Renée Zellwegger is irresistible as Bridget Jones, in this delectable romantic comedy with some sly references to that uber-romantic comedy, Pride and Prejudice. From the opening credits, when we see her singing along with the radio to “All By Myself” in her flannel pajamas, we know that she is destined to find someone who loves her as much as we do already, and that we will have a lot of fun on the way there.

Bridget wants to lose weight, stop smoking and drinking, and stop worrying about getting a boyfriend -– so that she can get a boyfriend. But we know that she is just fine the way she is, and suspect that in her heart, she knows that, too. The trick is finding a guy who knows it, and before she can figure that out, she has to get through the gorgeous cad stage. That means an affair with her workaholic, alcoholic, self-centered, needy, but witty and undeniably extremely gorgeous boss, Daniel.

Hugh Grant seems positively relieved not to have to be the stammering, adorable, truehearted “Notting Hill” guy anymore. He plays the part of Daniel, “a disaster with a posh voice and a terrible character,” with such relish that we enjoy seeing Bridget fall for him almost as much as we enjoy seeing her tell him off.

But being taken advantage of by Daniel is not the worst of Bridget’s trials. There is her mother, who leaves her father for an oily home shopping channel pitchman with a fake tan. There is showing up for a “tarts and vicars” party in a Playboy bunny outfit because no one told her that they had decided not to have the guests wear costumes after all. There is the rather stunning shot of Bridget from below as she slides down a fireman’s pole, broadcast throughout the country on television. And there is the stiff and disapproving childhood neighbor, Mark Darcy, now a divorced barrister, who always seems to be there just as Bridget encounters disaster.

Like his namesake in Pride and Prejudice, though, Darcy turns out to have more tenderness and humor than one would think. And so do the filmmakers. Colin Firth, who played Darcy in the television miniseries “Pride and Prejudice,” appears as this Mr. Darcy as well, and his sly and subtle variation on the character is another of the movie’s great pleasures.

Parents should know that this movie is rated R for strong language and for sexual situations and references. There is a very brief shot of a naked couple making love. Characters drink and smoke a lot.

Families who see this movie should talk about how we sort through all of the expectations of our families and our society in deciding who we will be and what chances we will take. What does someone have to know about herself in order to turn down a Daniel? In order to understand what someone like Darcy has to offer?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (rated R) and everyone should watch Firth and Jennifer Ehle in the miniseries version of “Pride and Prejudice.” The classic MGM version with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson (adapted by Aldous Huxley) is also a treat.

Plot: Shy paleontologist David Huxley (Cary Grant) is hoping for three things: a rare dinosaur bone fossil, a million dollar research grant, and his marriage to colleague Miss Swallow. Madcap heiress Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), instantly smitten with David when he objects to her playing his golf ball and driving off in his car, manages to disrupt his life completely when she asks him to help her transport a leopard named “Baby” to her aunt’s estate in Connecticut. Complications include Susan’s dog George taking the irreplaceable bone fossil to bury somewhere, serenading the leopard to get him down from a neighbor’s roof, being thrown in jail, confusing Baby with a vicious circus leopard, and the destruction of an entire dinosaur skeleton. David does not ultimately get the million dollars (it turns out that Susan’s aunt was the prospective donor), but Susan does, so everyone lives happily ever after, including Baby.

Discussion: “Bringing Up Baby” is generally considered to be the ultimate example of the screwball comedy, which reached its apex in the 1930s. These movies featured outlandish plots (most often featuring wealthy people subjected to utter chaos) carried out at breakneck speed with a lot of witty repartee and romantic tension.

Questions for Kids:

· What is it that Susan likes so much about David?

· Why, ultimately, does he like her?

· Would you like to meet someone like Susan?

Connections: Grant and Hepburn made three other films together. Two are also classic: “The Philadelphia Story” and “Holiday.” The third, “Sylvia Scarlett,” is an odd little movie (though with an enthusiastic cult following) about a group of performers that has Hepburn dressed as a boy through most of it. Other classic screwball comedies include, “My Man Godfrey,” “Nothing Sacred,” “It Happened One Night,” “The Palm Beach Story, ” and Peter Bogdanovich’s attempted update, “What’s Up Doc?” For very thoughtful and serious essays on “Bringing Up Baby” and some of the other screwball classics, see The Pursuit of Happiness, by Stanley Cavell.

