Once upon a time there was a princess. She discovered that she was not the real princess after all. Her late father had imprisoned the real king and queen. All were now dead, but the real rulers had produced a son, who was now in hiding with two scholars. The princess determined to find him and give him back the throne that was rightfully his.

So, the princess went to spy on the prince and, this being a fairy tale, she fell in love with him at first sight. But no women were allowed near him. The scholars kept him in total seclusion, not just to protect his life, but also to protect his heart. They believed in pure rationality and spurned emotions, especially love. So the princess and her lady’s maid dressed up as boys and arrived at his doorstep, whereupon various complications ensue.

This story comes from a play first produced in 1732, now adapted to the screen by Clare Peploe and produced by her husband, Bernardo Bertolucci. Peploe keeps the setting of the story within its period, filming on location at magnificent houses dating back to the 18th century, but there are flickers of theatricality and modernity. A character appears to glimpse an audience in modern dress, seated on the magnificent lawn. Antique instruments on the soundtrack are briefly joined by an electric guitar (played by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour). And at the end, the performers come out in for a curtain call, wearing their own clothes.

These references to the dualities of 18th/21st centuries and male/female roles are supposed to echo the story’s themes of duality and disguise. But it does a disservice to elements of the story that can only be understood in the context of their era. The princess (Mira Sorvino) has only three strategies – she commands, she bribes, and she seduces. Most of the story has her seducing the scholars Hermocrates (Ben Kingsley), his sister Leontine (Fiona Shaw), and, of course, the prince (Jay Rodan). In each succeeding conversation with the first two, she tells more and more lies. With the prince, she begins with lies, and then tells more and more truth, revealing more to him each time they meet.

Kingsley and Shaw are magnificent, but the clash between the artificial structure of the story and the more contemporary, naturalistic tone of the film only makes it more painful for us to see them manipulated so horrendously by the princess. Rachael Stirling (daughter of “Avengers” star Diana Rigg) is delicious as the lady’s maid and brightens the film whenever she appears.

Parents should know that the movie includes gender-bending seductions, including a same-sex kiss. There are no four-letter words, but there is some spicy language and brief nudity.

Families who see this movie should talk about how people right the wrongs of their forebears and about the complications of getting to know someone and have to decide how much of the truth about yourself to share.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, also featuring Kingsley and the romantic complications of a woman dressed as a man.

Like “Lady and the Tramp,” this story is told from the perspective of dogs, this time two dalmatians, Pongo and Perdita, the cherished pets of Roger and Anita. Anita’s old friend, one of the most notorious villains in movie history, is the aptly named Cruella De Vil. Her henchmen kidnap Perdita’s puppies and eighty-four others so she can make them into a dalmatian fur coat. Pongo and Perdita, with the help of their animal friends, undertake a daring rescue. The puppies are adorable, and the movie is exciting, funny (with a sly poke at television and the kids who watch it), and fun.

Movieline magazine once asked actresses to name the most memorable female villain in the history of the movies — Cruella was at the top of the list. Families who enjoy this movie might also like to see the 1997 live- action version released in 1997, with Glenn Close as Cruella. Close is wonderful, but the movie relies too much on slapstick and the real dogs do not have the personality and range of expression of their animated predecessors. The 2000 sequel, “102 Dalmatians,” also featuring Close, is disappointing.

Spike Lee’s new movie is ambitious, provocative, complex, thoughtful, and just about review-proof. Anyone who doesn’t like it could be accused of not getting it. Anyone who does like it could be accused of liking it for the wrong reasons and not getting it, either. So the best I can do is describe it and react to it and hope that it will give readers some idea about whether they want to see it for themselves. I hope they do.

Damon Wayans plays the lone black executive for a troubled television network. He has given himself the name “Pierre Delacroix,” which has no association with his racial, cultural, or family heritage. He has adjusted his speech so that speaks with a precise, Ivy League accent. And he has adjusted his ideas so severely that even he is not sure what he thinks about the compromises he has had to make to work in the white world.

