Movie Mom

I suppose that it’s a sign that we’ve passed the peak of Pokemon frenzy that the word “Nintendo” got a bigger reaction from the kids in the audience than the word “Pokemon,” but this movie mustered enough of the old Pokemon spirit to keep the kids pretty happy.

Like the first two Pokemon features, this one includes both a short Pokemon-on-their-own adventure and then a longer feature story along the familiar lines of Pokemon Trainer Ash and his pals save the world. Interestingly, this time the threat comes not from a mad scientist, as in the second Pokemon movie, or from a rogue Pokemon, as in the first movie, but from a little girl named Molly who unwittingly causes havoc when she meets up with some Pokemons who grant her every wish.

Pokemons, of course, are those adorable little pocket monsters who love to be caught by their human trainers, who carry them around and deploy them against the pocket monsters of other trainers, to see who is the best. Most adults find them somewhere between annoying and painful, but children love them. They are always drawn to the idea of hidden sources of power accessed by seemingly powerless figures (think of Superman, Power Rangers, etc.). And they love the memorizing, sorting, and of course collecting opportunity that Pokemons afford. This can be an important part of their social development, and parents should respect their affection for Pokemons while maintaining control over the accumulation of clutter.

Parents should know that some children may be upset by characters in peril (though no one gets hurt). The opening segment includes a scary dog, though he later cooperates with the Pokemons. In the feature story, Molly has lost her mother and the magical Pokemon that she thinks is her father steals Ash’s mother for her. Her very loving father leaves her to pursue a scientific inquiry and disappears. This may be of concern to some children. The little girl’s mother returns only during the closing credits, with no explanation. There is a little bit of “I want to be your boyfriend” humor, but it is very brief and utterly G-rated.

Families who see this movie might want to talk about how having one’s wishes granted may not always be a good thing, and about the way the Pokemons take care of each other in the short segment and take care of their human trainers in the feature movie. Older kids may get a kick out of the way that the silly Team Rocket, always trying to get ahead of Ash and his friends, end up helping them out because “without them, we’d be out of show business!” They may also want to talk about the way Molly sees the shape of her Pokemon friend in a cloud, and how we can keep those we love inside us always.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy the other Pokemon movies and “Kiki’s Delivery Service.”

It’s better than the first one. That isn’t saying much, especially since the prime audience for this film doesn’t really care much about niceties like character, dialogue, or quality of animation. If you’ve got a little Pokemon fanatic in your family, you’re going to this movie, whether it is any good or not.

And it’s not, by any adult standards. But there are a few moments of interesting animation and what passes for a plot is a bit more coherent than it was in the first one. A bad guy (we can tell he is a bad guy because he has an English accent and because he is a Pokemon COLLECTOR not a Pokemon TRAINER) plans to disrupt the “harmony of fire, ice, and lightning” by capturing the birds that control these elements of nature. Once that harmony is disrupted, he will unleash the monster currents of the ocean, and that will enable him to capture the ultimate treasure, Lugia, for his collection.

Meanwhile, champion Pokemon trainer Ash and his friends arrive on an island just in time for the annual re-enactment of an ancient legend. The girl selected to be the star of the re-enactment calls it “dorky” and thinks it is all a little silly. But then she realizes that it is more than a legend, and that by paying careful attention to the words and music of the old ceremony, she will have the key to restoring the balance of nature, protecting Lugia, and preventing catastrophic weather conditions that could wipe out all living things. According to the legend, “the world will turn to Ash” if the harmony of nature is disturbed. And Ash needs help from everyone, even the usually dastardly Team Rocket, to save the day.

As in the first movie, there is also a short film at the beginning, “Pokemon’s Rescue Adventure,” featuring the Pokemons on a human-free, and almost dialogue-free frolic. Pokemon fans will enjoy the line-up of favorite characters, and may even learn something about loyalty and teamwork.

As I have noted before, anyone who has ever seen the TV series, played the game, or bought the cards knows what to expect here. Every generation of children has some hideously annoying cartoon series to provide parents with much agonizing and many, many buying opportunities. The characters usually undergo some transformation or make use of a secret to attain power. This theme is endlessly interesting to kids who can feel overwhelmed by a world built on a scale that is often too large for them.

Kids, especially those ages 6-10, also love to memorize and sort endless facts, whether about Pokemons, dinosaurs, cars, or Beanie Babies. It gives them a sense of mastery, especially because they can do so much better than adults. And it becomes an important part of their social development, creating a shared language with their friends. This can be particularly meaningful for kids who are insecure about talking to other children.

Still, excruciating as it can be for parents to endure, it may be worthwhile for kids to see the movie. If it makes it any easier, remember that before too long, this will be over and by the time the next one comes along your children will be past that stage.

Parents should know that the movie features a lot of cartoon-style action, with characters in peril, but no one gets hurt. Like Harry Potter, Ash and Misty are at a point where there are some uncomfortable boy-girl feelings. When Misty is accused of being Ash’s girlfriend, she bristles. But she does not allow the fear of acting like a girlfriend prevent her from acting like a friend, and her special water skills turn out to be just what Ash needs. There is also some mild potty humor.

Families who watch this movie should talk about the importance of loyalty and teamwork and how Ash sometimes feels that he is not up to the task (“Training Pokemons is tough enough, but saving the world is way too hard!”). Ask kids why Team Rocket decided to become good, and whether they think they will stay that way. Kids may also want to talk about how Ash’s mother feels. She is proud and scared at the same time when he is risking his life to save the world. She is sorry that his life as a Pokemon trainer takes him so far away from her, but when she tells him, “You’re my hero every day,” she lets him know that she is proud of him for who is is as well as for what he does.

