Family Filmgoer

June 28, 2009

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (PG, 105 min.) Charmless sequel to “Night at the Museum.’’ As in the first film, there are moments that could be scary, as when the T. rex skeleton roars or the giant squid slithers out of a crate.

Up (PG, 98 min.) Kids under 6 may wonder what’s going on in the quiet interludes, and there are some scary scenes when fierce dogs chase the heroes. But “Up’’ is a near-total delight.

Imagine That (PG, 107 min.) Eddie Murphy plays an investment whiz who can’t relate to his 7-year-old daughter (Yara Shahidi). The comedy has rare mild profanity, brief toilet humor, a divorce theme, and an awkward scene in which Murphy sneaks into a little girls’ slumber party.

Monsters vs. Aliens (PG , 94 min.) Silly, ingenious animated 3-D spoof of 1950s “creature features.’’ Even the “scary’’ scenes are amusing, which helps calm younger kids. There is toilet humor, but nothing too gross.

Angels & Demons (PG-13, 130 min.) Harvard “symbologist’’ Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) returns in a film with more violence and disturbing images than its predecessor, “The Da Vinci Code.’’

Drag Me to Hell (PG-13, 96 min.) A comedy-horror hybrid with classic images that include demons and corpses vomiting maggots, eyeballs and false teeth popping out, and a projectile nosebleed. But most of the effects look deliberately cheesy.

Easy Virtue (PG-13, 93 min.) Mild sexual innuendo, brief seminudity, drinking, much smoking, and the accidental off-camera death of a pet dog (we do hear a yelp). For sophisticated teens.

Every Little Step (PG-13, 93 min.) This documentary follows the tortuous audition process for the 2006 Broadway revival of “A Chorus Line,’’ focusing on a few people who either make it or don’t. Some profanity and discussion of sexuality.

Land of the Lost (PG-13, 106 min.) Sexual innuendo (many breast jokes), toilet humor, mid-range profanity. Not for grade schoolers because of the sexual content. Really young kids may be scared by the charging T. rex.

My Life in Ruins (PG-13, 98 min.) Lame romantic comedy with much sexual innuendo, some of it crude and/or homophobic, occasional sexual slang, rare profanity, and drinking. More for high schoolers.

My Sister’s Keeper (PG-13, 109 min.) High schoolers and mature middle schoolers could be moved by the film, which depicts severe nosebleeds, vomiting from chemotherapy, baldness, and deathly pallor. Some profanity, beer-drinking.

The Proposal (PG-13, 104 min.) A naughtiness of tone could give parents of younger teens pause. A lot of sexual innuendo and a sort-of-but-not-really nude scene, moderate profanity, a tasteless remark about immigrants.

The Soloist (PG-13, 109 min.) High art and edginess, with briefly violent scuffles, a bloody crime scene, people using drugs, occasional profanity, drinking, smoking, and toilet humor. For thoughtful teens.

Star Trek (PG-13, 126 min.) Recounting of how the young and frisky James T. Kirk and gang met as junior officers on the maiden voyage of the starship USS Enterprise. A hint of torture, intense fighting, mild sexual humor and innuendo.

State of Play (PG-13, 117 min.) Smart political thriller with gun violence, but little blood. We do see dead bodies, and there is midrange profanity and crude sexual slang, as well as drug references, drinking, and smoking.

Terminator Salvation (PG-13, 115 min.) This new chapter in the “Terminator’’ series, with its post-nuclear landscape and unremitting mayhem and gloom, is grimly violent, though with relatively little gore (a little blood and some needles).

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen (PG-13, 150 min.) The film is endless and boring with a nearly incomprehensible plot. Crude language, profanity, toilet humor, warfare with guns, fighter jets, and explosions.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (PG-13, 108 min.) Darker than the trio of “X-Men’’ films that preceded it, this film is very violent, with implied impalements, a beheading, but little gore. Occasional profanity, sexual innuendo.

Year One (PG-13, 97 min.) Finding the yucks in the Book of Genesis: lots of strong, silly sexual innuendo, homophobic humor, nongraphic violence, mid-range profanity, a protracted comic discussion of circumcision and toilet humor.

Away We Go (R, 90 min.) Sexual language and innuendo, homophobic humor aimed at a child, talk of miscarriages, rare strong profanity, and drinking. Great for thoughtful high schoolers.

The Hangover (R, 100 min.) A frat comedy that’s too crudely sexualized and profane for most under-17s. Rear-view nudity and toplessness, homophobic slurs, toilet humor, drug humor, and a poor joke about a grandmother’s “Holocaust ring.’’

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (R, 106 min.) For high schoolers who like intelligent thrillers. There are bloody shootings, children among the hostages, rats in the subway, profanity, crude sexual innuendo, ethnic slurs.

Jane Horwitz, Washington Post Writers Group.