In fairness to the intended audience for this movie, the following review was written by my 16-year-old, who wanted to give it more stars: Road Trip, a raunchy comedy in the style of Detroit Rock City and American Pie, is a laugh out loud movie that’s good to see with friends if you’re a teenager (probably guys will like it more than girls.) while parents will avoid it for its vulgar humor and its parents-just-don’t understand star Tom Green.

Road Trip starts at Ithaca University with Barry (Green) practicing his typical bother-everyone sense of humor to possible future students he’s touring (he tells them he’s attended Ithaca for the past eight years and makes up stories about the buildings) and eventually gets them caught up in a story about his friends, where trouble starts when Josh (Seann William Scott) cheats on his girlfriend since he was five (Rachel Blanchard) with the girl he really likes, Beth (Amy Smart) and not only is his video camera accidentally left on but his friend accidentally mails it to his girlfriend in Austin. So he and three friends set off on an 1,800 mile epic road trip on which they blow up their car, constantly run out of money and regain it in various ways, meet all sorts of crazy people, (blacks who think its funny to put a KKK mask in Kyle’s backpack and pretend they found it, suspiciously blind lady, and Barry’s parents, the Manilows, to name a few) and learn their respective lessons about standing up to your parents, getting girls, friendship, etc.

Throughout the movie they shoot back to Barry, who stays on campus because he wants to feed Josh’s snake while he’s gone. His attempts to get it to eat a mouse, sing folk songs and help Beth find Josh (“He went to Austin. It’s in Massachusetts.” “You mean Boston?” “Yeah.”) had the audience laughing harder than anything else. Throughout the movie he seems to be just thrown in to make it funnier until the ending where he unwittingly saves the day. Although the entire cast is very good and Green is not the main character, it’s really his movie.

Contains foul language, crude humor, nudity, sexual situations, and a character who does drugs to hide his sensitivity.

Parents should know that the version on video includes even raunchier scenes deleted before theatrical release in order to get an R rating. The unrated version released on the video would have been likely to receive an NC-17 rating from the MPAA and parents might want to view it themselves before allowing their children or teenagers to watch it, even if they saw it in the theater.

Two Oscar-winners are no match for some irresistible dogs (with a little assistance from puppeteers and computer animators) in this so-so slapstick comedy about a Miami dentist who ends up in a dogsled race. The actors do their best, but there is no way they can hold the attention of the audience when those beautiful Siberian huskies and one magnificent border collie are on screen.

This is an a attempt to return to one of the Disney staples of the 1960’s, a light-hearted story pairing cute but clumsy actors with cute but clever animals. Think of “That Darn Cat,” “The Shaggy Dog,” “The Monkey’s Uncle,” and “The Ugly Dachshund.” The set-up this time is fine: a successful Miami dentist named Ted Brooks (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) inherits a team of champion Alaskan snow dogs. And some of the highly predictable jokes work reasonably well, as the city slicker used to sunshine has to adjust to live in a remote area that is all snow and ice.

Gooding is, as always, an attractive presence, with welcome support from Nichelle (“Lt. Uhura”) Nichols as his adoptive mother, James Coburn as his biological father, and Joanna Bacalso as his romantic interest. There is a cute dream sequence and the scenery is gorgeous. But overall, the movie is no better than fair.

Parents should know, though, that despite the PG rating, there is some material they might not consider appropriate for children. Characters drink hard liquor. Brooks’ late mother leaves a drink of Wild Turkey to all her friends. Brooks learns early in the movie that he is adopted, which some children (both adopted and not) might find disturbing. Later, he is told that his natural parents were two loners who had a one-night stand, and his biological father is a cranky (and white) mountain man played by James Coburn. Brooks tries to gain the respect of the mountain man and find out how his biological parents felt about each other and about him.

When Brooks finds out that he is half white, his adoptive mother makes a stereotype joke, responding, “That explains why you’re so crazy about Michael Bolton.” Parents should also make it clear to younger children that despite what it says in the movie, humans do not bite dogs on the ear to tame them.

Families who see this movie should talk about when we allow ourselves to be measured by the standards of others and when we trust our own ability to know what is important.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy Beethoven(about a St. Bernard that adopts a family) and Rat Race(another slapstick comedy starring Gooding).

