'SPIES IN DISGUISE'
Rated PG for action, violence and rude humor.
What it's about: A super-spy voiced by Will Smith is transformed into a pigeon in a freak accident _ but maybe that's a good thing?
The kid attractor factor: It's an animated film with plenty of kid-friendly humor and action.
Good lessons/bad lessons: Learn to work as a team (or a flock) and use methods that are cuddly rather than corrosive.
Violence: Some action and fighting scenes with weapons _ shooting, knives, explosions, etc. Some clever nonlethal methods are also deployed by nerdy lab tech Walter (Tom Holland).
Language: None.
Sex: Some animated nudity played for laughs.
Drugs: None.
Parents' advisory: There are a few action scenes and mature jokes not appropriate for the littlest ones, but appropriate for most kids.
'LITTLE WOMEN'
Rated PG for thematic elements and brief smoking.
What it's about: Four sisters growing up and learning and loving in Concord, Mass.
The kid attractor factor: Young girls may be drawn to the material through prior films or the novel.
Good lessons/bad lessons: Life is too short to hate your sisters. Embrace all aspects of who you are, good and bad and complicated. It all works out with a happy ending.
Violence: Some romping and sisterly fighting. An ice skating incident.
Language: None.
Sex: Some kissing between newlyweds.
Drugs: A pipe smoked here and there.
Parents' advisory: A lush, lovely and modern adaptation to capture any girl or boy's heart. Perhaps too thematically complex for the youngest children, but appropriate for older kids and teens.
