Family Film: New movies, including 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon'

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A guide to movies from a family perspective:

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon"

-- Rated: PG-13.

-- Suitable for: Mature tweens and up.

-- What you should know: This is the second movie based on Stephenie Meyer's best seller about a human girl, her vampire boyfriend and, now, a werewolf rival.

-- Language: About nine stronger versions of "heck" or "darn."

-- Sexual situations and nudity: Brief but passionate kisses and embraces are exchanged, and there are lots of shots of shirtless, buff young men.

-- Violence/scary situations: Wolves set upon a vampire and kill him. Vampires twist someone's head off and attack others. Young men turn into snarling wolves and fight and threaten a human. Various mishaps leave a young woman bloodied. A crowd of tourists is led into a vampire den and you hear their screams (but don't see anything) as they are attacked. A man has a heart attack and dies, and a woman's face bears scratch marks from a wolf attack.

-- Drug or alcohol use: An adult is seen with what appears to be a beer can in his hand.

"The Blind Side"

-- Rated: PG-13.

-- Suitable for: Children in middle school and up.

-- What you should know: This is based on the true story of a homeless African-American teen taken into the home and hearts of a wealthy white family. It stars Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw and newcomer Quinton Aaron.

-- Language: About a half-dozen mild expletives or phrases.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: A reference is made to a topless bar and crude comments are made about scoring with women.

-- Violence/scary situations: The homelessness of the lead character is sad and distressing. A confrontation quickly escalates to violence, with a gun drawn and physical attacks. There is a quick flashback to a chaotic scene involving a child.

-- Drug or alcohol use: A mother is described as being on crack and a gang is shown drinking, smoking and with drug paraphernalia.

"An Education"

-- Rated: PG-13.

-- Suitable for: Mature high-school students and older.

-- What you should know: This coming-of-age story is set in 1961 England and stars Carey Mulligan as a 16-year-old who falls for a charming older man (Peter Sarsgaard).

-- Language: Very clean, with maybe one use of "hell."

-- Sexual situations and nudity: References are made to the loss of virginity, a girl drops her top briefly (nothing is shown) and a couple are shown in bed and the next morning.

-- Violence/scary situations: None.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults, and the underage teen, drink champagne and other alcoholic drinks.

"Planet 51"

-- Rated: PG.

-- Suitable for: Kindergartners and up.

-- What you should know: This is an animated adventure comedy about an American astronaut who lands on a planet inhabited by little green people in a world reminiscent of our 1950s.

-- Language: None.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: After the astronaut drops his towel, a wisecrack is made about his anatomy.

-- Violence/scary situations: Talk or scenes about eating or removing brains, anal probes, near-electrocutions, flashes of military might and explosions.

-- Drug or alcohol use: None.

"2012"

-- Rated: PG-13.

-- Suitable for: Middle-schoolers and up.

-- What you should know: The world is in peril and then destroyed, by earthquakes, floods, fires, volcanic eruptions, toppling buildings, ash clouds and other disasters, in this movie that runs 2-1/2 hours.

-- Language: A half-dozen uses of profanity and about a dozen mild expletives.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: A man's pants slip low in the back, revealing more than is polite.

-- Violence/scary situations: Just predictions about the end of the world and the dramatization of it. A couple of supporting characters are killed, and billions die in a bloodless manner. Still, because this is done in such a realistic way, it could frighten younger moviegoers.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults briefly are shown with champagne, beer or other drinks, and a man sober for 20 years orders a drink knowing death is near.

"A Christmas Carol"

-- Rated: PG.

-- Suitable for: Children 6 or 7 and up, keeping younger in mind. It will help if they're familiar with the story and know it will end happily.

-- What you should know: This is an animated version of Charles Dickens' classic, and it is done in performance-capture style (think "The Polar Express") with Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge. You can see it in 2-D, which is the regular old way, or 3-D or 3-D IMAX.

-- Language: None.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: None.

-- Violence/scary situations: Mood, colors and story are often dour and dark. Marley's corpse is shown in a coffin, and his face spookily appears in a door knocker and his ghost, tethered to chains and money boxes, in Scrooge's bedroom. The most disturbing moments come when Marley adjusts his unhinged jaw, raggedy children representing Ignorance and Want appear, a spirit turns to a skeleton and then dust and when the shrouded, wordless figure from the future shows a world without Tiny Tim. Lots of falls, tumbles and some chases, too.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Drinks are served at parties and formal dinners.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

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