For Kids: From 'Herbie' to 'Charlie'

W hile Hollywood has gone crazy with remakes of long-ago TV shows and other movies, it hasn't exactly gone overboard making movies for younger audiences this summer. But there are some that might grab your fancy. The biggest draws are likely to be " Madagascar " (May 27), a computer-animated fantasy in which four zoo animals, a lion, giraffe, zebra and hippo, decide to escape from New York's Central Park Zoo and go to Africa to join their wild kin; and " Charlie and the Chocolate Factory " (July 15), starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, whose factory proves a strange and wonderful fantasyland for children. (Did we mention enough times that it stars Johnny Depp?) It's unclear what younger audiences will make of " Herbie: Fully Loaded " (June 24), an updated remake of the old-time Disney "Herbie" films, but their parents should be well familiar with the VW Love Bug that was the star of all those classic films. Girls might enjoy " The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (June 1), in which four friends go their separate ways but keep a connection by passing around a single pair of magical jeans that seems to fit all of them; and soccer tots and older may dig " Kicking & Screaming" (Friday), a comedy starring Will Ferrell as a frazzled boys' soccer coach who gets a little too competitive. And speaking of sports, there is always " The Bad News Bears " (July 22), the remake of the 1976 movie about a misfit Little League team. Also coming to theaters this summer are " The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl in 3-D" (June 10), Robert Rodriguez's movie about a boy whose imaginary superhero friends come to life and take him on adventures, and " Mad Hot Ballroom" (May 20), a documentary about a group of 11-year-old New Yorkers who learn to dance salsa in the ballroom for a citywide competition.

-- Desson Thomson