-- “African Cats: This flawed Disney nature documentary, supposedly geared to family audiences, follows the lives of a few lions and cheetahs in the Masai Mara National Reserve in Southwestern Kenya for more than two years.The camerawork is intimate and beautiful, but the animal violence is far more intense than a G-rating implies, and parents of kids under 10 could be blindsided. The camera shows the capture or the fight, but cuts away before the kill; hurt animals may limp, but we don’t see injuries; when cats feed on carcasses, we don’t see the innards. The other issue is the embarrassing, overheated narration (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), which shamelessly humanizes the creatures, turning their lives into melodrama.
-- “Rio”: Kids 6 and older will have a lively, funny, educational (sorry, but it’s true) time at “Rio,” a 3-D animated delight about a rare macaw named Blu (voice of Jesse Eisenberg). As a fledgling from Brazil, Blu is taken to the U.S. with other poached birds, but is rescued by young Linda. When she grows up, an ornithologist convinces her to take Blu to Brazil to mate with a female in his sanctuary. But the two birds are kidnapped and must escape. Scenes in which the non-flying birds try to flee can be intense; there’s also an injury. We see a roomful of caged birds portrayed as in an old-fashioned insane asylum. The film does a beautiful and subtle job hinting at poverty in Rio.
-- “Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil”: While it’s OK fare for kids 8 and older (younger kids might be scared at times), this animated sequel in uneven 3-D lacks the charm of the original. “Hoodwinked!” spoofed fairy tales in a glib, modern style that was funny and clever. This time, the humor seems forced and old-hat. The filmmakers use the “Hansel and Gretel” story to make nasty-German jokes that were tired 30 years ago, and which kids won’t get. Red (voice of Hayden Panettiere) is now studying martial arts and high-end cooking with a group called Sisters of the Hood. Then the frog Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers), who runs the secret Happily Ever After agency, gets word to her that a witch (Joan Cusack) who lives in a gingerbread house has kidnapped Hansel and Gretel and plans to cook them. The many action sequences, most more comic than harrowing, do seem more intense in 3-D. Characters engage in martial arts fights and Red uses part of her cape as a bungee cord. Ogre-like creatures wear sumo wrestler-style thongs. There is toilet humor and an occasional adult-style insult such as “dirtbags.”
-- “Soul Surfer”: A heavy-handed, overlong blend of faith-based drama and sports saga, “Soul Surfer” may appeal to some kids in middle-school and beyond, with its emotional true-story elements and impressive surfing footage. AnnaSophia Robb plays real-life competitive surfer Bethany Hamilton, who as a teen lost an arm in a shark attack while surfing. Bethany’s injury proves a real test for her strongly Christian, surf-loving parents (Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt) and home-schooled siblings. After an epiphany on a trip to aid tsunami victims in Thailand, Bethany regains her spirit and ability to surf competitively. The actual shark attack is portrayed very briefly and the loss of Bethany’s arm is not shown graphically. However, right after the attack there is plenty of blood in the water. After she heals, we see a stump (digitally created). Other intense elements in the film are emotional stress for Bethany and her family, and rather harrowing surfing competitions.
-- “Hop”: Kids 8 and older as well as parents can’t help but get a charge out of “Hop.” Kids 6 to 8 may also have fun, but miss a lot of the jokes. This animation/live-action mix has a sharply funny script and droll characterizations. E.B. (voice of Russell Brand) is the wayward son of the reigning Easter Bunny (Hugh Laurie) on Rapa Nui/Easter Island in the South Pacific. But E.B. wants to be a drummer, not take over his dad’s position supervising the making of candy for Easter baskets and delivering them around the world. So E.B. sneaks away to Los Angeles in search of fame. Fred (James Marsden), an unemployed 30-something living with his parents, nearly runs E.B. over, and E.B. takes advantage of that guilt to endear himself. Possible concerns: E.B. proves to Fred that he is who he says he is by pooping jelly beans. The battle between rebellious marshmallow chicks and bunnies is mostly funny, but the militaristic minions of chicks and some of the aerial-style fighting could unsettle the youngest kids. The religious aspect of Easter is not dealt with in this film.
-- “Fast Five”: This is more suited to high-schoolers, as it depicts extremely violent fights and vehicular chases and barely avoids an R rating by not getting too close when the bullet or heavy metal pierces the victim. Even the chases, while breathtakingly staged, imply tremendous danger to bystanders and property. Key characters from the other films in the “Fast and Furious” drag-racing series turn up. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is sentenced to prison as the film opens, but ex-lawman Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and his love Mia (Jordana Brewster), who is Dom’s sister, stage a daring crash and free him. Now resigned to living as outlaws, though nonviolent ones, they meet in Brazil and stage a car heist on a train. The dialogue is surprisingly non-profane. Perhaps that was the trade-off for all the violence in order to keep the PG-13 rating. There is, however, some profanity, including rare use of the F-word. The sexual slang and innuendo in the guys’ banter gets pretty crude, but not obscene. Women at a drag racing site in Rio dress in extremely scanty clothes. A mafioso makes an implied threat against an infant.
-- “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family”: Director, writer, and actor Tyler Perry continues his broadly comic, baldly emotional, usually critic-proof exploration of middle-class African-American life, revisiting many of the same characters. This oneis iffy for middle-schoolers because of its many adult themes, among them incest, teen pregnancy and drug-dealing, plus a character who smokes pot on camera. This installment is a shapeless and rambling saga that will be a bit of a yawn for many high-scoolers. Perry makes occasional drag appearances as the battle-ax Madea, who sets misbehaving teens straight with a smack. Madea and her pals use lots of crude, but not very profane language, with lusty sexual references to sex. We hear the story of a girl who was raped by a family member and had a child at 13. Teens influenced by watching their parents fight are rude to adults – until Madea smacks them. A comic subplot involves the paternity of Madea’s daughter Cora (Tamela Mann). Parents opposed to corporal punishment may have issues with Madea’s hands-on approach to discipline.
