Cars

Posted on June 6, 2006 at 2:28 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated G
Profanity:	Brief G-rated crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Peril and some scary moments, no one hurt
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters, a theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	2006
Date Released to DVD:	2006
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00005JNS0

Look closely at the little flying bugs buzzing and bumping in the hot light of the desert. They are, of course, Bugs: VW Bugs with wings. In the world of this story, all of the characters are cars and all of the world around them is car-iffic. Even the buttes of Monument Valley — excuse me, I mean Ornament Valley — are shaped like car features.

It has all of the flawless technical facility we have come to rely on from Pixar, but this time the story does not quite match the wow-factor of the visuals. The result is perfectly entertaining but it does not have the power of Finding Nemo or The Incredibles. Those films tapped into profound themes about the way parents and children interact with the big, scary outside world where danger and adventure are. “Cars” has a standard story about friendship and standard characters — the veteran, the upstart, the comic bumpkin who knows things that the city slicker still has to learn, and the story sags a bit in the middle. As far as the script goes, “Cars” is a little bit pedestrian.

It starts with the biggest race of the year. All eyes are on three competitors — the reigning champion (voiced by race car veteran Richard Petty), perennial runner-up Chick Hicks (voice of Michael Keaton), and the rookie, Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson), who takes pride in being a loner. A three-way tie means there has to be another race, one of the biggest ever, to take place a week later, in California.

Lightning is in a hurry to get to there early so he can ingratiate himself with the champion’s sponsor, but he gets sidetracked and ends up in a little town called Radiator Springs, far from the interstate highway. He gets into trouble and the local judge (voice of Paul Newman) sentences him to repairing the road before he can leave. With the help of a sweet-natured tow truck named Tow Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) and a spirited blue Porsche with a law degree who runs the local motel (voice of Bonnie Hunt), Lighting learns some lessons about friendship, cooperation, and even about racing and what it really means to win.

Pixar, as always, creates a thrillingly imaginative but always believeable world with eye-filling details. We believe these are cars, but we also believe they are characters. They have all of the properties of steel and paint and rubber but all of the expressiveness of human eyes and mouths and even noses. Wilson’s slacker surf bum voice is just right for Lightning and Newman gives Doc warmth and wisdom. But the story and characters are not as engrossing as the visuals. The script has a too-many-cooks feeling and it’s about fifteen minutes too long, ten of which is mostly Larry the Cable Guy. And there’s something a little hollow in the endorsement of homespun, non-commercial values in a film so relentlessly marketed, its endorsement of low-tech delivered through technology that is many degrees of separation from paintbrush and cel. Pixar’s lesser effort still beats most of what plays in theaters, but we realize during the credit sequence that it has more heart and humor than the movie that came before it.

Parents should know that there is some brief G-rated crude language and mild crude humor and vandalism. Characters are in peril and there is some mild violence, but no one gets hurt.

Families who see this movie should talk about how different ways of saying “yeah, okay” can mean different things. Why did Lightning think he liked to do things by himself? Doc and Sally had different reasons for coming to Radiator Springs. What were they? Families who see this film should also talk about their favorite car trips and where they would like to go on the next one. They can find out more about Route 66 here or here.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy the other Pixar films, including A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 1 and 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. They will also enjoy other family movies featuring cars, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Herbie movies, starting with The Love Bug, and The Great Race.

A Prairie Home Companion

Posted on June 3, 2006 at 2:42 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for risque humor.
Profanity:	Some strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, drug references
Violence/ Scariness:	Deaths, some sad
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	2006
Date Released to DVD:	2006
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000H6SXYM

Garrison Keillor’s voice is a national treasure. It is so warm, so magnetic, even hypnotic that it lulls you into a whole different dimension, an idealized past located somewhere between innocent nostalgia and ironic self-awareness, as though Norman Rockwell painted an episode of “Seinfeld.” His long-running radio program appeals to those who appreciate the authenticity of the roots music, performed with utter sincerity, and the slyly skewed humor that keeps it from getting sugary. He tells stories of Lake Woebegon (“Where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average”) and has faux ads for products like Powdermilk Biscuits, which “give shy people the strength to get up and do what needs to be done.” Keillor may be the only one in history to keep happy both the sentimentalists who love Kinkade and the cynics who love po-mo happy, each thinking they’re the only ones who really get him.

