The Karate Kid: Legends

Posted on May 29, 2025 at 9:57 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
Profanity:	Mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Martial arts fighting in and out of the ring, some injuries, character murdered with a knife
Date Released to Theaters:	May 30, 2025

More tha four decades ago a teenager named Danny LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) learned to wax on, wax off and balance on one leg, taught by an Okinawan-American handyman, and went on to win a championship. Now, after two sequels, a spin-off starring future Oscar winner Hillary Swank, an animated series, a remake starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, and the very popular “Cobra Kai” series on Netflix, we have the remix, with both Jackie Chan from the remake and the original title character and co-star of “Cobra Kai,” Ralph Maccio, who also co-produced, and it has just the right mix of touchstones for the deep cut fans and combination of classic underdog, a touch of romance, and some great fight scenes powered by awesome skill and emotional heft to bring in the next generation.

This episode starts in Beijing, where Li Fong (Ben Wang of “American Born Chinese” and the upcoming next chapter in the “Hunger Games” series) is studying Kung Fu (note: not karate) with his shifu (teacher) Mr. Han (Chan). His mother, Dr. Fong (Ming-Na Wen) does not want him to fight, and we will learn later about the tragic loss that makes her so determined to keep Li away from Kung Fu that she accepts a job on the other side of the world, in New York City.

Li stars school and meets a classmate who works in her father’s pizza place. (Amusingly, his first attempt to order in their restaurant gives him the nickname ”Stuffed Crust.”) Mia (Sadie Stanley) and Li have an instant rapport and quickly become friends. But Mia’s former boyfriend, Conor (Aramis Knight) is a bully and jealous. He hits Li in the eye and later beat him in a schoolyard fight.

Mia’s single dad, Victor (Joshua Jackson) is a former boxer. When he cannot pay a loan shark, the enforcer goons come after him in the alley outside the restaurant. This time, Li is there and in a nicely staged fight scene he defeats the loan shark’s guys. Ben Wang is a great fighter, fast, smart, powerful with hands and feet, and an astonishing ability to appear almost weightless when he jumps. As someone said about a character in another movie, he has the hang time of a helium balloon.

This leads to a fresh twist on the Karate Kid’s focus on the shifu/sensei mentorship of a young person, as Victor asks Li to train him for a comeback fight, so he can win the money he needs to pay back the loan shark.

But pretty soon we’re back in more familiar but not unwelcome territory as it turns out there is a New York City-wide competition called The Five Boroughs with a $50,000 prize and the only way for Victor to pay back the loan shark is for Li to win it. Again, not a surprise that not only will Mr. Han show up to train him, but sensei (teacher) Daniel LaRusso will arrive from California to give him a week’s worth of karate lessons. Kung fu and karate, it turns out, are two branches of the same tree. Both require spiritual as well as physical training, and both are bolstered by some unusual exercises, because “everything is kung fu.” Every action, every breath, every move, every thought can be a part of a mindset of discipline, courage, and integrity. And this comes in handy when there is no gym to train in. Instead of wax on, wax off, which had young Daniel doing the handyman’s chores, it’s jacket on, jacket off, with Li doing upside-down sit-ups with the jacket on/off at the top.

And, once again, we have our young hero going into the ring against an opponent who does not follow the same rules of honor and fairness. His sensei has taught him that “we don’t fight for points; we fight to kill.”

No surprises here, but sometimes that’s just fine.

NOTE: Stay after the credits begin for an extra scene.

Parents should know that this film includes some fight scenes. Characters are wounded and one is murdered, leaving another character feeling responsible for failing to save him.

Family discussion: Why did Mia date Conor? What should she have said to him? How can someone fight an opponent who does not follow the rules? What other ideas are “two branches, one tree?”

If you like this, try: the other Karate Kid movies and the Cobra Kai series.

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

Posted on May 19, 2025 at 11:18 am

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence and action, bloody images, and brief language
Profanity:	Brief strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended peril and violence, guns, fire, fights, chases, explosions, stunts, some graphic and disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	May 23, 2025

Yes, Tom Cruise runs. Very fast. Even at one point when he is in London and could probably get there faster in a cab, though for some reason there are no cars anywhere as he races across Westminster Bridge. He also does that mask thing where the disguise is so good that no one can tell it is him until he dramatically lifts the prosthetics from his head. And he attends a black tie gala. This is all in the first 15 minutes or so.

