How Family-Friendly is La La Land?

Rating: PG-13, for some language.

Writer-director Damien Chazelle’s singing and dancing extravaganza is a joyous and meticulously crafted homage to the classic, Technicolor musicals of the past. If your kids are into musicals, they will love this – but even if they insist they don’t like the genre (as my 7-year-old son does, although I don’t entirely believe him), they may still find themselves caught up in the colorful production numbers and infectious energy. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as a couple of struggling artists living in modern-day Los Angeles; she’s an aspiring actress, he’s a jazz musician. Chazelle follows them as they fall in love with each other and feel the highs and lows of chasing their dreams. At just over two hours, it may be a little on the long side for very young viewers. There’s a bit of drinking and partying. Stone and Gosling’s characters live together but the fact that they’re having sex is merely implied. And there’s some language including the one F-bomb you get with a PG-13 rating. But La La Land also has valuable themes about being true to yourself and staying dedicated to your goals. It’s also just a complete blast to watch, and it’s my pick for the best movie of 2016. I’d say it’s suitable for viewers around 7 or 8 and older.

Rating: PG, for action and some rude humor.

This high-energy, animated comedy from the folks who brought you the Despicable Me movies and Minions is fine for the whole family — for the most part. It’s based on something we’ve probably all wondered: What do our pets do all day while we’re away? It’s essentially the same idea behind Toy Story, but without the emotional complexity. Pets is about friendship and loyalty, and it’s more interested in lively, colorful antics. Max (voiced by Louis C.K.), a spry Jack Russell terrier enjoying a comfy life with his owner, Katie (Ellie Kemper), ends up with an unwelcome roommate when Katie brings home a big, shaggy stray from the pound named Duke (Eric Stonestreet). Max and Duke become separated from their dog-walking group at the park and go on an adventure through the streets, alleys and sewers of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Along the way, mean dogcatchers pursue them (but they’re slapsticky and silly), forcing the dogs to join an underground group of wild animals led by a diabolical bunny named Snowball (Kevin Hart). Max and Duke are frequently in danger and nearly drown at one point, and there are a few references to death of both the animal and human kind. There are the obligatory bits about butt-sniffing and nervous peeing. And a perky Pomeranian named Gidget (Jenny Slate) unleashes martial-arts fury on a bunch of creatures to protect her beloved Max, but it’s played for laughs.

Rating: PG-13, for intense sequences of violence and action, and brief strong language.

Kids around 13 and older should be OK watching this latest installment in the Bourne franchise. It’s really too much to handle for anyone younger than that. It’s actually amazing this got a PG-13 rating. With its violence, rioting, brutal hand-to-hand combat, shootings and killings, it’s just right there on the edge of what you can show in a movie without earning an R. But if you’ve seen the three previous films in the series, you know what you’re in for; Jason Bourne covers much of the same ground. Matt Damon returns as the title character: a former assassin living underground and continuing to put together the pieces of his past and fill in the blanks in his memory. Along the way, he must take out the various shadowy dark-ops guys who are trying to kill him, as well as a highly trained sniper (Vincent Cassel) who has a personal grudge against him. One early sequence takes place during a protest in Athens that quickly escalates into chaos. Bourne also causes a ton of damage on his own through a couple of incredibly tense chases, one of which involves an armored SWAT truck plowing through traffic on the crowded Las Vegas strip. There’s also some profanity.