This week’s animated film, Storks, is obviously aimed squarely at kids, but is there anything in the Magnificent Seven remake that might be too much for the young’uns? Christy breaks down this week’s new releases — and one DVD — to let us know what to watch out for.
NEW IN THEATERS
Rating: PG-13, for extended and intense sequences of Western violence, and for historical smoking, some language and suggestive material.
This remake of the 1960 John Sturges Western The Magnificent Seven – itself a remake of the 1954 Akira Kurosawa classic Seven Samurai – once again focuses on a ragtag band of men who come together to protect a small town from invading bad guys. The setting this time is Northern California, and the main villain is a robber baron (Peter Sarsgaard) searching for gold. Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and Byung-hun Lee play some of the tough guys and gunslingers who’ve signed on to stop him and his men. Director Antoine Fuqua’s film has a modern quality in its multicultural cast, but it mostly stays true to Western conventions. Expect prolonged scenes of intense violence, with shootouts, stabbings and battles on horseback. The carnage comes early and often, including an opening sequence in which Sarsgaard’s character coldly kills several townspeople to assert his dominance. There’s a bit of language and a ton of smoking. Fine for viewers around 13 and older – but I’d show them the original, first.
Rating: PG, for mild action and some thematic elements.
The idea behind this animated comedy is that storks don’t deliver babies anymore. Now, they deliver packages for an Amazon-like behemoth called Cornerstore.com. But when the baby-making section of the factory accidentally starts up again, it’s up to a stork named Junior (voiced by Andy Samberg) and a clumsy human named Tulip (Katie Crown) to deliver the infant before their blowhard of a boss (Kelsey Grammer) finds out she exists. Storks is zippy and zany but it also has a lot of unexpected heart. Much of that comes from the relationship between the lonely boy who wished for a little brother, which started this whole madcap sequence of events, and the parents (Ty Burrell and Jennifer Aniston) who are too busy with their real-estate business to spend time with him. Kids will love the colorful aesthetic and the fast-paced energy. There are also a couple of running bits that are truly absurd and insane, which they’ll probably find extremely entertaining. I didn’t see anything inappropriate when I brought my son, who’s almost 7, to a screening. But you may be in for an uncomfortable discussion on the way home about where babies come from. (It had to happen eventually, though, right?) Fine for the whole family.
NEW ON DVD
Rating: PG-13, for sci-fi action violence.
Kids around 10 and older probably will be fine watching this follow-up to the 2014, live-action installment in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles saga. You’ll be surprised to find it’s an improvement over that movie. The action sequences have some real verve (and actual coherence) to them, and the humor isn’t quite as cringe-inducing. This time, the four crime-fighting turtle brothers – Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo – must stop the dreaded Shredder and his Foot Clan from teaming up with an alien enemy who’s hell-bent on world domination. Or something. That means plenty of massive chase sequences, car crashes, exploding vehicles, ninja battles and general destruction. There’s also a bit of language and some slightly suggestive content involving Megan Fox in a naughty schoolgirl get-up. My son was about 6 ½ when he saw it; nothing freaked him out, and I found nothing objectionable in it for him. It’s just a matter of how comfortable you feel about your kids seeing this kind of big, noisy, CGI spectacle.