Thus, we are able to get what we came for and get on with the new stuff, which also includes running and fight scenes, sometimes shirtless, blue wire/red wire bomb defusing decisions under extreme time pressure, Ethan Hunt telling everyone to just trust him, several people telling him that he is the only one who can save the world (“although you never followed orders, you never let us down”), recaps of the previous films with some reckoning and a bit of retconning, a very welcome return of a character from the first Cruise “Mission Impossible” in 1996, vastly over-qualified actors in near-cameos, and, of course, absolutely bananas but very exciting action scenes, one under water, one in the air. In other words, like Ethan Hunt himself, they understood the assignment.

You don’t need to remember much or even have seen part one because (a) they tell you what happened and (b) it doesn’t matter because all you need to know is that they need to get The Thing (and the things you need to disarm The Thing) or it will be very bad for the everyone on the planet.

The MacGuffin is an AI that is getting ready to destroy all of humanity, close to gaining control of every nuclear weapon in the world. This is of great concern to the US President (Angela Bassett) and to those who think they can take control of it and therefore of everything. The primary villain in this category is Gabriel (Esai Morales), but like The Ring in the LoTR films, the AI known as The Entity is so powerful that even honorable people can be seduced away from destroying it and into wanting it for themselves. It is a “truth-eating parasite processing our deepest personal secrets” that “knows precisely how to undermine our every strength and exploit our every weakness.” Time for only the purest of heart and the fastest of running men to save the day.

Like Harry Potter and the horcruxes or a character in a video game, stopping the Entity requires going to many places to obtain different items and perform various tasks. These mini-MacGuffins include the source code for the AI, which is in a sunken Russian submarine and the “pill” to shut it down, created by Ethan’s teammate Luther (Ving Rhames) and stolen by Gabriel, a variation on “Independence Day’s” virus uploaded to an alien operating system.

Thankfully, a lot of the communication between Ethan and his team is meaningful looks. The dialogue can get heavy-handed. There is not much of it, though, because everyone knows why we’re here, and it is not witty remarks. (One funny line relates to The Entity’s appeal to viral conspiracy types.)

There’s a big build-up to how dangerous and difficult the dive to the Russian submarine is and the high probability that it won’t work and Ethan will die, but hey, the name of the series isn’t “Mission Possible.” As with the last episode’s train scene, still to my mind the best action scene in the series, the submarine scene makes very good use of shifting weight and huge, heavy things that have to be ducked. After making it very clear that the only thing keeping Ethan alive at that depth and temperature is the super-high-tech diving suit, he has to shed it, so we see him swim around in his boxers.

The showstopper is an arial battle between two colorful biplanes, one red, one yellow. At this point, the film is cutting back and forth between four or five desperately high-pressure situations, but it is the planes that will forever show up in film school and highlight reels.

If you remember anything about the first film, it is most likely the hanging from the ceiling heist at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. There was a humorous button on that scene of a confused CIA employee entering the room just as Ethan was exiting, leaving his knife behind. That employee was immediately transferred to the most remote location under the CIA’s jurisdiction as a consequence of the theft. He is computer genius William Donloe (Rolf Saxon), married to an Inuit woman named Tapessa (Lucy Tulugarjuk), and they are the two best new characters in this installment. “Severance’s” Tramell Tillman is a delight as a US submarine captain, but Hannah Waddingham, Janet McTeer, Carey Elwes, Nick Offerman, and Mark Gatiss are not given much to do (though Waddingham’s American accent is quite good, perhaps from listening to her co-stars in four years of “Ted Lasso”). Henry Czerny returns and is just right as the frustrated head of the CIA who thinks he knows better than Ethan. I think we know who’s right on that.

I usually say that in action films, everything depends on the villain. In “Mission Impossible” movies, everything depends on the stunts, the “Fast and Furious”-style found family of the team, and the unquenchable charisma of Tom Cruise. Fortunately, all are here. Happy summer and happy summer movies!