-- “Water for Elephants”: A handsomely rendered, romantic drama set in a Depression-era traveling circus, “Water for Elephants” (based on Sarah Gruen’s 2006 novel), despite its built-in cliches, offers teens gobs of emotional intensity and old-timey atmosphere. However, the villain mistreats circus animals, so kids should be aware. The story opens with an elderly Jacob (Hal Holbrook) telling of his adventures: Flashback to 1931. the young Jacob (a too-passive Robert Pattinson) hits the road and jumps unknowingly aboard the circus train. He falls immediately for the beautiful Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), a star horse rider and wife of the tyrannical owner, August (Christoph Waltz). August hires Jacob as the company’s vet. Scenes in which an elephant is hit with a sharp hook, amid roars of pain, are partly off-camera and faked with digital effects. The action includes rough fights, with knives and batons. Characters drink and smoke; there is a nonexplicit sexual situation. A stripper act implies toplessness and the script includes occasional crude language.
-- “Arthur”: The original 1981 comedy hit was a nearly perfect little farce-with-heart, with an emotional core that the new, cruder remake lacks. Arthur’s perpetual drunkenness has become politically incorrect, so the remake tosses in Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to acknowledge this. Russell Brand, the new Arthur, is a talented, but chilly, self-absorbed actor, which hurts the film. The character remains a witty, promiscuous, thirty-something man-child who lives off his trust fund and is overseen by his nanny, Hobson (Helen Mirren). Forced to become engaged to the gorgeous but tyrannical Susan (Jennifer Garner) or lose his money, he meets Naomi (Greta Gerwig), the two have an instant spark and the plot thickens. Besides the portrayal of drunkenness, the film contains considerable strong sexual innuendo, jokes hinting at kinky sexual encounters and nonexplicit sexual situations. It also includes occasional midrange profanity, drug references, and toilet humor. There is a sad subplot about illness and death.
-- “Hanna”: Too violent for middle-schoolers, “Hanna” will literally transport high-schoolers who like brainy action flicks. It takes an old genre about retired spies pursued by their former bosses to wild new places, but never loses its emotional ballast. Erik (Eric Bana) lives with his daughter Hanna (amazing Saoirse Ronan) in a remote cabin near the Arctic Circle. He’s been training her as a teen assassin who can shoot, fight, hunt and survive on her own. Hanna flips a switch, which alerts others of their whereabouts and the chase is on. “Hanna” goes well into R-ish territory for the intensity and startling nature of its violence, portraying lethal point-blank shootings, neck-breaking fights, stabbings, hangings, and more. The movie doesn’t show graphic injuries, but there is spattered blood. We also see dead, skinned animals. The script contain occasional profanity, including the F-word, mild sexual innuendo, adult characters recalling their youthful promiscuity, and teen characters discussing sexual experimentation.
-- “Source Code”: Teens who like science-fiction and just plain science, as well as cerebral thrillers, will totally get into this ingenious film. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Colter Stevens, a recent war vet who wakes up on a train on the outskirts of Chicago. His flirtatious seatmate Christina (Michelle Monaghan) seems to know him, but he doesn’t know her. After the train blows up. Colter awakens in a kind of capsule and eventually realizes he’s part of a scientific experiment and must keep going back onto the train for eight-minute intervals to try to prevent the explosion. The premise is developed to thrilling, character-deepening effect. The repeated explosions do not involve the depiction of serious injuries. However, fights that Gyllenhaal’s character gets into are rough and occasionally lethal. There is occasional midrange profanity. The idea of a nuclear terror device possibly going off near a major city is a key plot point and highly unsettling.
-- “Limitless”: Smart, visually kicky, and posing intriguing moral questions, “Limitless” takes the idea of mind-focusing drugs and runs into sci-fi territory. Bradley Cooper is Eddie, an ineffectual wannabe writer. He bumps into his drug-dealing former brother-in-law (Johnny Whitworth), who offers him a hot little pill to sharpen his mind. Eddie soon seduces his landlord’s wife, cleans his apartment, writes his novel, makes a killing on the stock market and impresses a financial mogul (Robert De Niro), who hires him. He’s hooked on the drug, but his brother-in-law is murdered and Eddie has only a limited supply. More for high-schoolers, the level of violence comes close to R territory, with high-caliber gunfire, eye-stabbings, face-gashings, bone-cracking fistfights and much blood. There are some sexual situations, a suicide theme, drug abuse, characters smoke some, drink heavily and occasionally vomit. The script contains midrange profanity.
-- “Scream 4”: High-school-age slasher-flick fans (with parental permission and strong stomachs) will judge this savvy update a bloody hoot as a slasher flick about slasher flicks and the people who love them. It is definitely not for middle-schoolers. It’s worth noting that the teen characters, all slasher film geeks, exhibit a disturbing sarcasm and emotional numbness to “real” murder. “Scream” heroine Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is back in Woodsboro, selling a book about her experiences as the killer’s longtime harassment target; lone survivor. Dewey (David Arquette) is now the sheriff, married to one-time TV reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox). They’re chilled that the murders start again but the local teens (including Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere and Rory Culkin) seem more thrilled. The killings are very bloody, with sounds of the knife cutting into flesh. Only one murder (with a blood-spatteredroom and disemboweled victim) is exceptionally gross. There is strong profanity, but relatively mild sexual innuendo and semi-crude sexual slang. Teen characters drink.
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