Irresistible 'Dance' By Jane Horwitz Special to The Washington Post Friday, August 21, 1998

Also Playing Okay for 6 and Up "Air Bud: Golden Receiver" (G). Basketball-playing pooch moves into football in friendly, fun sequel. Non-scary villains; Buddy slightly injured in game; issues of grief, loss as boy thinks about dead father. "The Parent Trap" (PG). Slick, likable update of Disney classic makes twins separated by divorce even spunkier. Graphic ear-piercing scene;reference to fatherhood as "the F-word"; drunk adult. "Madeline" (PG). Adventures of spunkiest girl in Paris boarding school in generally charming adaptation of Ludwig Bemelmans's beloved children's books. Scurrying mice, a snake; Madeline falling into river; loud thunderstorm; scary chase scene; discussion of Madeline losing parents; kidnapping subplot. "Mulan" (G). Gorgeous animated fable based on Chinese legend of girl who goes to war in ailing father's place. Over-the-top comic elements detract slightly. Intense battle scenes, scary Hun invaders; tots may jump when Mulan's ancestors come alive; other children may be moved when she leaves home. PG-13's "Ever After." Light, lavish take on "Cinderella" tale has 16th-century lass master her own fate and win prince with Leonardo da Vinci's help. Heart attack; subtle sexual innuendo; sword fights with a little blood; rare crude language. "The Mask of Zorro." Champion of downtrodden in colonial California trains his successor in rip-snorting swashbuckler. Swordplay, explosions, headbanging, fisticuffs; steamy but non-explicit sexual innuendo; semi-nudity; drinking; peasants enslaved; mother shot before infant's crib. R's "The Governess." Young Sephardic Jewish woman in 1840s England poses as gentile, gets job as governess with chilly Scottish family, has torrid affair with the husband in evocative tale that slips into silly melodrama. Explicit sexual situations, nudity. Mature high-schoolers. "Halloween/H20." Jamie Lee Curtis, heroine of original '78 "Halloween," still stalked by killer brother in less scary, more predictable, okay sequel. Bloody slasher violence; gun death; teen and adult drinking; profanity; mild sexual situations. High-schoolers. "How Stella Got Her Groove Back." 40-year-old divorcee has fling with 20-year-old Adonis in gauzy, goopy romantic fantasy from Terry McMillan novel. Sexual situations, muted to semi-explicit; partial nudity; profanity; issues of death, grieving. High-schoolers. "Saving Private Ryan." Steven Spielberg's shattering D-Day story has moral weight of "All Quiet on the Western Front." Gut-churning violence; profanity; sexual innuendo. Mature high-schoolers. – Jane Horwitz

"Dance With Me" (PG)
A romantic and sentimental flick with a gorgeous multiethnic cast and hot salsa choreography, "Dance With Me" may reel in girls 10 and up, even if their mothers have to drag them along first. The PG reflects steamy Latin dancing and smoldering glances, but little more.

Impossibly handsome Latino music superstar Chayanne plays Rafael, a Cuban emigre who gets a job at a Houston ballroom dancing school. Rafael becomes enamored of instructor Ruby (Vanessa L. Williams), a wary single mom who doesn't want love to stand in the way of her getting back to the top of the professional dance competition world. The emotions simmer, the dance steps grow fancier and everyone at the school practices for the big contest in Las Vegas. Completely predictable but irresistible, "Dance With Me" is a cotton-candy treat.

"The Avengers" (PG-13)
This big, dreary, expensive update of the low-tech, tongue-in-cheeky 1960s British TV series will win few teen hearts. The PG-13 covers martial-arts fisticuffs, bloodless gun violence, rare bad language, mild comic sexual innuendo and a brief moment of semi-nudity.

The pin-striped, bowler-hatted John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) and the leather-clad, high-booted Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) must stop a mad scientist (Sean Connery) from commandeering the world's weather. Many cups of tea are sipped while hero and heroine, resplendent in their nifty outfits, spout arch dialogue; now and then, the British agents break into over-choreographed action. But none of this, not even the film's surreal look, offers kids a clue as to what made the original a hit.

"Blade" (R)
Grossly bloody and monumentally tedious, this futuristic vampire tale (based on characters from Marvel Comics) adds absolutely nothing to the genre. It's appropriate only for older high-schoolers (though younger kids will likely go), what with its throat-ripping, head-exploding violence and constant profanity. "Blade" also contains a brief sexual situation and sexual innuendo.

Played here with a steely monotone and muscled grace by Wesley Snipes, Blade is among the few African American comic book superheroes, an anti-vampire vampire who controls his blood thirst with the "serum." He works with two mere mortals (Kris Kristofferson and N'Bushe Wright) to confront a renegade bloodsucker (Stephen Dorff) who intends to call up the ancient blood god to conquer the human race.

"Dead Man on Campus" (R)
About as politically incorrect as can be, this knowing, smart-aleck spoof of college life features everything parents fear – drugs, booze, sex, flunking out. "Dead Man on Campus" also makes continuous fun of student suicide and the mental illness that leads to it. In addition to the suicide theme, the rating covers marijuana and liquor use, profanity, brief sexual situations and strong comic sexual innuendo.

"Dead Man" is not appropriate for immature teens and younger kids who may emulate the behavior, but thoughtful, older high-schoolers who are into alternative rock and irreverent humor may find it funny. Tom Everett Scott and Mark-Paul Gosselaar play roommates whose grades plummet after too much partying. They hear that roommates of students who commit suicide are given 4.0 averages out of sympathy, so they look for the most depressed guy on campus to move in with them.