THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010
28
FamilyFilmgoer by Jane Horwitz AND OLDER 7
TOY STORY 3(G). Ingenious and fun- ny, yet slightly melancholy with a har- rowing climax, “Toy Story 3” will en- thrall kids 7 and older, and grown- ups, too. The age recommendation reflects the poignancy of the theme about kids setting aside toys as they grow up, and the scariness of the fi- nale. Cowboy Woody, spaceman Buzz Lightyear and the other toys face a bittersweet life change, because An- dy, their owner, is going to college. Only Woody will be going away with Andy. The other toys hope they’ll be put in the attic, but they are mistak- enly donated to a day-care center.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The climax be- comes very frightening. The humor kicks back in, but it is a grim inter- lude. Earlier in the film, the desolate atmosphere at the day-care center echoes classic prison films. There is mildly homophobic humor directed at Barbie’s Ken and some toilet humor.
10 AND OLDER
THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE (PG). This live-action update, while not wildly inspired or precedent-set- ting, is imaginative and fun and likely to engage kids 10 and older. It takes into account the original fairy tale/ poem by Goethe, the music it inspired by Paul Dukas and the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” section of Disney’s “Fan- tasia.” What the movie adds is a mod- ern, sometimes cliched edge, electri- cally charged special effects and a charming performance by Jay Baru- chel as a physics nerd and reluctant wizard, who becomes an apprentice to the oddball Balthazar, played by Ni- colas Cage.
THE BOTTOM LINE: There is much ki- netic mayhem. Threats by the evil Horvath and his minions would be chilling for kids younger than 10. A dragon in a parade comes to life and breathes fire. There is toilet humor.
DESPICABLE ME(PG). It took a while for this animated feature to win over the Family Filmgoer. At first, it seemed unfunny, grim and mean-spirited. But “Despicable Me” soon evolves into an inventive tale of a villain whose heart melts because of three little girls. Kids younger than 10 may be unset- tled by the threatening tone in the film’s early scenes. Gru is a baddie who’s upset that someone else just stole the pyramids, because he wants that kind of glory. He vows to steal the
COPYRIGHT DISNEY ENTERPRISES
Nicolas Cage plays a strange wizard in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” loosely based on the fairy tale.
moon. Gru adopts three little girls to use them to get into his competitor’s lair. But a funny thing happens after the orphans come to live in Gru’s mansion: Gru becomes a good guy.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Little kids might find Gru scary and his minions creepy, though they turn out to be very funny. There are childhood flash- backs showing Gru’s mother belittling him. There is toilet humor.
THE LAST AIRBENDER (PG). Ponder- ous, blandly acted and an awkward mix of modernisms and borrowed bits of the Buddha legend, this movie could seem profound to many kids 10 and older. They’ll enjoy the fantasy world. The Fire Nation has conquered and colonized other nations. A boy airbender known as the Avatar could commune with the spirit world and help stop the Fire Nation, but he has been missing for a century. A young waterbender, Katara, and her brother Sokka find the missing Avatar.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The bloodless battles feature fancy digital effects. There are skeletons of murdered monks. Evil Prince Zuko has a scarred face — a burn we’re told was inflicted by his father. It’s interesting that the young Aang tried to avoid fulfilling his destiny as the Avatar. Kids may be fascinated by a calling.
INCEPTION. “Inception” exhibits both genius and tedium, but thankful- ly far more of the former than the lat- ter. Teens into the most complex vid- eo and computer games and any sci- fi mind-control tales will jump into all 21
13 PG- ⁄2 hours of Christopher Nolan’s film
with both feet. The tortuous storyline spins itself into quite a knot, but the plot details become less important
than the film’s overall concept and fabulously surreal visuals. What more can teen cinema buffs ask for than a movie about dreaming that uses the impossible physics inherent in that idea? Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom, who helps people safeguard secret in- formation in their minds against idea thieves. He and his team are hired to plant a new idea into the mind of someone. The team’s new dream- scape “architect” suspects that Dom has issues within his own subcon- scious involving his wife that could af- fect the whole project.
THE BOTTOM LINE: There is consid- erable gun play, and we see life- threatening injuries and a little blood. There are ongoing themes involving grief and suicide, occasional mild pro- fanity and mild sexual innuendo. In- tellectually, this film will probably do better with high-schoolers.
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE. The emotional and sexual tug-of-war esca- lates and evolves between high- school seniors Bella Swan, her vam- pire love, Edward Cullen, and her werewolf friend, Jacob. One could wish this teen-angsty film took itself less seriously. Still, “Eclipse” fills a need for teen audiences with its mix of fantasy, “real life” and artistic pre- tensions. Edward wants Bella to mar- ry him. Jacob tries to make Bella real- ize she loves him, too. Edward’s vam- pire clan and Jacob’s werewolf pack form an uneasy alliance to fight a rogue army of new vampires.
THE BOTTOM LINE: “Eclipse” is okay for high-schoolers and some middle- schoolers. The sexual tension is heightened, though still innocent. The prologue shows a man attacked by a vampire. The climactic battle is most- ly special effects with no blood. The werewolves are the scariest element for younger kids. There is rare mild profanity.
weekend@washpost.com Horwitz is a freelance reviewer. UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND ILLUMINATION ENTERTAINMENT
Supervillain Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) tries to break into his enemy’s fortress in “Despicable Me.”