The film describes the radio program as one that “died 50 years ago but someone forgot to tell them — until tonight.” Keillor is nostalgic, faux-nostalgic, and a commentator on nostalgia all at the same time.

Director Robert Altman is a perfect match for Keillor’s sensibility, and this intimate, backstage look at the radio program’s last broadcast mingles real (with some of Keillor’s regulars as themselves) with fiction (Kevin Kline as Keillor character Guy Noir, Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin as singing sisters and Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly as singing cowboys who love bad jokes — and of course the radio program is not on a commercial network and is not ending) and fantasy (Virginia Madsen as a mysterious and mysteriously powerful stranger). The narrative is more layered than the radio program and Altman’s understated documentary style never intrudes, but no fleshing out can possibly compare to the complexity and intimacy of a listener’s imagination.

Parents should know that the movie has some strong and crude language, some sexual references, sexual humor and sexual situations, reference to suicide, and deaths of characters (at least one sad).

Families who see this movie should talk about the enduring appeal of Keillor’s radio program. What can you tell about the relationship between Yolanda and Rhonda? Yolanda and GK? How does the relationship of Yolanda and Lola change and why?

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy the beloved radio show. They will also enjoy some of Altman’s other ensemble movies like Nashville and Gosford Park. You can also sign up to get daily emails with Keillor’s Writer’s Alamanac, a daily poem and literary trivia segment broadcast on NPR.

Related Tags:

Comedy Drama Movies -- format Musical

The Break-Up

Posted on June 2, 2006 at 3:23 pm

F+

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for sexual content, some nudity and language.
Profanity:	Some strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and smoking, references to drunkenness
Violence/ Scariness:	Tense and sad emotional scenes
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	2006
Date Released to DVD:	2006
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000HCPS94

Someone should file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission about false advertising for this film. The trailer and the ads indicate that it is a romantic comedy. But it is, in fact, neither romantic nor a comedy; it’s more like an episode of Dr. Phil. Of course the trailer and the ads also indicate that it is enjoyable, and that, too, turns out not to be true, but if the FTC filed complaints every time that happened it would need more employees than the Defense Department.

The title says it all. Before the credits, we meet Brooke (Jennifer Anniston) and Gary (Vince Vaughn, who wrote the original story and produced the film) as they meet each other at a Cubs game. The next thing we see are those essential if overly familiar incidica of movie love: pictures showing our lovebirds making funny faces in a picture-taking booth, feeding each other, and decorating their new condo.

But then Gary and Brooke have their families over for dinner and get into a dispute about cleaning up. Brooke takes a stand and breaks up with Gary, hoping to make him realize how much he cares about her. But Gary, either because he takes her at her word or because his feelings are hurt, does not respond. So she raises the ante, trying to make him jealous, and he raises the ante, trying to prove he doesn’t care.

So, the whole movie is a game of one-upsmanship, as each one tries to make the other more miserable. It gets increasingly ugly and painful. Then it ends.

What is so disconcerting about all of this is that the performers seem to think they’re in a comedy and their performances have a comedy, even a sit-comedy rhythm. Anniston can be a fine dramatic actress (see the underrated The Object of My Affection) and has some of the best comic timing aound. Vaughn’s oddball ticcy rhythms, like Michael Keaton’s, work surprisingly well to convey either vulnerability or menace, sometimes both (see his underrated Clay Pigeons). But both of them are off here, as though they are lost in a script that does not match the tempo of its characters or story. The situations that are supposed to be funny are so mean-spirited and juvenile that they come across as creepy and nasty. We never believe they were a couple or that they should be a couple. they have nothing in common, no affection, no tenderness, no connection, no enjoyment of each other. They just get annoying; if we cared more, we would ask why they couldn’t just talk to each other instead of resorting to power games and indirection. But we don’t, so all we want is for them to shut up. And it seems to suggest that the problem was all Gary’s fault. Brooke talks about all she did and how under-appreciated she felt. Gary never suggests that she should have tried to find out if what she did was what he wanted and needed; he didn’t appreciate it because — he didn’t appreciate it.

