Family Film: New movies, including 'Alice in Wonderland'

ShareThis

A guide to movies from a family perspective:

"Alice in Wonderland"

-- Rated: PG.

-- Best for: Elementary school age and up.

-- What you should know: Several of Lewis Carroll's works have been woven to revisit Alice at almost age 20, when she's considering an unwanted proposal. Newcomer Mia Wasikowska is Alice, who follows the White Rabbit and tumbles down a large hole into "Underland" (this is a Tim Burton film, after all). She meets up with the bizarre Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and other wild characters, who enlist her in a conflict between sisters, the brutal Red Queen and ethereal White Queen.

-- Language: None, unless you're bothered by the Red Queen constantly yelling, "Off with her head!"

-- Sexual situations and nudity: The nasty Stayne (Crispin Glover) tries to force his attentions on Alice, who rebuffs him. Alice's constant shrinking and growing create potential wardrobe malfunctions, but creative solutions keep her clothed.

-- Violence/scary situations: There is peril throughout for Alice and anyone who gets in the way of the Red Queen, a digitally retooled Helena Bonham Carter as a huge heart-shaped head, hollering atop a tiny body. She slaps Stayne around and forces the Mad Hatter to face the executioner. An idyllic scene ends in a town burned to the ground, and mechanical armies gather for war. Alice is slashed by a huge, hairy doglike creature, and she battles a deadly monster. Creepy is the prevailing ambiance in many scenes, aided by the grinning Cheshire Cat and a bit of in-your-face 3-D. And if you're disturbed by such things, Depp's makeup and red hair owe a lot to Bozo the Clown.

-- Alcohol and drug use: There is a hookah-smoking caterpillar. The White Queen mixes a potion for Alice with some disgusting ingredients.

"Valentine's Day"

-- Rated: PG-13.

-- Suitable for: Teens and up.

-- What you should know: Garry Marshall, who made "Pretty Woman" and "The Princess Diaries," directs a huge ensemble of stars ranging from Shirley MacLaine and Julia Roberts to Taylor Lautner in a romcom set in Los Angeles on Valentine's Day.

-- Language: About a dozen mild expletives and a crude three-letter word for "derriere" are used.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: A teenage couple plan to lose their virginity in a story ultimately played for laughs, as a high-school boy is caught with his pants down and a strategically placed guitar. Couples kiss or are shown in bed, a married man is having an affair and a woman works as a phone-sex operator, which leads to talk about fetishes and other racy matters.

-- Violence/scary situations: A fender-bender, but little else.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults drink champagne or wine.

"Dear John"

-- Rated: PG-13.

-- Suitable for: Teens and up.

-- What you should know: Channing Tatum, a tween and teen favorite from such movies as "Step Up," stars alongside Amanda Seyfried in this movie version of Nicholas Sparks' book. Tatum plays a soldier and Seyfried a college student and they fall in love during his leave and correspond by mail.

-- Language: A couple of uses of "Jesus" and a few very mild expletives.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: Passionate kisses are exchanged and, in a discreet but unmistakable scene, a couple have sex.

-- Violence/scary situations: A nose is broken in brief fisticuffs and a reference is made to a long-ago drunken knife fight. Characters grow ill and die and soldiers are in harm's way. Shots of the 9/11 attacks on New York are shown on TV.

-- Drug or alcohol use: College students and adults consume beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

Must credit Pittsburgh Post-Gazette