Posted on: Friday, December 28, 2007
FAMILY FARE
A cuddly monster? Why not?
By Roger Moore
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Here are mini reviews of new movies from a family perspective.
THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP
Rating: PG for action/peril, crude language and brief smoking.
What it's about: A Scots boy finds an egg that grows up to be the Loch Ness monster.
The kid attractor factor: A very cuddly monster, especially when he/she is a "puppy."
Good lessons/bad lessons: If you love a wild animal, set it free.
Violence: Well, it is set during World War II.
Language: Disney clean.
Sex: None.
Drugs: One bit is set in a pub, and people smoked a lot more during the war.
Parents' advisory: A genial Free Willy-ish kid-and-critter fantasy, suitable for all ages.
• • •
THE GREAT DEBATERS
Rating: PG-13 for depiction of material with adult themes including violence and disturbing images, and for crude language and sexuality.
What it's about: A small historically black college in Texas fields a debate team that challenges America's views on race in the 1930s.
The kid attractor factor: Denzel Washington and some fired-up, flirting young debaters.
Good lessons/bad lessons: Education, facts and rational debate are the way to change the world.
Violence: A graphic depiction of a lynching.
Language: Some profanity, fairly mild.
Sex: College kids act like college kids.
Drugs: Juke-joint booze is served and enjoyed.
Parents' advisory: A good family movie to take in with your teenage children. Too intense and probably too adult for 12-and-unders.
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