The only way this story could possibly work is if it was set in a high school. We can forgive teenagers — and identify with them — for being so immature and clumsy. But having people in their 30’s say things like “Now I have him where I want him” and “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” induces not sympathy, not identification, just impatience and misery.

We keep hoping for more from the exceptional supporting cast, including Judy Davis as Brooke’s domineering boss, Ann-Margret as her mother, John Michael Higgins as her a capella-loving brother, and Jason Bateman and Jon Favreau as friends. Whenever the camera turns back to Gary and Brooke again, we sigh in resignation.

As for the ending, all I can say that at the screening I attended it literally provoked gasps of disappointment. Forget Dr. Phil; what Brooke and Gary need is a script doctor.

Parents should know that this film has some very raunchy material for a PG-13 (including a “Telly Savalas” bikini wax and two hooker jokes in the first ten minutes); as usual, the MPAA takes this material far less seriously when it is in a comedy than if it occured in a drama. There is some strong language (one f-word) and some crude language. Characters drink and smoke and there are sexual references and some nudity (bare male and female tushes, strip poker) and some implied nudity. Overall, the movie concerns some mean, dysfunctional, and petty behavior and it includes some tense and unhappy interactions.

Families who see this movie should talk about why it was so hard for Brooke and Gary to speak directly to each other about their feelings and concerns. What did they learn?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy The War of the Roses, Ruthless People, and another movie set in Chicago, About Last Night. They might enjoy some of the classic comedies about battling couples who find each other again like The Awful Truth and Move Over Darling.

Related Tags:

Comedy Drama Movies -- format Romance

Over the Hedge

Posted on May 13, 2006 at 3:49 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for some rude humor and mild comic action.
Profanity:	Some crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	A good deal of peril and some violence, bug zapped
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters, but some sterotyping
Date Released to Theaters:	2006
Date Released to DVD:	2006
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000H7JCK0

Computer technology has always had the advantage in animation when it comes to texture and three-dimensionality, and it is superb for physical properties like “shiny” and “bouncy,” but it has lagged behind hand-drawn when it came to expressions. “Over the Hedge” takes a big leap forward with computer animation that adds a delightful elasticity and verve to the characters’s “performances.”

Raccoon R.J. (voice of Bruce Willis), a brash scavenger, tries to steal the enormous pile of goodies that a big bear named Vincent (voice of Nick Nolte) had hidden away for a post-hibernation breakfast. When the food is destroyed, Vincent gives him one week to replace it all, including the red wagon and blue cooler. R.J., very much a loner, needs some help.

Waking up from their own hibernation nearby are Verne the turtle (voice of Garry Shandling), a sweet-natured porcupine family headed by Lou (voice of Eugene Levy) and Penny (voice of Catherine O’Hara), a highly excitable squirrel named Hammy (voice of Steve Carrell), a possum dad (voice of William Shatner) and daughter (voice of pop star Avril Lavigne), and an outspoken skunk named Stella (voice of Wanda Sykes).

R.J. arrives just as they learn that while they were sleeping, suburbia took over most of their woods. He tells them that this is very good news because people bring FOOD — and not just bark and berries. He introduces them to nacho chips and cookies and, despite Verne’s best efforts to persuade them to be cautious, there’s no turning back.

R.J. plans to teach the group to forage in human territory and then steal it all to give to Vince. But R.J. starts to have second thoughts when he begins to learn that he likes having friends. And the head of the new community’s homeowners’ association (voice of Allison Janney) hires an exterminator (voice of Thomas Hayden Church) to get rid of any animals that come through the hedge separating the houses from the woods.

The characters are clever and endearing and the script is fast and funny, keeping the focus on the story and avoiding the stream of pop-culture wisecracks that these days pass for humor in most animated films. Instead, the laughs come from the situations and the relationships. The voice talent is perfectly matched, especially Nolte’s growl, Sykes’ snap, and Carrell’s hyper but always piercingly sincere screech. One caveat is the mildly retro portrayal of the female characters. But with just the right balance of heart and comedy, this will be a pleasure for kids and their families.

