“Like Mike” has a formula intended for box-office heaven – a teen idol into a family friendly fantasy. Pint-sized rap star Lil Bow Wow plays an orphan who becomes an NBA star when he puts on a pair of sneakers that just might have once belonged to Michael Jordon.

Lil Bow Wow (now grown up enough to be known just as Bow Wow) was born Shad Gregory Moss. His rap name was bestowed by rap superstar Snoop Dog when, only six, he was invited onstage and dazzled the crowd.

In “Like Mike,” LBW plays Calvin Cambridge, who lives in an orphanage run by a meanie named Bittleman (creepy Crispin Glover). Like Little Orphan Annie, Calvin’s sunny outlook and determination sustain him, though he wishes he had a family. His best pals are Murphy (“Jerry Maguire’s” Jonathan Lipnicki) and Reg (Brenda Song). The orphanage bully, Ox (Jesse Plemons), pushes him around, but Calvin does not allow Ox to affect his view of himself.

A pair of used sneakers in a box of donated clothes has the initials “MJ” and there is a rumor that they were worn by a tall, bald, pro basketball player when he was a kid. Ox throws them onto a telephone wire, but Calvin gets them down in the middle of a lightning storm. (Parents might want to warn kids that this would not be a wise thing to try in real life.) When Calvin and the shoes are hit by lightning, something very special happens. When Calvin wears the shoes, he can play “like Mike.”

Calvin ends up playing for pro team the Knights, originally as a publicity stunt, but then as a real member of the team. The other teammates are at first skeptical and hostile, but they learn to appreciate his contribution. Calvin’s roommate and assigned mentor is Tracey Reynolds (Morris Chestnut), a loner who does not speak to his father and does not want to get close to anyone.

The script is right out of the Hollywood formula box, with everything from two different “shoes not there at the crucial moment” scenes and important lessons about teamwork to the winning shot going into the basket just as the buzzer goes off. It’s a combination “Air Bud” and “Absent-Minded Professor.” The movie is oddly edited with some plot holes. We never find out what went wrong in Tracey’s relationship with his father and we get very inconsistent information about his relationships with a couple of different women. The resolution with Bittleman is offscreen and unsatisfying, and many of the kids are still left without parents at the end of the movie.

The best thing about the movie is its surprisingly able cast of supporting players, including Robert Forster as the coach and Eugene Levy as the team’s publicist. Chestnut is real leading man material. LBW himself has a lot of charm. A number of NBA greats make brief appearances.

Parents should know that there is a surprising amount of abuse and cruelty by adults in this movie. Bittleman lies, cheats, calls Ox an idiot, and forces the children to sell candy outdoors late at night. He burns Murph’s only photo of his mother. Some kids may be upset by the orphanage and by Tracey’s estrangement from his father. Make sure kids know that they must stay away from power lines and lightning. And make sure that kids know that room service is not free!

Families who see this movie should talk about where the power really came from. Why did Calvin want a nickname? Why, when he wanted a family so badly, did Calvin reject some of the people who wanted to adopt him? What is a mentor, and how do you find one or become one? How much of what made Calvin a basketball star was in the shoes, and how much was in his heart?

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy Air Bud and Angels in the Outfield. (Click here for the original 1951 version, which is even more delightful.) They may also want to try Rookie of the Year.

“Lilo and Stitch” is as welcome as a gentle breeze coming through the hibiscus.

It has a cute story, endearing characters, a sensational soundtrack of Elvis classics, and glorious hand-painted animation that shows those smarties hunched over their computers that there are still a few things machines can’t do.

At its heart, it’s just an old-fashioned story of a child and a pet. But this is not the usual movie child and it is definitely not the usual pet.

The movie opens on some far-away planet with all kinds of monstrous-looking creatures. One of them, a scientist, has been experimenting with genetics, and has created an indestructible destruction machine called 626 in the form of a mischievous-looking little blue guy. The scientist is thrown in jail, but the experiment escapes and races off to a planet they refer to as “E-Arth.” So, the scientist and an expert on Earth are sent after him to capture him with a minimum of fuss.

626 lands in Hawaii and disguises himself as a dog. He is adopted by a tiny little girl named Lilo who is grieving the loss of her parents. She names him Stitch and teaches him that even a creature designed to destroy can learn to create.

The story is nothing new, but the Hawaiian location and gorgeous visuals give it a fresh feeling. Instead of the usual wasp-waisted Disney heroines with impossibly big hair, we get attractive but believable-looking Nani, Lilo’s sister, who is struggling to grow up quickly so that she can care for Lilo the way her parents did. And Lilo’s passion for Elvis Presley means that instead of girls looking up at the stars and trilling ballads about their dreams we get a bouncy score of favorites like “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “All Shook Up,” and of course, “Blue Hawaii.” The score also features Elvis hits “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” sung by a chorus of Hawaiian children and “Burning Love” sung by country superstar Wynonna Judd.

Lilo is irresistibly adorable and her relationship with her sister is a believable mixture of affection, resentment, and connection. Both are deeply affected by the loss of their parents and torn between fearing another loss and just wanting to get it over with. Ving Rhames adds just the right note of wry authority to his role as the social worker with a surprising past, and Jason Scott Lee is fine as the friend who would like to be more. There is some very funny dialogue, especially the description of Earth as an endangered species preserve — the endangered species is mosquitos, and humans are just kept around to feed them!

