In this fourth installment of Pokemon feature films, Ash and his friends explore an enchanted forest and meet Celebi, a dove-like Pokemon with the power to move through time. They also make friends with a boy named Sammy who was catapulted 40 years into the present day when he tried to protect Celebi from being captured. But then Celebi is captured and turned into a supercharged evil force. Sammy, Ash, Pikachu, and their friends have to find a way to save Celebi and the forest. And Sammy has to go back to his own era.

This movie has more of a story than the previous Pokemon features, some surprisingly lovely background paintings, and a very impressive computer-animated monster made out of twigs and straw. I was a bit relieved to get away from the concept of possessing the pokemons and focus more on cooperation and friendship. But it is still a long slog for anyone but the most committed Pokemon fan, and parents may feel that the movie’s title is a reference to its running time.

Parents often wonder about the appeal of Pokemon. As I have written before, there are three reasons that children are drawn to characters like Pokemon. First is the perennial appeal of characters who appear to be weak but have hidden sources of power. Kids, who live in a world of powerful giants are drawn to stories of transformations and secret strength, from Clark Kent who is secretly Superman on through the Transformers, Ninja Turtles, and Power Rangers. Next, the many facts to memorize about Pokemon give children a chance to master something that is vastly beyond the ability of adults, giving them a sense of power and competence. Finally, as children start to develop social skills, fads like Pokemon provide a shared language that can help those conversations and imaginative games get started.

Parents should know that the movie has characters in peril and one apparent death that could be upsetting for younger children. There is one mildly crude joke that kids will find funny.

Families who see this movie should talk about how Ash and Sammy will continue to be close to each other, even though they will not be together. How did Celebi stop being violent? What is the difference between Jesse and James and the other member of Team Rocket they meet? What do you think Team Rocket is?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy the other Pokemon movies.

Stuart Little 2 is a sweet family movie with excellent voice talent and special effects. Fans of the first one will enjoy it and it is one of the best family movies of the summer.

It takes place where the last one left off, with Stuart (charmingly voiced by Michael J. Fox) living in New York with his parents (Hugh Laurie and Geena Davis), big brother George (Jonathan Lipnicki, seeming a little bored with making kid movies) and a new baby sister. The lives of the Little family are already somewhat tumultuous, with the new baby, George making new friends, and Mrs. Little loving but often a bit overprotective.

Stuart finds meets a lovely little bird named Margalo (voiced by Melanie Griffith) with an injured wing, and he takes her into his home. They quickly become close, but soon we find out that she’s not who she makes herself out to be and although she cares very much about Stuart and his family she has to leave unexpectedly.

Stuart doesn’t understand and enlists the Littles’ grumpy cat Snowbell (Nathan Lane, spouting off comedy that wouldn’t feel out of place coming from Rodney Dangerfield) to help him find her. In the meantime, George covers up for Stuart by lying to his parents (who come across as particularly clueless) and Stuart and Snowbell encounter many obstacles on their journey, but (spoiler warning!) it all works out in the end.

Thus the story, a very watered down version of the second half of the classic book, is nothing to write home about, but it’s a safe bet that fans of the first one will enjoy it. The meticulous computer animation is still something to marvel at, with all the animated animals being realistic down to the last hair and feather. Also, Steve Zahn shines in a small role, and whoever cast James Woods as the villainous Falcon must’ve seen Disney’s Hercules and realized that nobody can beat him as a bad guy.

Families should know that this film has barely enough toilet humor to get a PG so that kids won’t think it’s a dumb G-rated film. There is some peril, but everyone but the bad guy comes out of it without any injury.

Families who see this should talk about if it’s ok to lie in order to keep a promise, especially if the promise is particularly dangerous.

Families who like this movie should catch the original if they haven’t already, as well as Shrek and the Toy Story films.

The Powerpuff Girls’ first feature-length movie may be a treat for the fans of the show, but its non-stop excitement and sense of humor is going to win over just about anyone. Move over Pokemon, there are some new rulers of the animated action scene.

The big city of Townsville is overrun by crime, and the lonely but always good-hearted Professor Utonium decides to make some daughters out of sugar, spice, and everything nice. But his troublesome lab monkey Jojo knocks some mysterious “chemical X” into the concoction and the girls come out having seemingly endless superpowers, in addition to being the nicest girls he could ask for. He names them Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, and they all have different, distinct personalities.

They show their sugar and their spice — and their superpowers on their first day of school when a game of tag goes terribly wrong and destroys much of the town. The people of Townsville are furious at the girls, who are ashamed and outcast. When Jojo tells them he has a plan to save the town, they agree to help. But they are deceived. It turns out his plan is to take over earth with oppressed apes, with Jojo becoming Mojo Jojo, king of the planet of the apes. At first chaos ensues and it looks like Mojo Jojo will in fact reign, but the girls use their powers to take on the apes in a spectacular battle to save the city and finally prove to the people that they’re actually good girls.

