Here are some recent movie releases and their suitability for family viewing.
UNDERCLASSMAN (PG-13) Brash young cop is sent undercover at an exclusive school to try to solve a murder.
The kid attractor factor: It’s set in high school, with Nick Cannon heading a good-looking young cast.
Good lessons/bad lessons: Learn to work as a team; cops are OK hitting on high school girls as long as they’re over the age of consent; and teachers and students can fight it, but the urge to flirt can be just too much.
Violence: Quite a bit.
Language: Pretty clean.
Sex: Suggested.
Drugs: Drinking and drugs play into the plot.
Parents’ advisory: Not a comedy, and if there is such a thing as a kid-friendly cop thriller, this isn’t it. Pretty tame for the 13-and-ups, though.
TRANSPORTER 2 (PG-13) A super-cool criminal getaway driver is reduced to chauffeuring a kid to and from school. And then the kid is kidnapped.
The kid attractor factor: Cool-guy Jason Statham, car chases and martial arts brawls aplenty.
Good lessons/bad lessons: Never make a promise you can’t keep. Never mess with the boss’s wife. And always wear your gloves when you’re about to break the speed limit in downtown Miami.
Violence: Almost constant.
Language: A little profanity here and there.
Sex: Near nudity, licking.
Drugs: Viral and anti-viral.
Parents’ advisory: A violent action film that earns its PG-13, with room to spare. Take that 13 seriously.
THE BROTHERS GRIMM (PG-13) The fairy tale authors travel Napoleonic Germany as 18th century Ghostbusters in this comic fantasy.
The kid attractor factor: Matt Damon and Heath Ledger star.
Good lessons/bad lessons: Writing is a much nobler profession than con artistry.
Violence: Torture, but playful torture.
Language: Pretty clean
Sex: “Brief suggestive material” means that these brothers got around.
Drugs: Maybe a beer or two.
Parents’ advisory: Not exactly the kid-friendliest treatment of the Grimm story. But harmless.
UNDISCOVERED (PG-13) The young and the beautiful trek out to L.A. to try to break into acting, music, etc.
The kid attractor factor: Ashlee Simpson, Kip Pardue and other young hotties flesh out the cast.
Good lessons/bad lessons: All’s fair in love and buzz-building.
Violence: None.
Language: A little profanity.
Sex: Near-nudity, sexually suggestive scenes, making out, etc.
Drugs: Discussed, and alcohol is consumed.
Parents’ advisory: Surprisingly sweet and upbeat, kind of “Fame”-like, but more innocent.
