The Family Filmgoer

Watching With Kids in Mind

The Longshots (PG, 94 minutes)

This is a lovely August surprise: A movie no one expected to be anything special turns out to be a charmer. "The Longshots" is humane, humorous, subtly uplifting and really well acted. It's based (with some fictionalization) on the true story of gifted 'tween quarterback Jasmine Plummer from small-town Illinois, who played with the guys in the Pop Warner youth football league. The film tells a tale of uncle-niece bonding and how the two overcome sadness and lack of confidence to shine. Excellent young actress Keke Palmer ("Akeelah and the Bee," PG, 2006) plays Jasmine, a painfully shy, bookish 11-year-old. Ice Cube is terrific as cranky uncle Curtis, an unemployed factory worker and former high school football star who doesn't do much except drink beer and hang out in the park with geezers. Curtis agrees to watch Jasmine after school because her mom (Tasha Smith) has taken an extra shift at the diner. He has no clue how to give her avuncular advice. He tells her mom, "I ain't got no encouragement. Go get Dr. Phil."

Curtis carries an old football wherever he goes. He tosses it to Jasmine one day and notices that she has a good throwing arm. Despite her lack of interest, he starts to train her. He tells her, "You owe it to yourself, if you're good at something, to pursue it." He cajoles the local Pop Warner coach (Matt Craven) to let her try out, and she makes the team despite gender prejudice from the boys. Both Curtis and Jasmine come out of their shells as she progresses. Parts of the movie are cliched (the mean cheerleader, the estranged father disappointing his daughter), but like its cheerfully populist portrayal of an economically depressed small town whose residents rally together, "The Longshots" feels fresh. The movie shows an adult drinking beer and includes rare mild profanity and language, mild sexual innuendo and a harsh crotch slam on the field. An adult appears to have a heart attack.

Also Playing

6 and Older

"Fly Me to the Moon" (G). Three young flies stow away on the Apollo 11 spacecraft in 1969 and go to the moon and back in this marginally entertaining, computer-animated 3-D feature. The eye-popping visuals put the moviegoer in the thick of things, but the charmless, jumbled story lacks humor and poignancy. Kids won't get the Cold War references to evil Russian spies, er, Russian flies, either. Nat (voice of Trevor Gagnon) is the young fly who gets his pals, I.Q. (Philip Daniel Bolden) and Scooter (David Gore), to sneak on board with him. Science-savvy kids will enjoy the detailed re-creation of the moon landing. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin does a live-action cameo at the end. The film contains mildly crude language ("crap"), and we see an ashtray full of cigarette butts. Russian and American flies do battle in the finale.

8 and Older

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (PG). This computer-animated feature is technically impressive, yet it feels antiseptic -- a pale imitation of other movies in the series. The Family Filmgoer was bored silly at a recent showing, but kids seemed transfixed. "The Clone Wars" is set between "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" (PG, 2002) and "Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" (PG-13, 2005). Hotheaded Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker (voice of Matt Lanter) is still a good guy. His mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor), assigns him a teenage apprentice, Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein). The evil Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) has the baby son of Jabba the Hutt (Kevin Michael Richardson) kidnapped and frames the Jedi. At the intergalactic cantina, creatures sip seemingly alcoholic drinks and dance with mildly suggestive moves. Jabba's uncle smokes a hookah. Bloodless battles show androids beheaded, aerial dogfights and light-saber duels.

PG-13

"The Rocker." This comedy about a 40-something guy who can't let go of a failure in his 20s is also an inspired sendup of the rock music world. The movie doesn't quite add up to the sum of its best parts, but it has fine, weird moments. Rainn Wilson plays Robert "Fish" Fishman, who banged the drums for a 1980s band and was fired before the group made it big. In the present, Fish lives a miserable life in Cleveland. Fired from his office job, he moves in with his sister's family. His teen nephew (Josh Gad) has a garage band slated to play the prom. The boy begs Uncle Fish to fill in on drums. Reinvigorated to the point of insanity, Fish decides he'll take the little band to the top and even teaches the teens how to trash a hotel room properly. The movie shows adults drinking and driving, and includes mild comic violence, jokes about drugs, midrange profanity and sexual slang, and back-view nudity. More for high-schoolers.

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona." There's no explicit sexuality beyond passionate kisses in this wise, sophisticated romantic comedy from Woody Allen, but the movie is very European-casual in its approach to sexual threesomes, which are strongly implied but not graphically depicted. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) are best friends spending a post-college summer in Barcelona. They meet a charming artist (Javier Bardem) who invites them on a weekend holiday. Vicky is horrified; Cristina is delighted. Eventually, each young woman becomes involved with him and his volatile estranged wife (Penélope Cruz). The rating reflects rare profanity, implied sexual situations, a suicide theme, drinking and smoking. For college-age sophisticates.

"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2." The four brainy gal pals have separate summer adventures after they start college in this sequel (the 2005 original was rated PG). Better written and directed than the first film, it can be predictable and sentimental but has plenty of smarts and humor. Teen girls may like the way the heroines pursue challenging careers, and romance figures in, too. Would-be filmmaker Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) has a pregnancy scare. Artist Lena (Alexis Bledel) has a fling. Archaeology student Bridget (Blake Lively) learns about her mother's long-ago suicide. Carmen (America Ferrera) goes to be a stagehand at a theater festival and is cast in a lead role. The film includes a muted but strongly implied sexual situation, semi-frank talk about a torn condom and nonsexual semi-nudity.

R

"Hamlet 2." A muddle-headed high-school drama teacher (and failed actor) named Dana (Steve Coogan) tries to save his job by putting on a musical sequel to "Hamlet" in which Hamlet meets Jesus. Dana's students are largely transfers from detention who think he's an idiot. The principal (Marshall Bell) hates him, his wife (Catherine Keener) hates him and the teen critic from the school paper pans everything he does. Yet Dana forges ahead in this often squirmingly satiric portrait of a man devoted to a discipline for which he has no talent. The movie veers rather awkwardly between offbeat humor and more conventional uplift (follow your dreams). Some moments feel improvised and shapeless, yet "Hamlet 2" is funny. There is strong profanity, crude sexual slang and milder ethnic slurs, as well as teen and adult drinking and a practical joke involving LSD. Some may find the lyrics in a song about Jesus offensive. The humor is more for college kids.