New films from a family perspective

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, November 23, 2007

A guide to movies from a family perspective:

"Enchanted"

-- Rated: PG.

-- Suitable for: Children, ideally in kindergarten or up, who can sit attentively through a 107-minute movie.

-- What you should know: Disney riffs on its classics with a story that starts in an animated kingdom and shifts, after 10 minutes, to live action and modern Manhattan. Actors, including Amy Adams and James Marsden, periodically break into song and dance.

-- Language: Nothing notable.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: A woman comes out of the shower in a towel and someone jumps to the wrong conclusion.

-- Violence/scary situations: Car collisions, mishaps with a (computer-generated) chipmunk and, scariest of all, the transformation of a person into a dragon.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Nothing notable, although a martini is served but not consumed.

"August Rush"

-- Rated: PG.

-- Suitable for: Children roughly 10 and above.

-- What you should know: Freddie Highmore is a musical prodigy who is convinced he will one day be reunited with the parents he has never known. Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Robin Williams also star.

-- Language: A handful of mild four-letter curses.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: A couple kiss and are shown cuddling the next morning; it's evident they spent the night together, but nothing is shown. A woman goes into labor but the action quickly cuts away.

-- Violence/scary situations: Young Highmore is teased, he dodges cars in traffic in New York and tries to escape from a Fagin-style character.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults drink beer.

"This Christmas"

-- Rated: PG-13.

-- Suitable for: Middle-schoolers and up.

-- What you should know: A family is reunited for the first time in four years in this holiday drama, with some comedy, starring Loretta Devine as the family matriarch.

-- Language: A dozen mild profanities are used.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: Jokes are made about a sexual toy, a woman getting her "freak on" and sleeping with someone on the first date. A woman appears in seductive underwear, while another sneaks home after a night out. Couples kiss, and an insult of a sexual nature is made.

-- Violence/scary situations: A gun is pulled, a couple of fights erupt and thugs punch a man over a gambling debt.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults drink beer, wine and champagne.

"Beowulf"

-- Rated: PG-13.

-- Suitable for: Mature teens and older.

-- What you should know: The voices of Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins and Robin Wright Penn are behind the animated images of Beowulf, King Hrothgar and his queen in Robert Zemeckis' film rendering of the Old English heroic poem (circa 750 A.D.) about a kingdom ravaged by the monster Grendel and his mom (Angelina Jolie).

-- Language: Infrequent use of mild profanity.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: Partial (animated) nudity but fairly intense sexuality throughout.

-- Violence/scary situations: Much violence is depicted but in generally stylized rather than bloody form. There are several very frightening battle sequences between Beowulf's forces and those of the monster.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Considerable mead-drinking takes place in the royal halls.

"Fred Claus"

-- Rated: PG.

-- Suitable for: School-age children who can sit attentively through a nearly two-hour movie.

-- What you should know: Vince Vaughn plays the title role, the older brother of the man who grows up to be Santa Claus. Fred resents him, but is forced to ask for help after being arrested. That lands him at the North Pole.

-- Language: A handful of mild four-letter words that could turn up on TV.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: Couples kiss. When sleeping troubles are mentioned, Fred slyly asks if Santa is having "a tough time getting his sleigh off the ground."

-- Violence/scary situations: Chases, fearful flying, tussles, all played for laughs.

-- Drug or alcohol use: A beer and some eggnog are knocked back.