Family Filmgoer

Watching With Kids in Mind

The Proposal (PG-13, 104 minutes)

This romantic comedy trifle is about as original as cornflakes, but it has the advantage of a first-rate comic cast and some crackling repartee. Teens with a romantic, slightly older sensibility may find it quite amusing. However, there is a lot of sexual innuendo that might give parents of younger teens pause, including a sort-of-but-not-really nude scene in which Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds crash into each other naked. The moment is digitally cleansed of "naughty bits." An heirloom blanket is called a "baby maker," and there is midrange sexual slang and innuendo, including a threat to castrate someone and a male exotic dancer in a G-string. There is moderate profanity and a tasteless remark about immigrants. Bullock plays Margaret, a selfish, hard-driving editor at a New York publishing house. Reynolds plays her assistant, Andrew. A Canadian whose visa has run out, Margaret faces deportation and coerces the horrified Andrew into marrying her. They travel to Andrew's home town in Alaska to perpetuate the fraud. Andrew's mom (Mary Steenburgen) wants him and his crusty dad (Craig T. Nelson) to reconcile, while his frisky grandmother (Betty White) wants a great-grandchild. Margaret eventually thaws into an actual human being, and the process is amusing enough to watch.

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6 and Older

"Up" (PG). A near-total delight, despite its too-convoluted second half, this wildly imaginative Pixar animated film tells the tale of a little boy, Russell (voice of Jordan Nagai), and an elderly widower, Carl (Ed Asner), who float to South America in a balloon-propelled house and on the way forge a deep friendship. Kids younger than 6 may fidget during the film's quieter moments. And there are genuinely scary scenes for kids younger than 6, in which threatening dogs chase Carl and Russell. The villain, a crazed old explorer (Christopher Plummer), goes after them with a dirigible, dart-shooting planes and a shotgun. Scenes showing how Carl met his late wife, Ellie, and a wordless montage about their marriage are mini-masterpieces. After Ellie dies, Carl is ordered to a retirement home. Instead, he rigs his old house with balloons and floats away, only to find Russell clinging to the porch.

"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" (PG). Bursting with special effects and plot, this lively, charmless sequel to "Night at the Museum" (PG, 2006) will keep kids 6 and older engaged, if not in stitches. The littlest ones may briefly cower at a roaring T. rex skeleton, a giant squid, Egyptian warriors, the Lincoln Memorial coming to life or planes zooming around the Air and Space Museum. Guns, swords and clubs are wielded, but no one gets hurt. Larry (Ben Stiller), the night security guard in the first film, hears that the old New York exhibits are being sent to the Smithsonian. He gets a tip that the ancient pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) is wreaking havoc. Larry and a spunky Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) save the day on the Mall.

8 and Older

"Imagine That" (PG). Eddie Murphy plays Evan, a high-powered investment whiz and divorced dad who can't relate to his 7-year-old daughter, in this marginally entertaining family comedy. The film's central premise is cute enough: Evan discovers that his little girl, Olivia (Yara Shahidi), and her imaginary friends, whom she conjures while under her beloved blanket, offer better investment advice than he does. His rival at work is a slick broker named Johnny Whitefeather (Thomas Haden Church in a role that's borderline offensive), as a probably fake Native American. The movie has rare mild profanity, brief toilet humor, a divorce theme (Olivia lives with her mother) and an awkward scene in which Evan sneaks into a little girls slumber party to grab Olivia's blanket. Intermittently amusing for kids 8 and older.

PG-13

"Year One." Finding the yuks in the Book of Genesis can be a broad and silly enterprise, but it shouldn't be boring. That is the problem with "Year One." There are amusing passages with stars Jack Black and Michael Cera as Bronze Age buddies Zed and Oh, wandering through a sort of early-Old Testament cyclorama, but the film hiccups along. High-schoolers may go along "Year One" for the sake of Black and Cera, but some of their enjoyment will require a passing knowledge of Genesis. It's too bawdy for some middle-schoolers and contains much strong comic sexual innuendo, an implied orgy and much homophobic humor. There is nongraphic violence, as when Cain (David Cross) slays Abel (Paul Rudd) and when a soldier beheads someone, as well as profanity, sexual slang, a long discussion of circumcision and toilet humor. Director Harold Ramis owes much to John Belushi's and Bill Murray's cave men bits, to Mel Brooks's trademark 2000-Year-Old Man routines and his film, "History of the World: Part I." But the idea of two guys in biblical times who talk "modern" doesn't seem nearly as irreverent or funny in "Year One." Zed (Black) eats the forbidden fruit of knowledge and then accidentally burns down his village. Oh (Cera) joins him in exile. They see Cain kill Abel, stop Abraham from sacrificing Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and wind up in Sodom, where they're torn between dissipation, love and heroism.

R

"The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3." The dialogue and action crackle to heart-pounding effect in this re-imagining of the 1974 film and original book by John Godey. Director Tony Scott's frenetic, showy style suits the subject matter to a tee: a hijacking and taking of hostages on a New York City subway. Denzel Washington is terrific as Walter Garber, a subway dispatcher forced to deal via radio with Ryder (John Travolta, mixing pure panache and pure evil), the smart lead hijacker. High-schoolers who like intelligent thrillers ought to find this one gripping. There are bloody shootings of bad buys and innocents. Children are among the hostages. The script contains strong profanity, brief crude sexual innuendo and a couple of ethnic slurs.