Get Smart
2 1/2 starsCONTROL is the top-secret U.S. spy agency, KAOS is the terrorist group trying to overtake the world, and Steve Carell (above, with Anne Hathaway) is the big movie star attempting to put his stamp on a role defined by someone else. As the late Don Adams did on the 1960s TV series, Carell plays CONTROL Agent Maxwell Smart with a straight face. But unlike Adams, whose stern expression and crisp delivery rarely acknowledged his character's ineptitude, Carell's Max lets the insecurity creep through. Kind of the way every other Carell character does. Indeed, his Maxwell Smart is less an homage to Adams than a tribute to his own previous roles. Hathaway lacks the cool sophistication of Barbara Feldon, who played Agent 99 on the series. Then again, so does everyone who isn't Feldon. A washout plot places the emphasis on the film's uneven action sequences and the faulty chemistry between Carell and Hathaway. Rated PG-13
Kung Fu Panda
3 stars"Kung Fu Panda" (below right) answers the question of whether kids will like it in its title. He's a panda and he does kung fu. Case closed. Whether adults will like the picture is a different matter entirely, since adults consider such things as story and character development in assessing films. Then the panda does the splits, and it's all over. Resistance is not just futile but almost seems churlish in the black-and-white face of such cuteness. Along with some terrific voice performances (Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Jackie Chan, Ian McShane, Randall Duk Kim and James Hong) and lovely animation, the adorability quotient of "Kung Fu Panda" buoys the film even when the story – the tale of a roly-poly panda named Po (voiced by Black) with martial-arts dreams and a day job at his dad's noodle shop – seems too familiar. This DVD will be released Sunday. Rated PG
Transsiberian
3 starsColin Covert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes: The classic Hitchcock plot of sneaks on a train gets an engrossing revival in "Transsiberian." Writer-director Brad Anderson gives us an artful, shifty-eyed take on human strengths and weakness. Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer bring humanity to their roles as married American missionary volunteers returning from China. The six-day ride from Beijing to Moscow puts the pair in a neo-noir nightmare:They don't know whom to trust, or even if their own actions are right or wrong. Rated R
Henry Poole Is Here
2 starsScott Von Doviak of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes: Henry Poole is sad. We know he's sad because he's played by Luke Wilson with a hangdog expression, a scruffy, mournful beard and a world-weary mumble. It won't take most moviegoers long to figure out that Henry is sad because he's gotten some bad news from a doctor, but "Henry Poole Is Here" withholds this information as if its revelation will come as a shock. Rated PG-13
When Did You Last See Your Father?
2 starsTy Burr of the Boston Globe writes: This adaptation of British poet Blake Morrison's 1993 memoir of generational conflict becomes a thin, formulaic father-son drama. The news of his father's terminal cancer sends the son (Colin Firth) into a spiral of mixed emotions, and he tentatively returns home to reconcile his anger before it's too late. Rated PG-13
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