“Plot:

Plot: The classic John Steinbeck novel about dust-bowl farmers emigrating from Oklahoma to California became a classic film with Henry Fonda as Tom Joad and Jane Darwell (in an Oscar-winning performance) as his mother. Tom returns home after serving time in prison for manslaughter to find that his share-cropper family is preparing to leave. They have lost the right to farm the land, so they are setting off to find jobs in California. Ma takes one last moment in their shack of a home, holding her earrings up to her ears, and then all twelve of them pile into the truck, including Casey, a former minister. On the way, their grandfather dies, and they bury him themselves. The grandmother dies, too, but Ma holds on to her and does not tell anyone until they get to California. Thousands of migrants have arrived for the 800 available jobs. Exploited and even robbed by the bosses, the workers are so desperate that they will do anything for any wage. They are too frightened to organize and insist on better treatment.

The bosses have hired thugs who prevent anyone from objecting to their treatment. Tom kills one to protect the people he is shooting at and Casey takes the blame. Casey is killed, and Tom kills the assailant. Wanted by the authorities, Tom cannot stay with his family, which has now found a government-sponsored work camp with better conditions. He tells his mother farewell: “Well, maybe it’s like Casey says. Fella ain’t got a soul of his own. Just a little piece of a big soul. One big soul that belongs to everybody… I’ll be around in the dark— I’ll be everywhere. Wherever you can look—wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beating up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be there in the way guys yell when they’re mad. I’ll be there in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry, and they know supper’s ready, and when people are eatin’ the stuff they raised, and livin’ in the houses they built, I’ll be there, too.” After he leaves, Ma says, “Rich fellers come up. They die. Their kids ain’t no good and they die out. But we keep a-comin’. We’re the people that live. Can’t wipe us out. Can’t lick us. We’ll go on forever, ’cause we’re the people!”

Discussion: This brilliant film shows us a family of enormous dignity and commitment. Though Ma says that they are not “the kissin’ kind,” and they show little emotion (except for Ma’s delight in Tom’s return from prison) there is clearly a great deal of love in the family.

Questions for Kids:

· Director John Ford was famous for using the landscapes in his movies to help create the mood and tell the story. How did he do that here?

· Casey is often considered to be a Christ-like figure. What causes people to make that comparison?

· What do you think about Tom’s comment that we all have “a piece of a big soul”? About Ma’s comment that “the people will go on”?

· What is the life of migrant workers like today? To the extent that it has improved, what and who made it better?

Connections: John Ford won an Oscar as Best Director. Darwell can be glimpsed as “the bird lady” in “Mary Poppins.” Carradine is the father of actors Keith and Robert Carradine.

Activities: Teens should read the book by John Steinbeck. They may also appreciate his books Of Mice and Men and East of Eden, and the films based on them.

It may still be spring outdoors, but this is the first summer movie of the year. Grab some popcorn and settle in for some old-fashioned movie fun, the best in this genre since the gold standard of adventure movies, the Indiana Jones series.

Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz return as Rick and Evie O’Connell, now married and the parents of eight-year-old Alex (Freddie Boath). John Hannah returns as Evie’s lazy, greedy, but sharp-shooting brother, and Oded Fehr is also back, though now reduced to sidekick.

The Mummy (Arnold Vosloo) and his girlfriend Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia Velazquez) are back, too, and up to all of their old sand-sucking, kick-boxing tricks. This time, the Mummy has to defeat the Scorpion King (wrestling star The Rock) to get control of his army and take over the world. In order to find and wake him, they need a special Scorpion-King-finding bracelet, which happens to be stuck on the wrist of Alex O’Connell. But don’t worry about the plot. It really doesn’t matter how or why mummies and bad guys are chasing them; all we need to know is that they are, and that Rick and Evie have to find a way to rescue Alex, send the mummies back where they came from, and save the world from being utterly destroyed. Fortunately, there’s always just enough time for a kiss or a wisecrack — sometimes both — before entering into the fray.

The special effects are sensational, and the fight scenes are well staged and very exciting. One of the movie’s great strengths is the art direction. It brilliantly creates the mood, helped along by a period-sounding score. It is a shame that The Rock is onscreen for such a short time. He makes a real impression in the prologue, but does not reappear until the end, when he is part-Rock, part-scorpion. Fortunately, the team behind the movie is now preparing an entire sequel just about his character.

Families should know that the movie is very violent, but mostly in comic-book terms. Most of the damage is done to mummies and other non-humans. There are some scary surprises and ghoulish images. There are also very mild sexual references and some revealing costumes.

Families who see this movie should visit local museums to see some of their Egyptian treasures and talk about how views on archeological digs have changed since the era in which it is set, and about current controversies over the ownership of antiquities. They may also enjoy imagining being the reincarnation of historical figures.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy the first in the series as well as “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”