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"The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" (PG, 1 hr., 45 min.)
This lovely little entertainment sort of sneaked into theaters on Christmas Day. "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" gracefully blends adventure and special effects with an old-fashioned story and is ideal fare for kids 10 and older. Based in part on the book by Dick King-Smith (who most famously wrote the story of "Babe," the sheepherding piglet), it is about the bond between a lonely, fatherless little boy and a magical, mythical water creature in World War II-era Scotland. (The echoes of "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," PG, 1982, are strong.) The legend of the Loch Ness Monster is woven intriguingly into the fable. It isn't the charming computer-generated creature -- a mix of dragon, dolphin and dinosaur, with puppy-dog eyes -- that makes "The Water Horse" so engaging. It is the Everyboy nature of freckle-faced Alex Etel, who plays young Angus MacMorrow, plus all the other well-acted adult characters, the lived-in 1940s setting, and the mountain and lake scenery that make the movie such an overall pleasure. The low-key special effects only go wild at key moments, as when the water horse takes Angus on a spectacular ride on -- and under -- Loch Ness.
Not really for kids under 10, the film deals briskly with the idea of death in war and the loss of a parent. Military men bully Angus a bit, and adults are seen drinking and smoking. A barking bulldog chases the baby water horse and nearly catches it. Later, the giant full-grown creature is in danger when soldiers fire anti-submarine artillery into its new home, Loch Ness. There are scary thunderstorms, and we see a dead deer. Mild sexual innuendo sparks between adult characters, and there is mild profanity.
Told as a flashback from the present day, when an older man (Brian Cox) in a pub spins the tale to skeptical American tourists, Angus' story takes place in 1942, when his mother (Emily Watson) is housekeeper at a great lodge near Loch Ness. His father is off in the war and you get the sense he isn't coming back and that Angus is in denial. Playing in a shallow tide pool one day, he finds a large egg-shaped rock and takes it home. Overnight it hatches into an adorable, bumptious wee thing that quickly grows into a gentle monster. The new handyman (Ben Chaplin) tells Angus and his sister (Priyanka Xi) that it may be a mythical Celtic water horse. Angus gains courage as he tries to keep the creature safe.
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BEYOND THE RATINGS GAME
-- OK FOR KIDS 6 AND OLDER:
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" (PG) -- A genial, occasionally very funny update of the nearly 50-year-old franchise, "Alvin and the Chipmunks" mixes live-action and computer animation to tell a farcical tale that aims most of its wit at little kids and not grown-ups, for a change. Oft-rejected songwriter Dave (Jason Lee) discovers three talking chipmunks -- mischievous Alvin (voice of Justin Long), studious Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler) and babyish Theodore (Jesse McCartney) -- have infiltrated his home. He freaks at first. Then he hears them sing and writes them a hit. The PG covers chipmunk poop and "smelly behind" gags, mild human sexual innuendo and the chipmunks briefly wired on coffee. OK for under-6s.
--OK FOR KIDS 10 AND OLDER:
"The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" (PG; NEW) -- A welcome throwback to an older kind of storytelling and ideal for kids 10 and older, this movie gracefully blends adventure, special effects, vivid atmospherics and real character development. Based in part on the book by Dick King-Smith (who famously wrote the story of "Babe," the sheepherding piglet), it makes clever use of the Loch Ness Monster legend in the story of a lonely little boy living near the loch during World War II, and the magical water creature whose egg he finds in a tide pool. It hatches as an adorable, bumptious mix of dragon and dolphin that soon grows huge. Young Angus (wonderful Alex Etel), a shy kid unable to deal with the fact that his dad may not come home from the war, risks all to hide and protect it. The muted special effects only soar at key moments, as when the water horse gives Angus a spectacular ride on -- and under -- Loch Ness. Not really for kids under 10, the film deals straightforwardly with the idea of death in war and the loss of a parent. Military men bully Angus and adults are seen drinking and smoking. A bulldog chases the baby water horse and nearly catches it. Later, the gigantic full-grown creature is in danger when soldiers fire deafening artillery into Loch Ness, its new home. There are scary thunderstorms and we see a dead deer. Muted sexual innuendo sparks between adult characters, and there is mild profanity.
"National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (PG) -- This sequel (to "National Treasure" PG, 2004) is just an overlong scavenger hunt that waters down history, but it moves briskly and good actors in cool locations lend credibility to the silliness. Kids 10 and older should be entertained. Armed with factoids and ciphers, the heroes nose around Buckingham Palace, the Library of Congress, Mt. Rushmore and the Oval Office. A stranger (Ed Harris) shows treasure hunter Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) and his dad (Jon Voight) evidence their ancestor was part of the plot to assassinate Lincoln. Ben, his dad, his archivist ex-love (Diane Kruger), his computer geek pal (Justin Bartha), and his professor mom (Helen Mirren) all set out to prove otherwise. The film nongraphically re-enacts the assassination and includes another gun death, gun and car mayhem, foot chases on shaky scaffolding, floods, sexual innuendo and toilet humor.
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"The Great Debaters" -- An inspired debate team from tiny, historically black Wiley College in 1930s Texas eventually takes on Harvard in this inspiring tale -- fictionalized, but based on real events and people. Though a bit disjointed, the film is so full of passion, atmosphere and vivid characters that it clicks. Denzel Washington (who directed) plays Mel Tolson, debate coach, poet, professor and activist. Forest Whitaker plays famous preacher, Dr. James Farmer Sr., whose son (Denzel Whitaker, no relation to either star) is on the team. While driving, Tolson and his star debaters (also Jurnee Smollett and Nate Parker) witness a lynching. They see the charred victim hanging from a tree, as a crowd of whites, including children, watches. Some middle-schoolers won't be ready for this, but it is a fine dramatization of history for teens able to handle it. The film also shows vigilantes threatening a meeting (we later see a man's battered face), drinking, mildly erotic dancing, a subtly implied sexual situation, a knife fight, racial slurs, rare profanity and a pig killed by a car.