His boss, Mr. Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport) insists that he is blacker than Delacroix. He decorates his office with photos of black athletes and African art. Dunwitty says that his black wife, bi-racial children, and identification with black culture give him the right to use words like “nigger.” He says, “If Old Dirty Bastard can use it, why can’t I?” He says that he is the one who is “keepin’ it real.”

Dunwitty tells Delacroix to develop a new television show that will boost the station’s ratings, a real “coon show.” Delacroix, disgusted with himself, sets out to create a program so offensive that he will be fired. With the help of his dedicated assistant, Sloan (Jada Pinkett Smith), he puts together the most racist, insulting program imaginable. It is a minstrel show performed by black people in blackface, set in a watermelon patch, with every possible stereotype from Topsy to Aunt Jemima to a black man wearing a leopardskin loincloth.

The show is a huge hit. All across America, white and black fans put on blackface and happily yell out, “I’m a nigger!” adopting the exaggerated mannerisms of black images from our bigoted past.

The show’s stars, former street performers, are thrilled to be rich and famous, but increasingly haunted by the roles they must play. Sloan’s militant brother Julius, who wants to be called Big Black Africa, is the leader of a gang called the Mau Maus. They want their own television show (“Like the Monkees!”) and they want to do something to protest the minstrel show. They kidhap the star, with tragic results.

This movie has some of the most striking images ever put on film. The stars of the minstrel show put on blackface made from burnt cork, exactly as their predecessors did a century ago. They peer into mirrors to put on exaggerated red lips. A tear slips down a blackened cheek. Two characters argue in front of highly stylized life-size cutouts of the minstrel show characters. While Dinwitty collects African art, Delacroix begins to surround himself with racist items, beginning with a “jolly nigger bank.” Delacroix visits his father, a black entertainer who does not compromise to be acceptable to white audiences. He is comfortable with himself and with his all-black audiences, but he is an alcoholic. Lee, himself a maker of award-winning commercials, creates searing parody ads for malt liquor and “Timmi Hillnigger” clothes. The sole white member of the Mau Maus is the only one who survives a shoot-out. Montages of minstrel images from real old movies and racist toys and collectibles are devastating.

The movie draws from earlier films like “Network,” “Putney Swope,” and “The Producers” (in which an intentionally terrible show — a musical about Hitler — becomes a huge success). It raises dozens of important questions about the roles that both blacks and whites play in perpetuating racist stereotypes. Lee suggests that the current UPN and WB sitcoms featuring black characters may be the modern-day equivalent of a minstrel show.

In this movie, militant protesters take names like “Big Black Africa” and decide that they are oppressed by the “C” in “black” — but are willing to compromise their values to be on television. A street performer desperate to make a living is told that he will have to perform in blackface and all he says is, “Hey, we’re going to need a little more money for this.” When one of the minstrel show stars tries to perform as himself instead of the caricature, the audience hates it. As soon as another performer appears behind that reassuring, almost anonymous blackface, they applaud.

The movie is uneven. Dialogue has never been Lee’s strong point. But each scene has depth, integrity, intelligence — and anger — that is a welcome antidote to the usual formulaic Hollywood product. It is a profound and stimulating movie. I walked out of the theater with a thousand ideas and reactions. I heard the black woman walking out ahead of me say to her friend, “That is the best movie I ever saw.” It made me want to call every black person I know to ask them what they thought. Maybe that’s the point.

Parents should know that the movie has strong language and violence. Characters are shot and killed. There is some social drinking and one character abuses alcohol. There are sexual references and the movie makes some telling points about sexist assumptions about a woman’s use of sex to advance her career.

Families who see this movie will find a lot to talk about, including this country’s history of racism and the difficulty of bridging the gulf it has created.

Families who enjoy this movie should see some of Lee’s other films, including “Do the Right Thing” and “School Daze.” They may also like “Putney Swope,” “Network,” and “The Man in the Glass Booth.”

