Current films are reviewed each week to provide parents a guide to decide what may be appropriate to younger viewers.
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
Rating: PG for adventure action violence, some drunkenness and brief smoking
What it's about: The intrepid reporter and his clever dog travel the world to solve a mystery and find a treasure.
The kid-attractor factor: Treasure, mystery, a cute dog, all based on one of the world's most popular comics.
Good lessons/bad lessons: The one place in the world to go when you're stumped, when you need answers – the library.
Violence: An awful lot of animated gunplay.
Language: Quite clean.
Sex: Nope.
Drugs: In the era this is set, smoking and getting drunk weren't cardinal sins.
Parents' advisory: Sort of an animated Indiana Jones movie, pitched at a younger audience – suitable for all ages.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence
What it's about: Super agent Ethan Hunt and a new team try to stop a madman bent on starting World War III.
The kid-attractor factor: Spectacular stunts, big explosions, way-cool gadgets.
Good lessons/bad lessons: Always take care of your friends, and "Failure to a terrorist is just a rehearsal for success."
Violence: Brawls, and lots of guns and knives and bombs, with a bit of blood to go along with it.
Language: A smattering of mild profanity.
Sex: Toyed with, including a hint of kinkiness.
Drugs: Courage in a bottle is applied in a scene or two.
Parents' advisory: Quite violent and entirely too intense for very young viewers – but OK for 10 and up.
THE ARTIST
Rating: PG-13 for a disturbing image and a crude gesture
What it's about: A Hollywood romantic hero's career fades and a starlet's career soars at the beginning of the sound film era.
The kid-attractor factor: Broad, hammy acting, obvious Hollywood fakery and slapstick comedy.
Good lessons/bad lessons: Tastes and the public mood change, and if you don't adjust, you'll be obsolete.
Violence: An accident
Language: One obscene gesture
Sex: Flirted with, but quite chaste.
Drugs: Cigarettes, alcohol
Parents' advisory: A silent, black- and-white film might require explanation. Suitable for 10-and-up.
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