Watching with kids in mind
Also Playing
Capsule reviews of recent releases play- ing in area theaters. Movies not re- viewed by The Post will be marked “NR” for not rated. For older movies, see the Movie Directory.
BBTHE A-TEAM
Co-starring Bradley Cooper, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Sharlto Copley, this film engages in the same blurry, inco- herent close-up action to which young filmgoers have now become accustomed. During a preamble set in the Mexican des- ert, we meet the guys: the unflappable Hannibal Smith; Face, the ladies’ man; Murdock, the crazy-like-a-fox pilot; and Bosco “B.A.” Baracus, the Mohawked muscleman. The movie proceeds to ever- more-risible lengths to up the action ante. In case watching a guy machine-gun his enemies from atop a tank isn’t enough, the filmmakers treat viewers to an elabo- rately staged climax at the Los Angeles piers. Jessica Biel also appears as one of Face’s love interests. Between the elec- tric baby-blues of Cooper, men worship- fully assessing one another’s Ranger tat- toos, and a final-act cameo from a male heartthrob, this film might be selling it- self as an action flick, it’s really just a hopeless bromantic. (PG-13, 117 minutes) Contains intense sequences of action and violence throughout, profanity and smok- ing. Area theaters.
BBB1⁄2 CITY ISLAND
Vince Rizzo (played by Andy Garcia, who also produced) is a corrections officer, would-be actor and beleaguered hus- band. Domestic relations being what they are, he tells his wife, Joyce (Julianna Mar- gulies), that he’s going out to play poker rather than admit he’s taking an acting class. For her part, Joyce is the personifi- cation of matrimonial displeasure who puts all her hopes and dreams into her college-student daughter, Vivian (Domi- nik Garcia-Lorido), who has dropped out of school and is working as a stripper. One of the amazing things about Raymond De Felitta’s film is just how many enormous secrets are being harbored by so few peo- ple: an illegitimate son, forbidden lust, il- licit smoking. The acting is, in fact, su- perb and, given the amount of drama per frame, the best current buy for one’s movie dollar. (PG-13, 100 minutes) Contains vulgarity, adult content and lots of smok- ing. At AMC Courthouse Plaza and Land- mark’s Bethesda Row.
BBBCYRUS
This movie announces its confrontational intentions from the get-go, when in the opening scene the film’s hero, John (John C. Reilly), is interrupted in an intimate moment by his ex-wife Jamie (Catherine Keener), who has stopped by to tell him she’s getting remarried. Later, John meets Molly (Marisa Tomei), a knockout who thinks his penchant for drunken con- fessions and public urination is kind of cute. The future looks bright for John and Molly, until he discovers that she has
been hiding something. That would be her 21-year-old son Cyrus, played by Jonah Hill. He lives in a deeply enmeshed rela- tionship with his devoted mother, who has home-schooled him and encourages his techno-emo noodlings on synthesizer keyboards. When John meets Cyrus, his face reflects the very questions come up for the audience: Is this kid gifted? Or is there something darker at the core of his devotion to his mom? (R, 92 minutes) Con- tains profanity and sexual material. Area theaters.
BBBDESPICABLE ME — Ann Hornaday
The nasty streak that animates its protag- onist, a hollow-eyed supervillain named Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), is so deep and wide as to seem insurmountable. But the film turns into an improbably heart- warming, not to mention visually delight- ful, diversion. After another evildoer im- presses the world by stealing the Great Pyramid of Giza, Gru looks for his big comeback and hits on the idea of stealing the moon. He adopts three sweet girls from an orphanage run by a sadistic Southern belle (Kristen Wiig), and, along with an army of tiny yellow “minions,” be- gins to bring his plan into action. Carell’s expert timing is in full force as his charac- ter tries mightily to resist the parental tug of his three young charges. The film fea- tures some ace voice talent, including Russell Brand as Gru’s elderly henchman, Dr. Nefario, Jason Segel as Gru rival Vec- tor and Will Arnett as the president of the Bank of Evil. (PG, 95 minutes) Contains rude humor and mild action. Area theaters. — A.H.
BBGET HIM TO THE GREEK — John Anderson
A spinoff of sorts, this film follows the further exploits of hedonistic British rock star Aldous Snow, last seen getting straight and sober in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” But Snow has fallen on hard times here. A well-intentioned but enor- mously offensive single, “African Child,” has put his career into a nose dive, sent his girlfriend and child packing, and caused him to relapse into substance abuse. In an effort to resurrect his public image, the record company sends Aaron Green (Jonah Hill), a rookie intern, to es- cort him from London to a comeback gig. Green has his own problems, too. He’s trying to salvage a foundering romance with his live-in girlfriend (“Mad Men’s” Elisabeth Moss). But at Snow’s insis- tence, this British assignment devolves into a three-day bender. Rather than act- ing like a grown-up, Green follows Snow from party to party, guzzling absinthe and hiding illicit substances in uncomfortable places. (R, 109 minutes) Contains strong sexual content and drug use throughout, and pervasive foul language. Area theaters. — Aaron Leitko
BB1⁄2 THE GIRL WIH THE DRAGON TATTOO
At its simplest, this Swedish thriller based on the first in a series of three popular Stieg Larsson novels is the story of a 40-year-old missing-person investi- gation. Wealthy businessman Henrik Van- ger (Sven-Bertil Taube) hires investigative
— A.H.
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