ShareThisA guide to movies from a family perspective:"The Forbidden Kingdom"-- Rated: PG-13.-- Suitable for: Tweens and older.-- What you should know: Michael Angarano is a Boston teen who is magically transported to ancient China, where he goes from being a kung-fu-movie lover to an actual kung-fu practitioner, thanks to his mismatched teachers played by Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Although Chan provides some comic relief, this is an action adventure spun out of the legend of the Monkey King and running 113 minutes.-- Language: One use of "Jesus" and a stronger version of "darn."-- Sexual situations and nudity: None.-- Violence/scary situations: More than you might expect, starting with Angarano's character being bullied. People are shot, shown hanging from a tree, run through with a sword and fall to their deaths or into a pit of fire. Also lots of martial-arts sparring.-- Drug or alcohol use: Chan's character consumes much wine."Under the Same Moon"-- Rated: PG-13.-- Suitable for: Tweens and older, but be aware that the movie uses some subtitles.-- What you should know: The overwhelming, amorphous issue of illegal immigrants is processed through the story of one mother, undocumented and working in Los Angeles, and her 9-year-old boy, Carlitos, in Mexico. He decides to cross the border and find her in the States.-- Language: A handful or more of mild curses.-- Sexual situations and nudity: A couple of kisses.-- Violence/scary situations: Carlitos' grandmother, who has been his guardian, dies in her sleep. He tries to cross the border while hiding in a cramped space in an un-air-conditioned car. A man who appears to be a Good Samaritan turns out to have needle marks on his arm and tries to "sell" the boy for drugs. Illegal workers live in constant fear of immigration or police officers.-- Drug or alcohol use: An obvious drug user and dealer are shown, and some beer and other alcoholic drinks are served."Leatherheads"-- Rated: PG-13.-- Suitable for: 8- or 9-year-olds and up, although best for tweens and older.-- What you should know: George Clooney, Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski star in this comedy set in 1925 in the earliest, most raucous days of professional football.-- Language: Less than a dozen curses, some with God's name attached.-- Sexual situations and nudity: Tame; just a couple of kisses exchanged.-- Violence/scary situations: Punches and brawls, both on and off the football field. -- Drug or alcohol use: Beer, whiskey and the alcoholic contents of flasks are consumed."Nim's Island"-- Rated: PG.-- Suitable for: School-age youngsters and up.-- What you should know: Abigail Breslin is an 11-year-old girl who lives alone on a remote island with her scientist father. When he goes missing on an expedition, she has to defend the island from cruise-ship passengers and reach out to the writer of her favorite adventure novels. Gerard Butler and Jodie Foster also star.-- Language: Very tame.-- Sexual situations and nudity: None.-- Violence/scary situations: Breslin's character, Nim, is alone when her home is battered by storms and she fears her father is dead. In fact, he is stranded at sea with sharks circling. Nim, whose mother died years before, scrapes her leg in a fall and fears it may be infected. Foster's character is a bundle of anxieties who hasn't left her home in 16 weeks.-- Drug or alcohol use: Nothing notable.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)
New films from a family perspective
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