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy the first one, “Pokemon: The First Movie — Mewtwo Strikes Back.”

lTim Burton’s “Planet of the Apes” is less a remake than a re-imagining of the classic staring Charlton Heston. This version has no loincloth and no Statue of Liberty, and no Roddy McDowell, but Heston does show up for a surprisingly effective cameo — as one of the apes.

Mark Wahlberg plays Leo, an officer in the United States Air Force, working on a space station in 2029. An exploratory aircraft piloted by a monkey disappears into a mysterious electrical field. Against the orders of his commanding officer, Leo follows it to find out what happened. The storm hurtles him through time and space until he crashes on a planet where apes rule and humans are slaves. Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) helps Leo and some of the others escape to a forbidden city that will reveal some of the planet’s history. But General Thade (Tim Roth) and his army are in pursuit with orders to destroy them. As Burton promised in interviews, this version does not use the now-famous ending in the first film that showed them the planet they had landed on was Earth. This one ends with a twist that may even top it.

As in all of Burton’s movies, including “Beetlejuice” and “Edward Scissorhands,” the art direction is intricate, meticulous, and strangely beautiful. Every detail is a work of art, from the texture of the ape armor to the outline of the spaceship.

Wahlberg makes an appealing, all-American hero, though he is not up to the task of delivering a brief pep talk to the assembled humans. He is no Kenneth Branaugh in “Henry V.” He is not even Bill Pullman in “Independence Day.” But he is fine in the action scenes and he handles the challenge of kissing females of two different species with reasonable finesse. Overall, the simian performers are better and more believable than the humans. Bonham Carter makes a remarkably fetching ape, flirting through her bangs and using her eyes and body language to deliver a real performance. She has far more range of expression than Estella Warren (of “Driven”) as a feisty human in a costume that seems left over from Raquel Welch in “One Million B.C.” Roth is a seething presence as the bad guy, Michael Clarke Duncan gives physical and emotional weight to the role of the loyal officer, and Paul Giametti is hilarious as a slave trader held hostage.

Parents should know that the movie features intense and prolonged peril, a great deal of violence, and many deaths, including characters we care about. Characters are beaten and branded. There is a brief mild sexual situation and some strong language.

Families who see this movie should talk about the way that Burton makes unabashedly clear the parallels between the views of the apes toward humans and the views of racists and other bigots on Earth. Like those who have argued for segregation, apartheid, genocide, and “ethnic cleansing,” the apes find justification for their oppression of humans by insisting that humans are inferior creatures who have no souls or by demonizing them. The apes seem to have no problem with sub-species distinctions, and different kinds of apes work and socialize without any distinctions.

Families who enjoy this movie should see the original and some of its sequels to compare them. They, too, served as a metaphor for racial divides in an era in which it was much easier to put some of the dialogue about equal rights and revolution into the mouths of apes than people. They should also read Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn, a stunning book about a wise ape who teaches his human pupil to think about the world in a completely different way. I promise, when you are done with the book, you will do the same.

Disney’s latest release is a beautiful Blu-Ray of one of its animated classics, the Disney version of the Victorian classic about the boy who would never grow up. Wendy, Michael, and John Darling, three London children, meet Peter Pan, a boy who can fly. He has been drawn to their warm, comfortable home, and to Wendy’s stories. He sprinkles them with fairy dust and they fly off past the “second star to the right,” where he lives in a magical place called Neverland. There they rescue an Indian princess, and fight pirates led by Captain Hook, before returning home to wave goodbye as Peter returns to Neverland without them.

The animation in this movie is as lively as its energetic hero. The scenes set in Victorian London are beautiful, and the shift in perspective as the children round Big Ben and fly off to Neverland is sublimely vertiginous.

Most children see Peter as that wonderful ideal, a child with the power to do whatever he pleases for as long as he pleases. The story does have moments that are whimsical but also very odd — the nanny is a dog, the crocodile that ate Captain Hook’s hand keeps following him for another taste, Peter loses his shadow, the Lost Boys have no parents, and unlike Peter, no special powers, fairy guardian, or unquenchable brio. Some children find this engaging, but a few find it troublesome, or worry about what happened to Peter’s parents and whether he will be all right without them. They may also be sad that the story ends with Peter bringing the Darling children home and then going back to Neverland without them.

Parents should know that the “What Makes the Red Man Red” song is embarrassingly racist and sexist. There is also a sexist overlay to the entire story, with Peter rapturously adored by all the females and at best indifferent in return. A best-selling pop psychology book of some years ago played off of this notion, theorizing that some men suffer from “The Peter Pan Syndrome” (fear of commitment), dividing women into two categories, mother-figure “Wendys” and playmate “Tinkerbells.” Tinkerbell, who is, of course, a fairy, is the only female in the story who is capable of much action other than nurturing, and she is petty and spiteful (though ultimately loyal). When he first meets Wendy, Peter says “Girls talk too much,” which one boy who watched with me thought was rapturously funny.

Families who watch this movie should talk about these questions: Have you ever thought that you didn’t want to grow up? Have you ever thought that you’d like to be a grown up right now? What would you do? Would you like to visit Neverland?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy the many other versions of this popular story. Interestingly, this animated version was the first to feature a real boy (instead of a woman) in the title role. The Mary Martin version for television that parents of today’s kids may remember from their own childhoods is available on video, with Cyril Ritchard impeccable as Mr. Darling/Captain Hook, and a terrific score that includes “I’m Flying” and “Tender Shepherd.” A remake with Cathy Rigby as a very athletic Peter is also very good. Don’t waste your time on Steven Spielberg’s 1991 sequel, “Hook,” with Robin Williams as a grown- up Peter Pan who must go back to rescue his children from Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook with the help of Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell. The stars, the production design, and some spectacular special effects cannot make up for the incoherent joylessness of the script and genuinely disturbing moments like the death of one of the lost boys.