FAMILY FILMGOER By Jane Horwitz Special to The Washington Post Friday, June 1, 2001

Also Playing Kids 6 and Older "Shrek" (PG). Layers upon layers of hilarity in visually rich computer-animated fractured fairy tale about bad-tempered ogre (voice of Mike Myers) who goes with talking donkey (Eddie Murphy) on mission to free a spellbound princess (Cameron Diaz) and deliver her to an evil lord, only to fall in love with her himself. Moments of comic violence; fire-breathing dragon that's scary at first; toilet humor; visual gags with male derrieres. 7 or 8 and Older "Spy Kids" (PG). Imaginative futuristic fantasy about brother and sister whose parents, former spies, are taken hostage by maniacal inventor; kids learn spycraft to rescue them. Scary bits for those under 7 or 8 – robots that look like children, huge mechanized thumbs, underwater chases, attack helicopters, fights, parents in danger; toilet humor. PG-13's and an Art Film "The Circle." Shattering cinema verite-style Iranian film follows female characters in Tehran, all just out of prison, convicted of unexplained transgressions – one unwed and pregnant, another desperate to get to her home village, another afraid new husband will learn of her prison past, another determined to abandon her daughter – all trapped by laws limiting women's lives. Subtle references to prostitution, threatened violence; smoking. In Farsi with English subtitles. Thoughtful teens. "Pearl Harbor." Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett as U.S. pilots, Kate Beckinsale as Navy nurse who loves them, Cuba Gooding, Jr. as fact-based ship's cook/hero, in tacky, uneven World War II epic with intense battle effects, but corny love story. Largely non-graphic injuries; rare profanity; limited use of U.S. wartime epithet for Japanese; understated sexual situation; sailors' bare behinds; drinking. "A Knight's Tale." Hearthrob Heath Ledger as 14th-century English peasant who poses as aristocrat to enter jousting matches in thuddingly silly but well decked out romantic adventure that backs endless joust sequences with rock music and has character named Geoffrey Chaucer as hero's publicist. Knights get thwacked, horses fall – no graphic injuries; image of a hanged man; back view of naked man; mild sexual innuendo. "The Mummy Returns." Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz as archeological adventurers in sequel, now married with a son, exploring Egyptian tombs and stalked by cult seeking artifact to raise Mummy from dead in silly, effects-laden, yet likable adventure. Bloodless gun, sword, dagger mayhem; grotesque skull, bone, sinew of Mummy; mother and son kidnapped; snakes, scorpions, rats. Iffy for preteens. R's and an Unrated Documentary "Startup.com" (Unrated). Fascinating documentary tracking year-and-a-half between startup and demise of an Internet company, govWorks.com, showing how its twenty-something co-founders felt stress of big-money business testing their old friendship, how their arrogance, naivete, tripped them up in marketplace, how the dot.com world was built on paper foundation. Profanity. High-schoolers. "Angel Eyes." Jennifer Lopez as tough street cop, Jim Caviezel as mysterious doer of good deeds with whom she starts a romance until she recalls their past connection and his tragedy, in weird mix of action, sentimentality. Violent though non-graphic fights, shootouts; subplot about spousal abuse with oddly forgiving point of view; semi-explicit sexual situation; strong language; drinking. High-schoolers. "The Golden Bowl." Sumptuous but stilted adaptation of Henry James novel about romantic machinations among rich Americans in Europe, circa 1903, with Uma Thurman as penniless American, Nick Nolte as robber baron she marries to be near her former lover, married to his daughter in tale of money and betrayal. Mild R, with adultery theme; muted sexual situation; drinking, smoking. Literary teens.

"Moulin Rouge" (PG-13, 125 minutes)
Teens geared to the dizzying MTV aesthetic won't find "Moulin Rouge" an alien art form. They'll easily focus on the tragic lovers (Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor) amid the film's decadent, showbizzy setting and breathless, often breathtaking, musical numbers. It's dazzling, but the gimmickry undercuts the movie's emotional impact.

Though rated PG-13, "Moulin Rouge" contains strong sexual innuendo with explicit double entendres, a theme of prostitution and scenes about the hallucinogenic effects of drinking absinthe.

This postmodern movie musical is a hybrid in every sense. Director Baz Luhrmann has cross-pollinated elements from Hollywood's musical comedy heyday with the romantic musical fantasies of Indian cinema, grand opera, ancient myth, art, fashion and music from the can-can to Elton John and beyond. Dreamily imagined views of Paris circa 1900, the bohemian Montmartre district and the Moulin Rouge nightclub may pique a few curious teens' interest about the period.

Telling the story in flashback, the hero (McGregor), a starving writer, recounts his love affair with Satine (Kidman), the entertainer and courtesan of the Moulin Rouge nightclub (and adjoining brothel). He, Toulouse Lautrec (John Leguizamo) and others create a play for Satine and the Moulin Rouge. The club's overstuffed owner (Jim Broadbent) gets financing from a jealous duke who demands Satine's exclusive favors. A love triangle follows. And of course Satine has a bad cough . . .

"The Animal" (PG-13, 84 minutes)
Teen animal lovers will no doubt find something to howl at in this crude and undistinguished but occasionally funny shaggy dog tale about a doofus (Rob Schneider) who discovers he's been patched together with animal parts after a car accident. His sudden urges to "mark territory" on his girlfriend's porch, to fetch frisbees, to flirt with a goat in heat, to duke it out with a chimpanzee, prove Marvin is no longer what he seems. In keeping with the doofus flick genre, "The Animal" overflows with toilet humor and crude, leering, elbow-nudging sexual innuendo; thus it's a problematic choice for preteens. The script also uses rare mild profanity.

Marvin works in the evidence room of a police station and is the butt of jokes and threats. One night he tries to answer a police call when everyone else is at a softball game. On the way his car goes off a cliff. He's rescued by a mysterious figure, taken to a secret lab and put back together. He returns to work strong, heroic, a little hairy and with a great sense of smell. He finds romance with a local animal activist (Colleen Haskell of the original "Survivor") and proves himself more than the sum of his new parts.