7 and older
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (PG). Kids 7 and older (and their parents) can’t help but have fun at this superior second sequel in the animated series about animals from New York’s Central Park Zoo that get stranded in Madagascar and then Africa. The lion Alex, the zebra Marty, the giraffe Melman and the hippo Gloria still languish in Africa and long for home. Those clever penguins and their monkey lackeys get to Monte Carlo, so Alex and the others follow them. Alex corrals the penguins into flying them back to New York, but the jury-rigged plane crashes. Stuck in Europe, the zoo animals attract a villainess — Capt. Chantel DuBois, a Parisian animal control officer. The animals escape onto a circus train, trying to befriend the bitter tiger Vitaly, the wary jaguar Gia, and the trusting sea lion Stefano. The path from Europe back to New York is paved with complications and misunderstandings, and the final message is more about continuing to seek adventure than staying home.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Under-7s may find some of the mayhem a little too harrowing, partly because of 3-D. The script includes semi-crude toilet humor, including a gross-but-hilarious moment when a circus elephant accidentally sits on a kid and gets him partially stuck in its backside. The word “Bolshevik” is used in place of a popular barnyard epithet that starts with “bull.”
PG-13
Moonrise Kingdom. If teens 15 and older recall with pleasure “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” they might be well primed to appreciate filmmaker Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom.” This oddball love story about two alienated 12-year-olds in 1965 is not for middle-schoolers or preteens. It weaves in adult themes and includes a mild sexual encounter between the kids. Sam is a camper with the Khaki Scouts. He disappears one morning and a search begins. Sam is an orphan and his foster parents don’t want him back. They also discover that Sam has run away with Suzy, whom he met the year before at church. Suzy is unhappy and prone to rages. As the solemn narrator tells us, the runaway kids and the adults looking for them don’t realize a big storm’s a-comin’.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
There is a nongraphic but startling make-out scene between Suzy and Sam. They French kiss and talk about Sam’s feelings of arousal. At Suzy’s invitation, he touches her breasts. Sam is struck by lightning in the storm. Sam pierces Suzy’s ears and they bleed. Adults use midrange profanity. Capt. Sharp offers Sam beer. Depression and marital infidelity are themes.
Snow White and the Huntsman. Teens who like romantic fantasies with an edge could be transported by this long but gorgeous movie. When Snow White is of age, the queen, Ravenna, must consume her beating heart to stay young. The girl escapes into the awful Dark Forest. Ravenna hires the Huntsman to capture Snow White, but he decides to protect her instead. The hunted pair find brief respite in a charming enchanted forest, where they meet a band of dwarves. Snow White’s childhood friend William joins them to raise an army against the queen.
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