Toy Story & Toy Story 2 Double Feature in Disney Digital 3D (G ...
Toy Story & Toy Story 2 Double Feature in Disney Digital 3D (G, 188 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission)
There's no reason why kids who love the "Toy Story" films and are looking forward to "Toy Story 3" (coming out next June) won't enjoy seeing the first two films digitally remastered with 3-D effects. The difference is mainly that the colors (as is often true with 3-D) seem a bit washed out. But the cowboy doll Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) space traveling doll Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and their buddies are all still lovable. And their adventures as part of a little boy's toy collection -- which comes to life when he's not around -- is still comical and occasionally poignant and occasionally slightly scary. Made in 1995 and 1999, respectively, the pioneering Pixar films look just a bit out of date today, because the technology develops so fast. But it is the story that must be strong enough to hold kids' attention, and it's still there.
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6 and Older
"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" (PG). Deliriously funny and ingenious in its use of 3-D, this animated comedy will tickle kids 6 and older. In fact, the hilarity will delight all ages. A few things could scare the littlest ones: a dangerous spaghetti tornado, an avalanche of leftovers and an out-of-control food-flinging machine. There is mild toilet humor, and one character swells up after eating peanuts. In a little island town off the Atlantic Coast, inventor Flint Lockwood (voice of Bill Hader) creates a machine that converts water into food. Only he can't control it. It blasts into the sky and rains cheeseburgers, steaks, ice cream and more onto the town. The mayor senses a tourism bonanza. A perky TV weather reporter, Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), covers the story and Flint senses a kindred spirit in her, but then the pasta twister hits and they must stop his machine!
Two PGs for Teens
"Bright Star." The romantic poet John Keats, in love with his London neighbor Fanny Brawne, is torn between his art and his heart in this lovely fact-based film. High-schoolers of a dreamy or literary bent ought to find the story irresistible, though they could be put off at first by the Brit-Lit sound of educated Londoners, circa 1818. As the love between Fanny (Abbie Cornish) and Keats (Ben Whishaw) grows serious, it remains chaste, though there is kissing, cuddling and a clear sense of longing. His crass friend Charles Brown (Paul Schneider) tries to get Keats to drop Fanny. There are scenes of people sick with tuberculosis. There is an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, social drinking and brief smoking.
"Fame." This pallid updating of the original 1980 movie takes an idea that was sentimental back then, but also galvanizing, and reduces it to music-video snippets. The film is so hyper-edited, it looks as if the actors all shot their bits separately. Set in a fictionalized version of New York's fabled LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, this "Fame" traces the four years spent there by Jenny (Kay Panabaker), who struggles to sing and act; Marco (Asher Book), who sings and acts like a pro and barely tries; Denise (Naturi Naughton), who plays classical piano, but longs to sing pop; and Malik (Collins Pennie), who has big acting talent but too much anger about his past. The teachers are played by Bebe Neuwirth, Kelsey Grammer, Charles S. Dutton and Megan Mullally. Debbie Allen, who was in the original film and the 1980s TV show, plays the principal. There is an attempted nongraphic seduction, mild sexual innuendo, a brief bit of teen drinking and rare mild profanity. Kids 10 and older who are into the arts will likely be drawn to see this "Fame," and it won't do them any harm.
PG-13
"The Invention of Lying." This smart, irreverent little comedy, thanks to terrific writing and a crackerjack cast, works to great effect for two out of three acts, then loses steam. Even so, it cleverly satirizes the human need for faith and mystery and little lies that save people's feelings. Mark (Ricky Gervais, who co-wrote and co-directed) is our narrator. He lives in a world where everyone tells the tactless truth. Anna (Jennifer Garner) tells Mark he hasn't got a chance with her because he's pug-nosed and poor. Mark discovers that he has the ability to lie and that everyone will believe him. He tells his dying mother that a happy afterlife awaits. The afterlife story catches on worldwide, and Mark becomes a sort of con man/prophet. The script includes fairly explicit sexual language, homophobic slurs, suicide jokes, midrange profanity and drinking. For sophisticated high-schoolers.
"The Boys Are Back." A sentimental story about a widower (Clive Owen) who tries to raise his young son (Nicholas McAnulty) and reconnect with the teenager (George MacKay) he abandoned when divorcing his first wife, the movie works too hard to make us cry. It takes what is already an emotional saga (based on a memoir by Simon Carr) and drowns it. Owen plays Joe Warr, a sportswriter living in Australia. When his wife dies, he struggles with grief and how to be a more attentive dad to his sad little boy. When Joe's teenage son visits, the half-brothers hit it off, but the older boy finds their life scary. Dad drinks too much, for starters. There is mild profanity and a bar fight. Okay for teens, some of whom will be moved by the film.
"Whip It." It is a testimony to the strength of its cast that this slapdash film about a Texas teen who finds confidence and identity on a rough-and-tumble roller derby team works at all. Drew Barrymore makes her directing debut and proves strong with actors and weak on narrative continuity and detail. Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page of "Juno" fame, PG-13, 2007) is 17 and chafing under her mother's (Marcia Gay Harden) insistence that she compete in a beauty pageant. She sees a group of wild young women on roller skates and learns they're members of a roller derby team with monikers like Rosa Sparks (pop star Eve) and Smashley Simpson (Barrymore). Bliss sneaks out to join the team and becomes Babe Ruthless. She also starts a romance with a rock musician (Landon Pigg). There are subtle drug references, smoking (by an adult), teen beer drinking and an implied sexual situation. There is midrange profanity and crude sexual slang. Okay for high-schoolers.
R
"Capitalism: A Love Story." Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore ("Farhenheit 9/11," R, 2004; "Bowling for Columbine," R, 2002) takes after what he deems the excesses of unregulated capitalism. Moore builds his argument around sad stories of people losing their homes, greedy real estate folk racing to turn over the foreclosed properties and Wall Street honchos who bundled mortgage-backed securities until they collapsed. He tries to wrap all of Wall Street comically in crime-scene tape. For high-schoolers who keep up with current events, this alternative point of view could be quite an experience. The R is for strong profanity.
"Zombieland." Gore and hilarity go together like tea and crumpets in this riotous horror spoof. From writing to acting to visuals, "Zombieland" works -- not least because of its vivid characters. Our narrator is Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), nicknamed for his home town. He was a college student when a virus turned most of humanity into flesh-and-bone-eating zombies. Then he meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a macho, Twinkie-loving cowboy who loves blasting zombies. They team up with Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). Bill Murray has a great cameo. Besides the comically gross violence, the film contains profanity, crude sexual slang and brief zombie toplessness. Okay for most high-schoolers.
Source: Washington Post
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