Parents should know that the movie is rated PG for some action and peril that may be too intense for the youngest children. The loss of Lilo’s and Nani’s parents in a car accident is handled quietly and sensitively, but still may be upsetting for some children. They may also be concerned about the idea that a social worker might want to remove Lilo from her sister’s home if he does not think she can take care of her. Female characters, including Nani and the leader of Stitch’s planet, are strong and independent. It is a special pleasure to have a movie set in a part of America that is often forgotten, and the scenery, especially in the sensational surfing scene, is likely to have families thinking about heading in that direction for a future vacation.

Families who see this movie should talk about Lilo’s definition of a family: “No one gets left behind.” Why didn’t the other girls want to play with Lilo? Are there things that Lilo and Nani could have talked about with each other that would have made them feel better? Why didn’t Stitch stay the destructive monster he was designed to be? Did anything surprise you in the scenes at the end that showed what happened to Lilo and Stitch and Nani?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove, Toy Story and Toy Story 2. They may also want to try You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.

Plot: Cedric (Freddie Bartholomew), who lives in New York with his widowed mother, finds out that he is the grandson of a British earl, and is to go to England to live in his castle. After marrying an American, Cedric’s father was estranged from the Earl, but now that both of the Earl’s sons have died, Cedric is the only heir. He says goodbye to his best friends, Mr. Hobbs (Guy Kibbee) and Dick (Mickey Rooney), and leaves for England, not knowing that the Earl has forbidden his mother to set foot in the castle.

The Earl is a rigid and somewhat pompous man, but, encouraged by his mother, Cedric sees everything the Earl does as wonderfully generous and kind. The old man is utterly charmed by Cedric, as are all who meet him, and he tries to live up to Cedric’s image of him. They grow to love each other. There is a crisis when they are told that the Earl’s older son was married and had a son of his own before he died, and that boy is the rightful heir. With the help of Dick, they prove the new heir a fraud, the Earl realizes that Cedric’s mother is a fine woman, and they all live happily ever after.

Discussion: This is basically a male version of “Pollyanna.” Like Pollyanna, Cedric goes to live with a wealthy but crusty and snobbish relative, insists on seeing the best in everyone (even when it isn’t there), and wins the hearts of all who know him. Not quite as sugary as its reputation, it may still put off kids who think Cedric is too perfect. But his colorful friends, his maturity under stress, and the fun of the idea of his being brought from poverty to an Earldom make it hold up surprisingly well.

Questions for Kids:

“Windtalkers” is not the right name for John Woo’s new film. A more apt title would be “Sergeant Enders and the Windtalkers,” because the film mainly focuses on the complicated, half-crazed main character rather than the Navajos recruited as Marines in World War II to use their language as a military code that was vital in the allied victory. The movie does a disservice to the men it is intended to honor by perpetuating their marginalization and making the much less interesting Nicolas Cage character the main focus of the story.

We meet Sgt. Enders (Nicolas Cage) in the midst of battle. He is injured and witnessing the deaths of his friends is slowly driving him mad. His hearing loss could get him sent home, but he stays to keep fighting. He and Sgt. “Ox” Henderson (Christian Slater) are assigned to protect newly enlisted Navajo fighters Pvt. Ben Yahzee and Pvt. Charlie Whitehorse, (played superbly by Adam Beach and Roger Willie, respectively) whose abilities with the Navajo code are essential in the war. Enders is noticeably disgruntled at his new duties, but through a series of events he gains a mutual respect for the men he must protect, often in entertaining but predictable fashion. The dialogue is not very memorable with lines from the Navajos like “I’ve never seen so many white men!”

“Windtalkers” follows suit of most post-“Saving Private Ryan” war films and tries to make its point by dousing us with relentless violence. As in too many war movies, there are soldiers who talk about their dreams for when they get home and say things like, “If I die, tell my wife…” and whose purpose in the plot is to help the hero learn something when they die. There’s a tough, bigoted soldier (“The Truman Show’s” Noah Emmerich) who learns that the Navajos are actually good people when one of them saves his life. There’s the doe-eyed girl next door nurse (A.I.’s Frances O’Connor) who loves her stoic, tough but somehow likeable man at war.

Cage, Slater, and a solid supporting cast of character actors are all dependably good, and it’s interesting to see John Woo’s distinctive action style put into a war film. The culture clashes are never boring, and scenes where a peace pipe ritual is carried out on a cigarette and Henderson duets on a harmonica with Whitehorse’s wooden flute are handled with sensitivity.

Parents should know that there is a great deal of graphic battle violence and very strong language, including racial epithets. The Navaho characters are portrayed as patriotic, brave, and dedicated.

Families who see this should discuss the way that Enders and Yahzee change during the course of the movie. Anyone who enjoys this movie will probably also like recent WWII films like the aforementioned Ryan, The Thin Red Line, Enemy at the Gates, and this year’s overlooked Hart’s War. Fore more on the real story of the Windtalkers, see this article.

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.”