FAMILY FILMGOER By Jane Horwitz Special to The Washington Post Friday, January 5, 2001

Also Playing Tots and Up "The Emperor's New Groove" Riotous, clever, hip animated feature about self-absorbed young emperor of ancient Peru, voiced by David Spade, who's turned into whiny llama by conniving crone (Eartha Kitt); with John Goodman as kindly peasant who helps despite emperor-llama's snooty 'tude. Tots may quail briefly at yellow-eyed jaguars. Should tickle all ages. PG-13s "Finding Forrester." Famously reclusive author (Sean Connery) mentors brilliant inner-city teen (Rob Brown) in refreshing, unsentimental tale of bridging social divide, living life of the mind. Occasional profanity, mild urban slang; sexual innuendo; upsetting scene when character has anxiety attack. A little obscure for preteens. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" George Clooney heads terrific cast in wonderfully odd Coen Brothers saga of three chain gang escapees in 1930s Mississippi, based on Homer's "Odyssey" and 1941 film "Sullivan's Travels." Posse whips prisoner, threatens lynching, cows shot, hit by car; Ku Klux Klan rally; sexual innuendo; booze. Not for preteens. "Cast Away." Tom Hanks subtly sketches a man's epic journey in riveting tale of workaholic FedEx exec who survives plane crash, spends four years of physical, spiritual deprivation on uninhabited island, then difficult return to civilization. Harrowing crash; bloated body; bloody injuries; rare profanity. "The Family Man." Nicolas Cage as smug Wall Street trader magically glimpses suburban life he'd have led if he'd married college sweetheart, in nicely unsentimental transformative tale. Mild or implied sexual situations; scary robbery; profanity, crude language; dirty-diaper gag; drinking. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh as middle-aged martial arts warriors with unspoken love, in pursuit of arrogant young fighter with stolen sword in ravishing blend of gravity-defying battles with romance in pre-Communist China. Mostly bloodless fights; mild sexual situations. Subtitles. "What Women Want." Mel Gibson as male chauvinist suddenly able to hear women's thoughts, Helen Hunt as boss he tries to sabotage, in amusing but clunky romantic farce. Mild sexual situations, innuendo; crude humor; message against teen sex; subplot about character's suicide wish; marijuana, cigarettes, liquor; mild profanity. Not for preteens. R's and Unrated Art Films "State and Main." Hollywood company on location in quiet Vermont town raises havoc, hackles in razor-sharp comedy by David Mamet, with William H. Macy as cynical director, Alec Baldwin as male lead with yen for teenage girls, Philip Seymour Hoffman as naive screenwriter. Profanity; ethnic slur; sexual innuendo; semi-nudity; liquor. Sophisticated high-schoolers. "An Everlasting Piece." Two barbers – one Protestant, one Catholic – in tense 1980s Northern Ireland team up to win toupee-selling contest in droll but unexceptional comedy by Barry Levinson with laid-back Irish film style. Profanity; sexual innuendo; partial nudity; vague threat of violence. High-schoolers. "Malena." Bittersweet coming-of-age memoir about boy in wartime Sicily whose sexual awakening hinges on obsession with beautiful widow, and how he watches as town gossips drive her into prostitution. Explicit sexual situations, innuendo; semi-nudity; toilet humor; mob beating; bombing; profanity. Mature high-schoolers. Subtitles.

"All the Pretty Horses" (PG-13, 117 minutes)
A romantic adventure starring Matt Damon as a young Texan who tames wild horses down in Mexico and his doomed love for the boss's well-guarded daughter, this film ought to attract teens of both genders. But "All the Pretty Horses" will disappoint many with its slow, often mournful tone and an odd sense by the end that nothing much has happened. Cinema-savvy teens, however, will savor the camerawork, good acting, desert-dry Western repartee and lyrical bits of narration from Cormac McCarthy's 1992 novel (first book in "The Border Trilogy").

Not a great choice for preteens, "All the Pretty Horses" is a strong PG-13, with graphic knife fights in a squalid prison. Other violence involves a shootout, and moments that strongly hint at (but don't show) policemen torturing and murdering prisoners. There are a couple of gently implied sexual situations, and characters smoke and drink.

Damon plays John Grady Cole, a West Texan who, circa 1949, loses the ranch he'd hoped to inherit when his parents divorce. Longing to stay on the range, he and his pal Lacey (Henry Thomas) ride down to Mexico and become horse breakers at the huge ranch of a stern patriarch (Ruben Blades). Cole falls for the man's daughter (Penelope Cruz), but such a romance is a no-no. There are trysts, suspicions, then Cole and Lacey are abruptly arrested. Their troubles also relate to a violent young runaway (Lucas Black) they befriended back on the trail into Mexico. But these strands don't quite make a yarn. The movie's disjointed and emotionally distant.

"Dracula 2000" (R, 100 minutes)
Surprisingly solid acting and relatively understated violence raise this vampire flick just barely above horror's least common denominator. The movie still makes precious little sense, with its ludicrous mystical take (we won't give it away) on why the immortal bloodsucker does what he does. It isn't terribly scary and has a bit of wit, and high school horror fans may find it diverting. Yes, the violence is less gory than usual for this genre, but it includes impalings, stabbings, point-blank shootings and erotically tinged, neck-puncturing embraces. There are also more mundane, understated sexual situations, sexual innuendo, toplessness and profanity.

The prologue shows a ship full of dead sailors in 1897, their necks bloodied, and rats (phobics take note – there are also leeches) skittering on them. After that, the action moves to present-day London, where an aging antiques collector (Christopher Plummer), famously named Van Helsing (from the Bram Stoker novel), discovers too late that thieves have stolen a silver casket from his vault and flown it to the United States. They expect to find treasure inside, but to their regret they unleash the long-dormant Dracula, who goes on a rampage. The action moves to New Orleans, where a woman (Justine Waddell) has scary vampire dreams she can't comprehend. Van Helsing and his loyal factotum Simon (Jonny Lee Miller) face down the undead dude in the Big Easy.