Parents should know that this film is non-stop action-style peril and violence with guns, chases, fights, and explosions. Characters are injured and killed. There is some strong language.

Family discussion: Movie villains often reflect contemporary controversies. What does this movie tell us about the possible outcome of our current decisions? Why did the President change her mind? What are Ethan’s regrets? People trust Ethan for different reasons. How many did we see?

If you like this, try: the other “Mission Impossible” movies

Thunderbolts*

Posted on May 1, 2025 at 2:06 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for strong violence, language, thematic elements, and some suggestive and drug references
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drug references
Violence/ Scariness:	Non-stop action-style peril and violence, child is killed, automatic weapons, military weapons, chases, explosions, characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters, mental illness sympathetically portrayed
Date Released to Theaters:	May 2, 2025

I liked “Thunderbolts* (note the asterisk) a lot, but it will be divisive. Some people don’t want to delve into the mental health struggles of anyone, including a superhero or supervillain. They’re just there for the punches, powers, explosions, and special effects. But as I watched the film, I thought about how many superheroes experienced devastating trauma before gaining their powers and/or dedication to saving the world. Bruce Wayne saw his parents killed by a mugger when he was a child. Superman lost his family and his whole planet. Spidey was living with his aunt and uncle, so had already lost his parents before Uncle Ben was killed. Tony Stark had dad issues. Black Widow was trained to be a child assassin.

“Thunderbolts*” is a “Suicide Squad”/”Guardians of the Galaxy”-style superhero story about a group of damaged, distrustful loners with superpowers who have to do more than just band together for all the punching and explosions. They have to begin to heal themselves. And I am completely here for it, plus for finding out the meaning of the asterisk, which I enjoyed very much. And yes, you do need to stay all the way through the credits for a final scene that teases what’s coming next.

Before I get to the superheroes, I want to talk about the villain(s). I always say that it is the villains more than the heroes that matter most in a comic book movie (and in some other places as well, as Milton showed us in Paradise Lost). Julia Louis-Dreyfus is one of the all-time great villains as Valentina, the ultra-wealthy corporate CEO turned Director of the CIA (though with current Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s streak of silver hair, just a coincidence, I’m sure). Some villains have great evil smiles. Louis-Dreyfus has a great social smile exuding the supreme confidence and power of the .001% while all-but-hiding the voracious all-consuming drive for power and utter disregard of the rights or value of anyone in her way.

We first see Yelena (Florence Pugh), still in mourning for her sister, Natasha (The Black Widow) and almost by rote working as an operative for Valentina. She is numb and lonely and lacks purpose. She tells Valentina she wants out, but agrees to one last job, in a remote lab where Valentina’s company once performed experiments, trying to find a formula to give superpowers to her subjects.

She ends up fighting Captain America (Wyatt Russell as John Walker), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and another super-character who doesn’t last long, before they figure out that they are all there for the same reason, to die, because they have become problems for Valentina. At this point, a guy who seems to be the opposite of super in any way wanders in wearing pajamas, with no memory of pretty much anything except his name. He is Bob (Lewis Pullman, in his second “just Bob” role after “Top Gun: Maverick”).

Yelena, John, and Ava do not trust each other, but the only way to stay alive is to work together. The escape works well in moving the plot and character development forward as well as being fun to watch. And that’s pretty much the vibe for the rest of the film.

Valentina thought her program to turn humans into supers failed, meaning they all died. But somehow Bob survived and that changes her plan. And the people she describes as “defective losers, anti-social tragedy in human form” may not have the cool powers and (mostly) good manners of the Avengers, but they are all struggling toward being something better. That means dealing with sad and scary feelings like loss and trauma, with the characters catapulted into immersive re-creations of their most painful moments. Will they finally find a way to become, a, what’s the word, team? The good news is that by the end of the film, we hope so.

NOTE: Stay through the credits for a mid-credit scene and a teaser at the end for what’s coming next.

Parents should know that this is a superhero movie with non-stop peril and action-style violence including automatic weapons and fantasy powers. Characters are injured and killed, including a child. Mental health and trauma are themes of the film. Characters use some strong language and there are drug references and alcohol.

Family discussion: What is the best way to discover your purpose? How did the childhood experiences of Yelena and Bob affect the way they saw themselves? How is Valentina different from other villains in superhero movies?

