousal; suggestive dancing; shower scene in firehouse protracted don't-drop-the-soap joke; a man handles a woman's breasts to see if they're real; caddish Chuck (Sandler) cavorts with several women at once; cheap laughs at heavy people, ethnic stereotypes; gross joke about burned rat; toilet humor; marijuana reference; much profanity. Not for middle-schoolers or 'tweens.)
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (Wizard-in-training Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) at 15 feels alienation and foreboding in this gripping, somber meditation on the trials faced by all truth-tellers, based on J.K. Rowling's fifth book; the Minister of Magic (Robert Hardy) makes Harry a pariah for allegedly lying about his fight with evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) -- as portrayed in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (PG-13, 2005); cruel Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) joins Hogwarts to impose the Ministry's Taliban-esque rules; Harry teaches his friends in secret so they'll be able to fight Voldemort; climactic battle is quite chilling. Skeletal spirits could spook younger kids, but Voldemort's awful face is the creepiest sight; Umbridge etches words on Harry's hand as if by an invisible knife; younger kids may shrink from gamekeeper Hagrid's (Robbie Coltrane) giant half brother, the childlike Grawp; gross humor about boils; adults drink. Parents of younger kids might want to screen it first.)
"Transformers" (Giant, robotic, morphing space aliens -- good Autobots and evil Decepticons -- do battle on Earth in sci-fi action flick based on Transformer action figures -- a great-looking blend of live filming and digital effects; vivid human characters prevent film from drowning in techno trivia; teen hero Sam's (Shia LaBeouf) car, an old yellow Camaro, turns out to be the Autobot Bumblebee (voice of Mark Ryan) in disguise; Sam and the object of his lust, Mikaela (Megan Fox), ally with Bumblebee and Autobot leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen). Intense, bloodless mayhem: younger kids may cringe seeing Transformers morph into huge robot warriors; strong sexual innuendo, slang, verbal reference to masturbation; rare profanity; mild ethnic, misogynistic slurs; drug reference; adults drink. Too much sexual content for preteens.)
-- R's:
"El Cantante" (NEW) (First-rate biopic -- richly musical, handsomely stylized -- about Puerto Rican-born salsa singing star Hector Lavoe, from his 1960s start through his drug-plagued descent (he died of AIDS in 1993); singer Marc Anthony sounds great and portrays Lavoe as childlike, dissolute and gifted; Anthony's wife, Jennifer Lopez, tears up scenery as Lavoe's tough, New Yorker wife, Puchi; the tempestuous union provides melodrama that weaves in and out of the music. Graphic drug use; drinking; smoking; some violence; talk of a child killed in a gun accident; sexual situations with some explicitness; talk of group sex; mental illness, suicide themes; strong profanity. 17 and older.)
"Sunshine" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Visually stunning sci-fi space adventure set 50 years in the future, about a mission to save Earth by reigniting the dying sun; ways in which the crew (Cliff Curtis, Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Chris Evans as key people) face the probably fatal mission, their fascination with the sun's deadly rays, make for an exciting tale with stark psychological overtones, but an unnecessarily obscure narrative. Bloody fights, stabbings; an apparent suicide; characters melting, freezing to death; profanity. OK for most teens.)
"Talk to Me" (LIMITED RELEASE) (Edgy, engaging, fact-based drama about Washington, D.C., radio deejay Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene (Don Cheadle); just out of prison in the late 1960s, with a tell-it-like-it-is gift of gab; powerful sequence depicts D.C. riots after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, with Greene and radio exec Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) on-air, trying to calm people down. Searing profanity; racial slurs; crude sexual slang; explicit sexual situation; drug references; understated street violence; backview nudity; suggestive dancing; drinking; smoking; toilet humor. Cinema and cultural history buffs 17 and up.)
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