"P.S. I Love You" -- A young widow (Hilary Swank) grieves inconsolably for her husband (Gerard Butler in flashbacks) and is healed by a series of letters he secretly wrote on his deathbed to nudge her back into the world in this cloying, dumbed-down movie. Teens who love romantic stories may laugh, cry and enjoy it, but they should also check out "Truly Madly Deeply" (PG, 1990) to see how classy a tale of love and grief can be. Lisa Kudrow is fun as the heroine's eccentric single pal. The film has mildish sexual innuendo, a male striptease (down to boxer shorts), hints of marital sexual situations, an implied unwed overnight tryst, occasional profanity and crude sexual humor, backview nudity, and drinking.
"I Am Legend" -- Will Smith is terrific as a military medical researcher who seems to be the lone immune survivor of a plague that has emptied Manhattan and the world of humans in this nifty -- if illogical -- sci-fi thriller based on Richard Matheson's novel. He and his dog troll around an artfully decimated Big Apple, gathering supplies, hunting deer, and holing up after dark, when rabid zombies transformed by the virus come out. There are flashbacks of the evacuation of Manhattan, with the faces of the infected slamming against car windows, and the implied deaths of the hero's wife and child in the chaos. Gory scenes show him fighting off zombies and there are bloody animal deaths. A bit much for middle-schoolers, the movie will speak existentially to high-schoolers.
"Juno" (LIMITED RELEASE) -- A smart 16-year-old named Juno (fab Ellen Page), with major attitude and a heart of gold, gets pregnant and chooses an ideal-seeming upscale couple (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) to adopt her child. This comedy from way off-center is a blast of fresh air visually, verbally, musically and in its acting. There is one brief, mostly implied sexual situation, followed by a lot of teen discussion of sex and semigraphic sexual slang, toilet humor (pregnancy tests) and some profanity. The movie really isn't for middle-schoolers or even immature high-schoolers. Some parents may want to screen it first.
-- R's:
"Alien vs. Predator: Requiem" (NEW) -- This horror sequel (to "Alien vs. Predator," PG-13, 2004, and related video games) will be nearly incomprehensible to the uninitiated, as it gives no back story. Folks in a small Colorado town fall victim to the blood-and-guts lust of rival extraterrestrials who crash land nearby. The creatures are based on those from the original "Alien" (R, 1979) and "Predator" (R, 1987) films and their sequels. The slimy, reptilian Alien babies still pop out of the chests of humans whose bodies have been invaded, and the Predator is still a robotic killing machine who can go invisible. This film adds an Alien-Predator hybrid, and an uber-Predator. Actors try to make sense of the dialogue when they're not getting impaled, flayed, gutted, or having their heads blown off. Pregnant women in a hospital are also victims. The film has profanity and sexual innuendo, too. OK for sci-fi horror buffs 16 and up.
"There Will Be Blood" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) -- Daniel Day-Lewis cuts an impressive figure as a Western oil baron at the dawn of the 20th century -- a man consumed by his own greed and ruthlessness -- in this gritty epic, based on the novel "Oil!" by Upton Sinclair. While Day-Lewis' performance can be over-the-top and over-thought at times, the film is riveting. It looks like an old daguerreotype photograph. Director Paul Thomas Anderson traces a rivalry between the oil man and a fire-and-brimstone preacher (Paul Dano), both equally ruthless and at times mendacious, as a metaphor for the American soul. The film shows two murders, one a graphic bludgeoning, as well as fatal oil field accidents and a child in jeopardy. It contains sexual innuendo that implies a brothel, a verbal reference to child-beating, profanity, drinking and smoking. For teens 16 and older into serious films.
"Charlie Wilson's War" -- This crackerjack true-life tale of political maneuvering never takes a wrong turn. It is not for under-16s, as it features drug use, drinking, smoking, nudity and strong profanity. There are nongraphic hints of sexual situations and much objectification of women. The film shows war violence, refugee camps and maimed children. Charlie Wilson (a twinkly-eyed Tom Hanks) is a 1980s Texas congressman known as a ladies' man of iffy ethics, yet he works doggedly to get weapons to Afghan freedom fighters trying to push out Soviet invaders. Philip Seymour Hoffman steals scenes as a renegade CIA man, as does Julia Roberts as a glam Texas heiress. It's a huge irony that many of the Afghan fighters later became Taliban and al-Qaeda. For political junkies 16 and up.
"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" -- Director Tim Burton's witty, eye-popping adaptation of the mostly-sung stage classic (by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler) is harrowing fun. When vengeance-crazed Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp, singing well) slits throats, the red blood splatters over him and the gorgeous, charcoal-hued rendering of 19th-century London. Todd's prey is the judge (Alan Rickman) who sent him to prison and destroyed his family, but he "shaves" other clients to death in his barber's chair for practice. Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, who bakes Todd's victims into pies, is droll, but garbles lyrics. The R also reflects sexual innuendo, a boy guzzling gin, implications of sexual slavery and child abuse, and images of corpses, body parts, rats and roaches. For film and musical buffs 16 and older.
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