Plot: Big Daddy’s (Burl Ives) family is celebrating both his 65th birthday and his medical report, which shows his health problems have proven to be minor. He has two grown sons, Brick (Paul Newman), an alcoholic former athlete, and Gooper (Jack Carson), who is constantly trying to replace Brick as Big Daddy’s favorite. Gooper has five children, and Brick’s wife, Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) knows that no matter how much Big Daddy loves Brick, he cannot inherit Big Daddy’s property unless he provides an heir. Brick is angry at himself and at Maggie, and wants nothing more than to drink until he feels the “click” of peace when he is too drunk to feel anything else. But the “odor of mendacity” is too strong for Big Daddy, and all the lies come tumbling down like skeletons out of a closet.

Discussion: This movie, based on Tennessee Williams’ play, is about a family that has been damaged more by lies than by greed. They lie to Big Daddy about the results of his tests. Brick lies to himself about what really went on with Skipper. Gooper and his wife lie about their feelings for Big Daddy. And Maggie lies about being pregnant. It is worth discussing the different kinds of lies and the different motivations behind them, and the impact the truth has on the characters, when they are finally confronted with it. Compare this family’s method of accomplishing its goals with the methods of some other movie families, to see which interactions make families stronger and which tear them apart.

Questions for Kids:

· Why does Maggie compare herself to a cat on a hot tin roof? What is the roof, and what makes it hot?

· Why won’t Brick agree to get Maggie pregnant? Who is he mad at? Why?

· Why does Brick have such contempt for himself? What does Skipper’s death have to do with it?

· What makes Brick change his mind?

Connections: Compare this family to another classic Southern dysfunctional family, the Hubbards, in “The Little Foxes.” Other Williams plays adapted for the screen include “The Glass Menagerie,” “Period of Adjustment,” and “Sweet Bird of Youth.”

Activities: Read the play, and you will see that Tennessee Williams wrote two different endings. Take a look at the other ending, and read his comments on it before you decide which one you prefer.

Three close friends get together every week to share their saddest stories about looking for love. The one with the worst story of the week gets the consolation prize of a box of candy. Then, one of them has a good story, and the others are not as happy for her as they thought they would be.

The women are Kate (Andie MacDowell), headmistress of a school; Janine (Imelda Staunton), a police chief; and Molly (Anna Chancellor), a doctor. All three are very successful and capable and involved in the community. They just can’t seem to get the love thing right. And, in this movie, they discover that they as individuals and as a group may be more responsible for that problem than they have been willing to recognize.

While she is attending a funeral, Kate sees a handsome young organist (Kenny Doughty as Jed) who looks familiar. He was once her student, but is now grown up and, whether a reaction to seeing how quickly life is passing or just a need to be close to someone, she impulsively has sex with him. The bigger surprise is that it turns into a relationship of great tenderness for both of them.

Molly and Janine find it disconcerting. Kate’s radiant happiness rattles them. They persuade themselves that they are acting in Kate’s best interest when they try to break up the relationship. But their meddling has unforgivably tragic consequences.

The movie is uneven, partly because of its unconventional choice to make the story about the relationship between the three women rather than about the relationship between Kate and Jed. But its biggest problem is the awkwardly melodramatic interjection of a tragic death followed by a melodramatic pregnancy that threatens to turn it into soap opera.

Parents should know that the movie has very strong language and many sexual references and explicit sexual situations. Characters drink and smoke and behave very foolishly and irresponsibly.

Families who see this movie should talk about how friends who are supportive when things are not going well may become jealous of each other’s happiness, and how important it is to search our own hearts to make sure that we do not make that mistake.

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy seeing MacDowell and Chancellor in Four Weddings and a Funeral, where, like this movie, they are both in a church when a wedding ceremony is very unceremoniously interrupted. They may also want to watch two other movies about middle-aged women who have romances with younger men, Forty Carats and How Stella Got Her Groove Back.