Ingenious and funny, yet slightly melancholy with a harrowing climax, "Toy Story 3" will enthrall kids 7 and older, and grown-ups, too. The age recommendation reflects the poignancy of the theme about kids setting aside toys as they grow up.
And the scariness of the finale. Cowboy Woody, spaceman Buzz Lightyear and the other toys face a bittersweet life change, because Andy, their owner, is going to college.
Only Woody will be going away with Andy. The other toys hope they'll be put in the attic, but they are mistakenly donated to a day-care center.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The climax becomes very frightening. The humor kicks back in, but it is a grim interlude. Earlier in the film, the desolate atmosphere at the day-care center echoes classic prison films. There is mildly homophobic humor directed at Barbie's Ken and some toilet humor.
10 and older
THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE (PG). This live-action update, while not wildly inspired or precedent-setting, is imaginative and fun and likely to engage kids 10 and older. It takes into account the original fairy tale/poem by Goethe, the music it inspired by Paul Dukas and the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" section of Disney's "Fantasia." What the movie adds is a modern, sometimes cliched edge, electrically charged special effects and a charming performance by Jay Baruchel as a physics nerd and reluctant wizard, who becomes an apprentice to the oddball Balthazar, played by Nicolas Cage.
THE BOTTOM LINE: There is much kinetic mayhem. Threats by the evil Horvath and his minions would be chilling for kids younger than 10. A dragon in a parade comes to life and breathes fire. There is toilet humor.
DESPICABLE ME (PG). It took a while for this animated feature to win over the Family Filmgoer. At first, it seemed unfunny, grim and mean-spirited. But "Despicable Me" soon evolves into an inventive tale of a villain whose heart melts because of three little girls. Kids younger than 10 may be unsettled by the threatening tone in the film's early scenes. Gru is a baddie who's upset that someone else just stole the pyramids, because he wants that kind of glory. He vows to steal the moon. Gru adopts three little girls to use them to get into his competitor's lair. But a funny thing happens after the orphans come to live in Gru's mansion: Gru becomes a good guy.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Little kids might find Gru scary and his minions creepy, though they turn out to be very funny. There are childhood flashbacks showing Gru's mother belittling him. There is toilet humor.
THE LAST AIRBENDER (PG). Ponderous, blandly acted and an awkward mix of modernisms and borrowed bits of the Buddha legend, this movie could seem profound to many kids 10 and older. They'll enjoy the fantasy world. The Fire Nation has conquered and colonized other nations. A boy airbender known as the Avatar could commune with the spirit world and help stop the Fire Nation, but he has been missing for a century. A young waterbender, Katara, and her brother Sokka find the missing Avatar.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The bloodless battles feature fancy digital effects. There are skeletons of murdered monks. Evil Prince Zuko has a scarred face -- a burn we're told was inflicted by his father. It's interesting that the young Aang tried to avoid fulfilling his destiny as the Avatar. Kids may be fascinated by a calling.
PG- 13
INCEPTION. "Inception" exhibits both genius and tedium, but thankfully far more of the former than the latter. Teens into the most complex video and computer games and any sci-fi mind-control tales will jump into all 2 1/2 hours of Christopher Nolan's film with both feet. The tortuous storyline spins itself into quite a knot, but the plot details become less important than the film's overall concept and fabulously surreal visuals. What more can teen cinema buffs ask for than a movie about dreaming that uses the impossible physics inherent in that idea? Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom, who helps people safeguard secret information in their minds against idea thieves. He and his team are hired to plant a new idea into the mind of someone. The team's new dreamscape "architect" suspects that Dom has issues within his own subconscious involving his wife that could affect the whole project.
THE BOTTOM LINE: There is considerable gun play, and we see life-threatening injuries and a little blood. There are ongoing themes involving grief and suicide, occasional mild profanity and mild sexual innuendo. Intellectually, this film will probably do better with high-schoolers.
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE. The emotional and sexual tug-of-war escalates and evolves between high-school seniors Bella Swan, her vampire love, Edward Cullen, and her werewolf friend, Jacob. One could wish this teen-angsty film took itself less seriously. Still, "Eclipse" fills a need for teen audiences with its mix of fantasy, "real life" and artistic pretensions. Edward wants Bella to marry him. Jacob tries to make Bella realize she loves him, too. Edward's vampire clan and Jacob's werewolf pack form an uneasy alliance to fight a rogue army of new vampires.
THE BOTTOM LINE: "Eclipse" is okay for high-schoolers and some middle-schoolers. The sexual tension is heightened, though still innocent. The prologue shows a man attacked by a vampire. The climactic battle is mostly special effects with no blood. The werewolves are the scariest element for younger kids. There is rare mild profanity.
0 comments:
Post a Comment