The Powerpuff Girls are more fun than many recent films and most of today’s animated superheroes. It was funny, exciting, and involving. Mojo Jojo is voiced by Roger L. Jackson, the phone voice of the killer in all three Scream movies, and the apes are the most colorful animated villains since Yellow Submarine and the most fearsome gang of monkeys since The Wizard of Oz. And of course, the older audience is targeted in some of the jokes as well, including two characters who talk in Van Halen lyrics and references to the original Planet of the Apes.

Parents should know that this film has lots of destructive cartoon violence, as well as some brief bathroom humor.

Families who see this film should talk about what they would do if they had superpowers — or if they could make up their own animated characters.

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy The Powerpuff Girls DVD Powerpack and The Powerpuff Girls Meet the Beat-alls, in which the entire dialogue is taken from Beatles songs.

Like all Oprah-selected books, White Oleander is the story of a girl who has to overcome the most severe trauma and abuse. The book’s language was both vivid and lyrical, making the terrible events more epic than sordid. The movie tries to achieve the same standard, going for prestige drama over soap opera. But even the an exquisite performance by Michelle Pfeiffer and powerhouse appearances by Robin Wright Penn and newcomer Alison Lohman cannot keep the endless series of tragedies from melodrama.

Pfeiffer plays Ingrid, an artist who prides herself on her strength and independence. She murders her lover with poison from white oleander blossoms, and is sent to prison, leaving her daughter Astrid (Lohman) to a series of foster homes. First, she lives with Starr (Wright Penn), a former topless dancer who has found Jesus and is trying to hold on to her own rebellious daughter. Starr is kind to Astrid until she begins to see her as a rival for the attentions of her live-in boyfriend. Astrid protests that she has no designs on the boyfriend, but she cannot resist his attention and they become involved. Jealousy and insecurity cause Starr to begin drinking again and in a drunken rage she shoots Astrid.

Astrid’s other foster homes include Claire (Renée Zellweger), a weepy actress with a distant husband, and Rena (Svetlana Efremova), a money-hungry Russian who presides like Fagin over a ragtag group of orphans. In between, she stays at an institution, where she is beat up by tough girls but befriended by a sensitive boy named Paul (“Almost Famous” star Patrick Fugit).

Each setting provides Astrid with a new identity to try and a new opportunity to be hurt. Through it all, she visits her mother in prison, and it becomes clear that the woman who killed the man who tried to leave her would also do anything – and destroy anyone — to hold on to her daughter. Whenever Astrid seems happy or at home, Ingrid finds a way to poison her environment. Finally, Astrid is so determined not to allow herself to be vulnerable again that when she has a chance for a home with a kind, loving couple, she insists instead on going with Rena, where she is sure not to be disappointed again. She even turns away from Paul. Finally, though, she learns that even then she is reacting to Ingrid, and that to be fully her own person she must find her own way to intimacy and expression.

A Jungian analysis might suggest that the story is a metaphor for the inevitable separation in all mother-daughter relations. All of the mother figures, including not just Ingrid, Starr, Clare, and Rena but also the foster mother Astrid rejects and the social worker responsible for placing her are like one mother splintered into many extreme versions, as though reflected through a prism. All children find their mother to be many things, from the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving figure of their earliest memories to the extremely demanding and ultimately rejecting caricature she can appear to a teenager struggling to know herself.

Parents should know that the movie includes brutality of a modern-era Dickensian quality. Astrid is seduced by one foster parent and shot by another. A third commits suicide. Astrid is subjected to physical and emotional abuse. Ingrid murders her lover. There are non-explicit sexual situations and references. Characters drink, smoke, and use drugs. Characters use strong language and mock religious faith.

Families who see this movie should talk about how Astrid changes her appearance and manner to reflect each of her “homes,” while Ingrid seems almost untouched by her surroundings.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy the book. They may also like to see some other classic dramas of difficult mother/daughter relations, like “Terms of Endearment” and “One True Thing.”

This is the true — and heartbreaking — story of Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers, players for the Chicago Bears, who were the first interracial roommates in pro sports, based on the memoir by Sayers.

Piccolo (played by James Caan) was not as talented as Sayers (played by Billy Dee Williams) but had enormous commitment, perseverance, and competitiveness in the most positive sense. He knew that trying to beat Sayers was what made him do his best. When Sayers was injured, Piccolo devoted himself to making sure that he recovered fully, because he wanted to beat Sayers at his best, not beat him because of the injury. Piccolo, trying to motivate Sayers to exercise his injured knee, calls him “nigger” in hopes of getting him excited. But it is such a ludicrous insult that both men collapse into laughter.

Sayers comes back, Piccolo is added to the starting lineup, and all seems fine until Piccolo becomes ill. It turns out that he has terminal cancer. The shy and reserved Sayers must learn to handle a devastating loss by keeping the best of Piccolo inside him.

This is a touching and inspiring film (originally made for television), with an outstanding musical score by Michael Legrand. The friendship and devotion between the two friends (and their wives) is very moving, as is the treatment of racial issues.