Parents should know that this movie includes a good deal of peril and cartoon violence (no serious injuries) other than the zapping of a bug. There is some potty humor and schoolyard-style crude language (references to “licking privates” and “find my nuts”). A mother tells upset children to go watch television to calm down. The characters, appealing as they are and as much as we root for them, are stealing food, and parents may want to talk to kids about why that is wrong. While the movie has diverse characters, its retro attitude toward the females (one gets a makeover so she can use her “feminine wiles,” pretending to like another character as a way of distracting him) is something families may wish to discuss.

Families who see this movie should talk about the different ways the characters approach problems, from “playing possum” to lying and trying to exploit others to working together. They can also talk about what makes a leader. What made the others decide when they wanted to follow R.J. and when they wanted to follow Vern? What is important to you about a leader and when do you like to be a leader? And they should talk about the animals’ ideas about the role that food and television play in the lives of humans — and about the impact that junk food has on animals and on people.

Families who enjoy this movie should read the comic strip that inspired it. They should also go outside and see what creatures they might have been overlooking. What is the best way for humans and animals to live together? Families will also enjoy A Bug’s Life and look at the comic strip that inspired this film, which won the Religious Communicators Council’s 1998 Wilbur Award for “excellence in the communication of religious issues, values and themes.” And they will want to check out the difference between reptiles and amphibians.

Hoot

Posted on May 3, 2006 at 4:24 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for mild bullying and brief language.
Profanity:	Mild schoolyard language, name-calling
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Some peril and injuries, bully
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	2006
Date Released to DVD:	2006
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000GB5MH4

Kids take on developers to protect endangered owls in this mildly pleasant story based on the award-winning book by Carl Hiaasen. Parents will admire some of the messages — care for the environment, self-reliance, loyalty, and communication skills. But they will be less pleased with a one-sided, ends-justify-the-means approach that suggests that any action taken on behalf of endangered species is justified.

“Six schools in the last eight years? What are you, in the Witness Protection Program?”

14-year-old Roy (Logan Lerman) felt at home for the first time in Montana among the horses and the mountains. He is not at all happy about being uprooted to Florida, about as different from Montana as you can get.

It doesn’t help that there’s a big, mean bully on the schoolbus. But Roy is not afraid of him. He is curious, though, about a boy he sees running very fast, barefoot, and about a girl who seems angry at him but won’t tell him why.

It turns out Beatrice (Brie Larson) and her step-brother Mullet Fingers (Cody Linley) have a lot of secrets. For one, he is supposed to be away at boarding school. And for another, he is the one who has been vandalizing the site for a new pancake house to hold up construction because he wants to protect some burrowing owls.

Despite the efforts of the bully, an earnest but dim policeman (Luke Wilson), and an executive with the pancake company who has a secret of his own, the three kids find a way to bring about a happy ending for everyone, especially the owls.

All of the kids have a nice, natural quality and an easy chemistry with each other. Co-producer Jimmy Buffett appears as their marine biology teacher. He’s no actor, but it is so clear they all are enjoying themselves that it makes us want to enjoy them, too.

One of the movie’s great strengths is the way Roy avoids many of the usual problems of middle schoolers — especially those in movies. He is not afraid of the bully or of Beatrice. His frankness and courtesy in talking to her about the way she treats him is something every teenager can learn from — and a few parents, too. Roy’s parents trust and respect him, even when his behavior concerns them. This partially makes up for some cheesy slapstick and caricatured bad guys, but the superficial approach to the issues and casual attitude toward dangerous and illegal behavior by the kids undermines the story’s credibility. Nature boy Mullet Fingers may be all about protecting those darling owls, but he doesn’t seem too concerned about the poisonous snakes he captures or the dogs he sics them on. Or the humans they might easily reach.

Parents should know that the movie has some schoolyard language (“screwing up”) and some bullying and name-calling. Roy is derisively called “Cowgirl.” Parents should also know that the children’s behavior in the movie raises many parental concerns, including vandalism, theft, lying, truancy, and violence.

Families who see this movie should talk about whether the ends here (protecting the owls) justified the means (breaking the rules and the law). When do you cross the line? What consequences must you be prepared to accept? Families should also learn more about the Endangered Species Protection Program and about things that kids can do to help protect the environment.

Families who enjoy this film should read the book and see Al Gore’s new movie, An Inconvenient Truth. They will also enjoy Holes. And they should listen to my podcast interview with co-star Brie Larson.