Movie Reviews

African Cats (Disneynature)
Actor Samuel L. Jackson narrates this impressive nature documentary charting the varied fortunes of a pride of lions and a clan of cheetahs living on the savannah in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve. Splendid landscape footage and remarkably detailed animal close-ups provide the whole family with a top-quality cinematic safari. Directors Keith Scholey and Alastair Fothergill discreetly spare younger viewers the nitty-gritty of predatory behavior, though not the harsh Darwinian dynamic that ruthlessly eliminates the weak -- however sympathetic. (A-I, G)
 
Fast Five (Universal)
An all-star cast culled from the previous four films in the action-oriented franchise that began with 2001's "The Fast and the Furious" -- most prominently Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, along with newcomer Dwayne Johnson -- reunite in Rio de Janeiro for more speeding cars, gunplay and a heist of millions of dollars from a corrupt Brazilian police chief (Joaquim de Almeida). Director Justin Lin and screenwriter Chris Morgan keep the pace predictably rapid, with occasional comedic dialogue to indicate that no one's taking the proceedings all that seriously. Much gun and physical violence, a premarital pregnancy, a few instances of profanity, frequent crude and crass language, and fleeting sexual banter. (A-III, PG-13)

Madea's Big Happy Family (Lionsgate)
Tyler Perry -- who wrote and directed this screen adaptation of his eponymous play -- puts on the muumuu again as the always short-tempered Madea. Here, Madea's appealingly gentle niece (Loretta Devine) learns she has terminal cancer and tries to gather her three adult children (Natalie Desselle Reid, Shannon Kane and Shad "Bow Wow" Moss) at her house to tell them the bad news. But the grown siblings are all locked in dysfunctional relationships, while one -- a recently released ex-con -- is also dabbling once more in the drug dealing that landed him in jail. Worthy themes of mutual respect between spouses, deference to adults on the part of youngsters and familial unity are sometimes lost amid questionable comic characterizations and a flurry of slaps upside the head. Marijuana use, some adult humor, fleeting crass language, slapstick violence. (A-III, PG-13)

There Be Dragons (Samuel Goldwyn)
Generally powerful, partly fictionalized dramatization of passages in the life of St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer (1902-75), founder of Opus Dei, here intensely yet appealingly portrayed by Charlie Cox. As a fictitious Spanish-born reporter (Dougray Scott) investigates Escriva's life, he discovers that his own father (Wes Bentley) -- from whom he has long been estranged -- was the future spiritual leader's childhood friend and seminary classmate. But, with the violent tumult of the Spanish Civil War looming, the two men took diametrically different paths -- one toward the establishment of a movement dedicated to achieving personal sanctity through everyday work, the other toward a duplicitous role in the conflict engulfing their society. While the striking portrait of an anything-but-plaster saint that forms the heart of writer-director Roland Joffe's hybrid tale grippingly conveys its subject's struggle to discern his vocation and to live out the Christian message of peace, the impact of these biographical elements is blunted by the fictive framework, much of which never seems quite convincing. Probably acceptable for older teens. Occasionally bloody action violence, a few sexual references, a couple of crude and a half-dozen crass terms. (A-III, PG-13)


Vito Bonafacci (Cavu)
In this meditative exploration of spirituality, the title character (Paul Borghese), a happily married (to Tisha Tinsman) and financially successful businessman whose relationship to his Catholic faith has become tenuous, re-examines his life in light of a nightmare during which he foresaw his death and condemnation to hell. While not for the impatient, since it unfolds at a leisurely pace, writer-director John Martoccia's suburban-set Everyman story features impeccable theology, some eloquent poetic reflections from the protagonist's deceased mother (Emelise Aleandri) -- who visits him during his transformative dream -- and beautiful cinematography. Dramatic elements are somewhat shakier. But this restful cinematic retreat, while unlikely to convert the hard of heart, will certainly reinforce faith in the devout and in those with yearnings for the sacred, and can serve as an apt and pleasant instrument for teen or adult religious instruction. A single mildly crass term, mature themes and references. (A-II; Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America)