Family Film: A look at new movies, including 'Robin Hood'

A guide to movies from a family perspective:

"Robin Hood"

-- Rated: PG-13

-- Suitable for: Ages 12 and up.

-- What you should know: The "Gladiator" team of director Ridley Scott and actor Russell Crowe creates an origin story for ace archer Robin Longstride, who we meet as he makes his way to England from the Crusades and falls into the royal, political and military turmoil in his homeland. There are new motivations for his future as an outlaw, and Marion (Cate Blanchett) is a formidable widow who captures his heart.

-- Language: "Bastard" hurled as an insult is about as rough as it gets.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: A scene near the beginning shows Prince John under the covers with his future queen, and there's a glimpse of his behind when he emerges to face his mother, who has broken in on their lovemaking. There is much implied in scenes with women cavorting with soldiers in their camp and with Robin's merry men. Men and women display obvious longing, and central couples kiss passionately.

-- Violence/scary situations: From beginning to end, swords flash, fires burn people and property and arrows fly -- one disfiguring a villain as it streaks across his face. The violence rages on scales large (a siege in France, the destruction of villages, a battle on England's shore) and small (a mother slaps her son, an attempted rape ends in a stabbing, an old man is humiliated before he is killed, arrows pierce the necks of characters).

-- Drug or alcohol use: Wine, beer and mead are the 12th-century drinks of choice.

"Just Wright"

-- Rated: PG.

-- Suitable for: Tweens and older.

-- What you should know: Romance starring Queen Latifah as a physical therapist, rapper Common as a professional basketball player and Paula Patton as the aspiring NBA trophy wife who catches his eye.

-- Language: Less than a handful of very mild expletives.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: A couple is shown, briefly, in bed but the sheets are positioned to preserve their modesty. A few kisses are exchanged.

-- Violence/scary situations: Common falls to the court in pain after injuring his knee.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Adults drink wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages.

"Letters to Juliet"

-- Rated: PG.

-- Suitable for: Tweens and up, although it has little objectionable.

-- What you should know: Amanda Seyfried from "Dear John" and "Mamma Mia!" is a New Yorker who goes to Verona, Italy, with her fiance and helps an older woman (Vanessa Redgrave) try to find a long-ago love.

-- Language: Perhaps one mild four-letter word, plus a man who raises his middle finger.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: Pretty tame. Kisses are exchanged.

-- Violence/scary situations: None.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Lots of wine is consumed.

"Iron Man 2"

-- Rated: PG-13.

-- Suitable for: 8-year-olds and up.

-- What you should know: Tony Stark is back, and the world knows he's Iron Man. That makes him a target for a fellow weapons manufacturer, a vengeful Russian (Mickey Rourke) and, at one point, his one-time pal Rhodey (Don Cheadle).

-- Language: A couple of f-words are bleeped, one or two uses of profanity and a half-dozen mild expletives crop up.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: Very little. A woman is shown, briefly, in a bra while changing clothes in a car, there are some double-entendres that will go over younger moviegoers' heads and a couple is shown kissing.

-- Violence/scary situations: Lots, from fear that Iron Man is being poisoned by the device keeping him alive, to fights with fists, cars, robots and electrified lashes. A woman mows down, with martial-arts skills, or leaves hanging a dozen men in a single scene.

-- Drug or alcohol use: Iron Man turns morose and gets sloppy drunk at a party, and adults down alcohol from the bottle or glass.

"Furry Vengeance"

-- Rated: PG.

-- Suitable for: Kindergartners and up.

-- What you should know: Brendan Fraser plays a real-estate developer who becomes the target of animals when his company wants to level a forest to make way for high-end homes and a mall.

-- Language: Nothing notable.

-- Sexual situations and nudity: Fraser's character unwillingly shows a little flesh, and a gut, when critters ruin his clothes, and he's forced to wear his wife's too-small track suit.

-- Violence/scary situations: The movie has a nearly nonstop assault on humans by animals, from skunks who spray their victims to raccoons who engineer car mishaps. Everything, including humans who fall off roofs or out of bed, is played for laughs.

-- Drug or alcohol use: None.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

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