If you like this, try: “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the Avengers movies

Paddington in Peru

Posted on February 13, 2025 at 12:17 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for action, mild rude humor and some thematic elements
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Peril and violence, gun, machete, tarantula, no one badly hurt
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	February 14, 2025

Paddington is entertaining because of his naivety, which sometimes results in amusing slapstick. But he is beloved because he is true-hearted and kind, and because he knows that a hard stare is called for when people forget their manners. Following the second Paddington film, famously the highest rated movie in the history of Rotten Tomatoes, above expectations for this next in the series were high. It just about meets them with a heartwarming and delightful film, filled with adventure, family, a lost city, singing and tap-dancing nuns, and, when called for, orange marmalade and a hard stare.

One highlight of the series has been its A-list villains, and I strongly urge audiences to stay through the credits for an update on the best so far, Hugh Grant as Phoenix Buchanan.

We get a reminder of Paddington’s origin stories here, both his being separated from his family and being taken in by his beloved Aunt Lucy (warmly voiced by Imelda Staunton), to reassures the little cub that if he ever gets lost again, he should roar and she will roar back. We also see him arrive at the train station that give him a name humans can pronounce, and then we are up to date with Paddington (Ben Wishaw) not only a beloved part of the Brown family but a naturalized British citizen with a passport to prove it.

The timing is very good, because Paddington receives a concerning letter from the Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman) at the home for retired bears in Peru. She says Aunt Lucy is doing poorly. The Browns like the idea of a trip with some adventure included. Henry (Hugh Bonneville), whose job is assessing risk, with thick notebooks of triple-laminated documentation of every possible peril, is therefore inclined to be very risk-averse. His new American boss has encouraged him to take some risks, and Peru, even with its scary purple-kneed tarantulas, looks like a good opportunity. Mary Brown (Emily Mortimer charmingly taking over from Sally Hawkins) thinks a trip will bring the family together, something she’d been missing with her children getting older. Judy Brown (Madeleine Harris) is getting ready to leave for college and Jonathan Brown (Samuel Joslin) spends all day in his room working on inventions to help him “put a lot of effort into doing as little as possible.”

Paddington and the Browns go to Peru, but when they get to the home for retired bears, Aunt Lucy is gone and no one knows where she is. The clues she left behind seem to suggest she has gone in search of the legendary lost city of El Dorado. And so what they thought was going to be a quiet visit in a nun-run assisted living facility turns into an adventure on the Amazon, in a boat captained by Hunter Cabot, played by Antonio Banderas.

Banderas also plays Cabot’s ancestors, who were all obsessed with finding the legendary lost city of El Dorado, filled with gold. The ancestors are in pictures on the wall and also appear to Cabot to urge him on.

Like the others, this latest entry in the Paddington saga is visually enchanting, charmingly funny, surprisingly wise, and genuinely heartwarming. I admit I teared up near the end. While there is nothing as enthralling as the second film’s gently animated pop-up book or as hilarious as the prison scene, there is plenty to enjoy. This is a story about the power of being kind, empathetic, and gentle, about learning to challenge ourselves, about where we come from and where we are going. It is funny, smart, and endearing, a true gift.

NOTE: Stay for some very funny mid-credit scenes.

Parents should know that there is some fantasy/cartoon-style peril and violence including a tarantula, a gun, a machete, quicksand, and various mildly scary situations. We see the “comic” deaths of the ancestor characters. There are themes of family separation and adoption. Some in the audience may be bothered by the comic and disconnected from faith portrayal of nuns and the “sentencing” of a villain to a convent.

Family discussion: Were you surprised by Paddington’s choice at the end of the film? Why did he make that decision? How should you decide what risks are worth taking?

If you like this, try: the other Paddington movies and the books

Mufasa: The Lion King

Posted on December 19, 2024 at 1:35 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for action/violence, peril and some thematic elements
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Characters in peril, flood, animal fights, references to predators, some injured and killed, attacks by predators, some disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	A metaphorical theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	December 20, 2024

On the 30th anniversary of “The Lion King,” Disney tells the story of Simba’s father and uncle, how they met and grew up together, considering themselves brothers, and the betrayals that tore them apart. This version is “live action,” meaning not traditional animation but realistic CGI so that we can see every detail of fur and landscape. The action and drama is punctuated with songs (Lin-Manuel Miranda taking over from Elton John) and some silly humor to sweeten the tension.

