New family films, including 'Inkheart' and 'Hotel for Dogs'

ShareThis

A guide to movies from a family perspective:

"Inkheart"

-- Rated: PG.
-- Suitable for: Children 8 or 9 and up.
-- What you should know: This fantasy adventure is based on a Cornelia Funke best seller about a man who has the ability to read a story and make it come alive. It is much darker and more serious than "Bedtime Stories," which may sound similar but is lighter and for a younger audience.
-- Language: Mild, perhaps one use of the stronger version of "darn."
-- Sexual situations and nudity: None.
-- Violence/scary situations: Threats are made, guns and knives brandished, people locked in a dungeon, fires set and a mammoth shadowy monster with what looks like red glowing eyes and mouth appears. Some characters have scars or printed words on their faces.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Someone sips, briefly, what appears to be wine.

"Hotel for Dogs"

-- Rated: PG.
-- Suitable for: School-age children and older.
-- What you should know: Orphans (Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin) are foster children who turn an abandoned hotel into a home for dogs, even as they long for a permanent loving place for themselves.
-- Language: None.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: Other than a couple of chaste kisses and the sight of a construction worker's pants sliding low on his butt, nothing.
-- Violence/scary situations: Children are stuck with clueless, cheap foster parents and occasionally pursued by cops, and dogs are caught and caged, but it's generally tame. No dog-death scenes, in other words.
-- Drug or alcohol use: None.

"Paul Blart: Mall Cop"

-- Rated: PG.
-- Suitable for: 8- or 9-year-olds and older.
-- What you should know: Kevin James ("The King of Queens") is a single dad and Jersey mall cop who tries to foil a heist and free a handful of hostages.
-- Language: Mild.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: A woman's bra and bare back are visible when she gets into a tussle in a store. A few kisses are exchanged.
-- Violence/scary situations: Some scenes are played for laughs. Guns are drawn and fired, but injuries are minor and no one is killed. Hostages, including a child, are taken, but the peril is mild.
-- Drug or alcohol use: James' character gets drunk when he mistakes margaritas for non-alcoholic drinks in a bar where others consume beer, wine and the like.

"Not Easily Broken"

-- Rated: PG-13.
-- Suitable for: Mature tweens and up.
-- What you should know: Morris Chestnut and Taraji P. Henson star in an adaptation of the book of the same name by pastor-author Bishop T.D. Jakes. They play a married couple whose relationship is tested by an accident, disappointments and temptations.
-- Language: One use of "Jesus" and a stream of mild four-letter words.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: Couples kiss, the passage of time spent in the bedroom is discreetly conveyed and a man has a steamy dream about someone who is not his wife.
-- Violence/scary situations: A violent car crash is dramatized, an accident claims a child's life and a basketball game nearly ends in fisticuffs.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults drink beer or wine, and a reference is made to someone "slinging crack" in the past.

"Bride Wars"

-- Rated: PG.
-- Suitable for: Tweens and older.
-- What you should know: Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson play childhood friends turned enemies when their weddings are mistakenly booked for the same day at their dream location of the Plaza Hotel.
-- Language: An abbreviated version of an objectionable 12-letter word and one mild profanity.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: A bachelorette party is staged in a bar where suggestive dancing takes place.
-- Violence/scary situations: A few, played for laughs.
-- Drug or alcohol use: Lots of imbibing of wine, champagne and other drinks.

"Bedtime Stories"

-- Rated: PG.
-- Suitable for: School-age children and up.
-- What you should know: Adam Sandler is a hotel handyman who tells his young niece and nephew fanciful bedtime stories that start to come true and are the comedy's highlight.
-- Language: Mild.
-- Sexual situations and nudity: Clean; just some kisses exchanged.
-- Violence/scary situations: Children unwittingly go into a building about to be leveled, but it all turns out OK. Other scary scenes are played for laughs.
Drug or alcohol use: Champagne and wine are served at adult functions.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit Pittsburgh Post-Gazette