Activities: Kids who enjoy this kind of comedy might enjoy some of the stories by P.G. Wodehouse, like “Uncle Fred Flits By,” which portray the same kind of deliriously joyful anarchy. And this movie may inspire them to take a look at dinosaur skeletons in a museum, though there is no such thing as an “intercostal clavicle.”

I may sound like the Movie Grandmom here, but it is a darned shame that this smart and sassy movie has to include unnecessarily raunchy humor. Otherwise, this would be a terrific movie for kids, because it raises some important issues and it is a lot of fun.

Kirsten Dunst plays Torrence, whose whole life revolves around competitive cheerleading. She has just been elected captain of her squad, the five-time national champions, and it seems as though her senior year will be everything she dreamed of. But then one girl on the squad is out with a broken leg. And then real disaster strikes — it turns out that their award-winning routines were stolen from another squad, black cheerleaders who could not afford to go to the national competitions. Torrence has to face challenges of ethics and leadership and romance to sort all of this out before the nationals.

The movie strikes just the right note, respecting Torrence’s commitment and sportsmanship, but not taking any of it too seriously. The opening and closing cheers are the movie’s high point, the first one mocking the cheerleader ideal and the one that accompanies the closing credits to the classic 80’s “Mickey” song by Toni Basil. The issues of the white appropriation of black culture (going back at least to Elvis and Pat Boone) is an important one for kids to understand.

Parents should know, though, that while the behavior of the kids in the movie is mostly unobjectionable, the language and sexual references get pretty raunchy. It isn’t just the four-letter words that are typical these days in movies intended for a high school audience. But a boy jokes about slipping his finger in a girl’s underpants while he is holding her up during a cheer, and the insults are more vulgar than usual. Torrence’s little brother is practically demonic in his behavior. Parents should also know that Torrence’s boyfriend cheats on her (there is a girl in his bed). But Torrence and her new love have just one kiss (and, believe it or not, a very romantic tooth-brushing scene).

Families who see this movie should talk about the way that Torrence decides what is important to her and shows determination and commitment. At first, she tries a moral compromise in hiring a professional choreographer because “everybody does it,” but she knows it is wrong, and she is scrupulously honest and fair in her preparation for the nationals. She also handles the results with grace, and she believes in herself enough to break up with the boy who does not believe in her. Kids should also talk about the way that Missy and her brother Cliff support each other.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy watching some of the real-life cheerleader competitions on ESPN. They are amazing!

Some may say that only a guy could enjoy Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des Loupes). After all, the movie contains lots of guy elements: gore, martial-arts, and werewolves. But, there’s more to this movie than blood and guts, and although it has its flaws, it’s worth seeing.

The story takes place around the time of the French Revolution. The tale is told, at least some of the time, from the perspective of Jacques Parren, an aristocratic Frenchman about to go to the guillotine. We learn that a ferocious beast has been killing hundreds of people in a creepy little town in the south of France called Gevaudan. A man by the name of Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) has been sent by the King of France to find and kill the rampaging beast. At Fronsac’s side is his blood-brother and close companion, Mani (Mark Dacascos), a member of the Iroquois tribe. Fronsac had earlier befriended Mani, the sole survivor of a war fought against European settlers in the New World, and has now brought Mani to France to help investigate the mysterious killings. Marianne (Emilie Duquenne), a witty and beautiful woman, is the object of Fronsac’s amorous affections. But she is also the object of another man’s obsession. That man is Jean-Francois (Vincent Cassel) – who also just happens to be Marianne’s brother.

The story line follows Fronsac on the trail of the killings. Will he get his man (or should we say, beast)? And if he does, what has motivated the killings? What (or who) is good, and what (or who) is evil?

The movie is often gripping. Indeed, one of its first images is that of a young woman running frantically across an open field. As she is running, she trips and falls on the ground. She then tries to climb her way up a rock, but we hear the growling of the beast and then see her get tossed around until the beast finally kills her. Perhaps taking a cue from Steven Speilberg’s opening sequence in Jaws, the director wisely does not show us the beast, allowing our imaginations to run wild.

There are many aspects of this movie that make it both aesthetically pleasing and intellectually stimulating, as well as a bloody thriller. The scenery in this movie is gorgeous, with shots of quaint southern French towns, lush open valleys, and eerie forests that have an other-worldly touch reminiscent of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. (And, like Crouching Tiger, this movie has fabulous martial arts scenes.) The movie forces the audience to really think about who the bad guys are: is it the beast, or is it the blood-thirsty townspeople? There are no easy answers.