The frame story is set as an adult Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) have a daughter Kiara (Ivy Blue Carter). As a storm comes up, Kiara is scared. Her mother is away and her father leaves her with old friends the warthog Pumbaa and the meerkat Timon (Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner repeating their roles from the 2019 “live action” “Lion King”). Rafiki (John Kani, also returning from the 2019 version) tries to comfort Kiara by telling her the story of the grandfather she never got to meet, Mufasa. (The movie is dedicated to the original voice of Mufasa, the late James Earl Jones.)

Like Kiara, Mufasa was once a young cub afraid of storms. And like Kiara, he had loving parents, Masego (Keith David) and Afia (Anika Noni Rose, already Disney royalty as the voice of Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog). The area they live in has not had rain in many months and the land is parched. They decide to go in search of Milele, a land they believe is filled with lush growth and peaceful animals. On the way there, a storm creates a flood and the young cub is separated from his parents.

He is spotted by Taka, a cub his age with an English accent (remember, in the original film, Scar was played by Jeremy Irons, “brother” to American-accented Mufasa). Taka fishes Mufasa out of the water and brings him home. Taka’s father, Obasi (Lennie James) wants to eat Mufasa. He has a firm rule against outsiders. But Taka’s mother, Eshe (Thandiwe Newton) is a warm, loving, generous soul and Taka wants a “brother.” Obasi gives Mufasa a chance. If he can beat Taka in a race, he can stay. Taka allows him to win, knowing that Obasi will judge him harshly for losing. Obasi grudgingly allows Mufasa to stay, but treats him as “other” and less than by ordering him to stay away from the male lions. This allows Eshe to teach him to hunt the way the lionesses do. They become very close. Mufasa (as an near-adult lion voiced by Aaron Pierre ) has an exceptional sense of smell that allows him to identify animals and their environments even if they are far away.

Obasi’s lions are attacked by a group of pale, ghost-like lions led by Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen). Knowing they cannot survive, Obasi and Eshe send Taka (now voiced by Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) and Mufasa away, making Mufasa promise that he will protect his friend.

The two young lions have many adventures along the way. They are joined by Sarabi (Tiffany Boone), an independent female lion with a lookout bird named Zazu (Preston Nyman) and Rafiki, a wise mandrill (frequently mistaken by the other characters for a baboon). The group learns to trust and rely on each other. But Taka begins to develop feelings of resentment and jealousy.

The movie looks beautiful and the CGI allows more expressiveness than the 2019 “Lion King” remake. The songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda are not his best. They are placed at points that evoke comparisons to Elton John’s music at similar moments in the original film and the remake. The framing story, with an elderly Rafiki telling Kiara about her grandfather, is sometimes jarringly different in tone, with Timon and Pumbaa making meta jokes. I mean, a joke about getting a call from legal for using too much from a song in the earlier film? Who is that for? And since Disney owns both properties, who is going to argue about intellectual property rights being violated? At least this time they acknowledge that predators are better off than prey. That jump from the cliff moment is awfully similar to “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” There are touching moments, but a lot of loss (even with much of it delicately off-screen) for young children.

I’m losing count of how many prequel/sequel/origin stories I’ve seen this year: “Furiosa,” “Wicked,” “Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim,” “Gladiator 2,” “Transformers One.” It is hard to think of these films as anything more than fan service and brand extension. “Mufasa” is fine and most families will be satisfied. But the jubilant imagination that went into the original, make this one look as pale as Kiros.

Parents should know that this film has a lot of peril and many animals are injured and killed, mostly off-screen. Characters are caught in a flood, and a young cub is separated from his parents, who are assumed to have died. A lion speaks of eating outsiders and is bigoted of those who are not of his blood. A male cub is punished by being forced to stay with the females.

Family discussion: How were Taka and Mufasa different? Why did Taka want to change his name?

If you like this, try: the earlier “Lion King” movies and the very cute “Lion King 1 1/2”