The sound effects provide an intriguing element that adds to the movie’s depth. The filmmakers use freeze frames and slow motion to emphasize particular sounds, such as that of a rain drop plunging into a puddle of water. When we hear a stick being whirled through the air, we distinctly hear the “whishing” noise as if it were right next to our ears.

In addition to outstanding sound design, the costume design is first rate. The costumes are lavish, and not only accurately depict the styles of the period but help define the characters as well.

The movie does have its flaws, though none can be characterized as fatal. It was hard to believe, for example, that Mani, an Iroquois Indian could be an expert martial artist in the 18th century. Also, the director overused slow-motion shots (especially during the fight scenes). These shots were inserted so often that they became tedious. The movie seemed to run on about twenty minutes too long. Perhaps if the director has cut out more slow-mo shots, the movie would have been a better length. Finally, the movie delivers too much information to the audience. There are things we just didn’t need to know, and that didn’t contribute to the overall story and effect.

Families should discuss how the townspeople in Gevaudan dealt with the beast and its killings. How did their actions compare with the way people today would deal with a similar problem? Did the townspeople deal with their fears appropriately? What does the beast represent? Why did they pick a Native American to play one of the main character’s roles? How did he compare to Gregoire de Fransac?

Parents should know that a fair number of scenes in this movie include: copious amounts blood, gory swordfights and other very graphic violence, women in peril, and a hideous beast that terrorizes and kills dozens of people. The R-rating for this movie is appropriate both for the violence quotient and also because the movie contains a somewhat graphic sex scene in a house of ill-repute.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy “Sleepy Hollow,” “Interview with the Vampire,” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

Plot: Star (Shirley Temple), an orphan, lives with Captain January (Guy Kibbee), a retired sailor who runs a lighthouse. They adore each other, and she loves her life there, with the large community of sailors as her extended family and “Cap” to take care of her and teach her. A meddlesome and jealous woman, Agatha Morgan (Sara Haden) tries to prove that Cap is not a suitable guardian for Star, and that she should be in school, but when she is tested, her performance is well ahead of her grade level.

When the lighthouse is automated, Cap loses his job, and this gives Miss Morgan another chance to take Star away. To keep her from Miss Morgan, Cap’s friend Captain Nazro (Slim Somerville) tracks down Star’s wealthy relatives, who come to get her. They do everything they can to make her happy, finally realizing that she cannot be happy without the people who have become her real family. They bring Cap, Nazro, and her other special friends to be the crew for their new boat so they can be together.

Discussion: This is one of Shirley Temple’s best movies, and it provides an opportunity to discuss some of the most sensitive issues facing some children. Children who are home schooled will appreciate seeing the success of Shirley’s home schooling with Cap. And children who are in foster homes or have had to face custody issues may appreciate the opportunity to discuss Shirley’s situation as a way of addressing their own.

When Shirley is taken away from Cap, she says, “Why are they taking me away from you? What have I done?” This is a good chance to talk with children about how many kids mistakenly blame themselves for the problems that are created by the grown-ups around them. Star sings a song about how all that matters is “the right someone to love,” and imagines what it would be like to be Cap’s nanny. She says that he needs her to take care of him. Children need to know that it can be fun to pretend to be the caretaker, but that it is the grown-up’s responsibility to take care of the child. The movie also depicts the difficulty of finding work, especially after a job has been made obsolete.

Warning: this is a “happily ever after” movie, and children whose own situation make it difficult to watch an ending that ties everything up too neatly may have a hard time with it.

Questions for Kids:

· Why does Paul try to get Mary to “bend the rules” for Star’s test, and why won’t she do it?

· How can you tell that Cap and Nazro are friends, even though they insult each other and argue?

· How does Star notice that Cap is sad?

· Nazro does not give Cap two important pieces of information — what are they, and why doesn’t he tell Cap?

· Star and Cap both give reasons they are glad to leave the lighthouse — do you believe them? Why do they do that?

· Nazro says that children “forget quick.” Is that right?

Connections: Television fans with sharp eyes will recognize Buddy Ebsen (of “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Barnaby Jones”) as Star’s friend Paul, who dances with her to “At the Codfish Ball.”

Activities: Children might like to visit a lighthouse or a museum exhibit showing the way they used to operate before the automation portrayed in the movie. They might also like to learn something about the opera Shirley pretends to be in, “Lucia de Lammermor;” the public library may have a recording you can borrow. Cap and Nazro pay pinochle, which children might like to learn. And they might like to make up a story, as Star does so well in her test at school.