Most live-action movies about animals end up as disposable, mind-numbing entertainment full of buffoonish human characters, unnerving CGI, and poop jokes. And the animals usually sound suspiciously like overpaid celebrities.

But critics are responding to the latest remake of Lassie with praise and enthusiasm … in their own famously pun-oriented fashion. You won't have to look far to find quotes like "Bow WOW!" and similar canine kudos.

Let's drop the puns and say it straight: This feature by Charles Sturridge will delight viewers of all ages, and is bound to become a classic.

Lassie isn't just better than the other films currently being marketed for all ages. It's a rare work of substance, simplicity, and grace that deserves to be mentioned among the best features crafted for younger viewers in the last twenty years, including Mike Newell's Into the West, John Sayles' The Secret of Roan Inish, Alfonso Cuaró n's A Little Princess, Agnieszka Holland's The Secret Garden, Carroll Ballard's Duma, and Andrew Davis's Holes. Sticking to the basic plot of Eric Wright's 1940 novel Lassie Come Home, this film returns Lassie to her native Britain, where she belongs to the Carraclough family in a Yorkshire mining town.

Sturridge has made one of those rare family films that refuses to insult the intelligence of its young viewers. It flatters them with honest depictions of mature grownups, intelligent children, and real hardships. What is more, it does not use cheap tactics in persuading adult viewers to pay attention. It stands apart from the typical, frantic family features that stoop to including sexual innuendo and pop-culture references (as if that's what adults really want).

While it does have scenes of outrageous whimsy—Lassie's adventure in a courtroom, her spectacular escape from the pound—it remains grounded in a specific time and place, giving us some sense of life in Britain during the build-up to World War II.

All in all, Lassie is a small wonder, providing a classy conclusion to a relatively disappointing summer movie season. It might just inspire some of us to become as respectful as our dogs think we are—and it might even challenge us to prove that dogs aren't the only creatures God made capable of steadfast, longsuffering, and unconditional love.

My full review is at Christianity Today Movies.

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) calls it "an exceedingly handsome adaptation." And he agrees that the scenery is "breathtaking, and the plot is ever appealing, making this highly recommendable family viewing."

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Mainstream critics are similarly surprised and pleased to welcome Lassie home.

Wicker Man not a total loss

Horror-movie fans get chills when they think back on Robin Hardy's 1973 thriller The Wicker Man, a cult classic.

So, there was some speculation when director Neil Labute (In the Company of Men, Nurse Betty, Possession) decided to remake it. And, in spite of its two celebrated stars, Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn, critics are saying the speculation was well founded. The movie, while not a total disaster, doesn't pack the punch of the original.

Ron Reed (Christianity Today Movies) says, "When it comes down to it, this remake of this oddly chilling curiosity is neither a Big Deal nor a Big Bust. It's just a movie. And that's a real disappointment."

Reed goes on to say that the film suffers because the hero is "no longer particularly just." Further, he says, alterations to the character's moral development weaken the narrative. "Much is made of the mainlander's Christian faith in the original script, and if he comes across as something of a judgmental prig, it also lends real power when he cries out to God in that film's stunning climax. Here, when Cage gets in a similar scrape, he's got Nobody to call on."

Bob Hoose (Plugged In) is upset that the film doesn't turn out too well for the hero. "Just because a film escapes an R rating doesn't mean it's not disturbing. … The Wicker Man leaves us staring at a pretty, but frightening face that says evil wins, get used to it."

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) says "LaBute generates some suspense in his cerebral approach, but overall the film is a bland and unnecessary retread, more hokey than creepy as the story progresses."

Most mainstream critics much prefer the original.

Crank will make you cranky

When a hit man learns he's been poisoned, and that the only way to stay alive is to maintain an adrenalin high, well … sounds like an action movie.

And Crank is definitely action-packed. As Chev Chelios (Jason Stratham) strives to get revenge on his enemies, he packs his adventure with speed, sex, and stunts. Critics are staggering out of the film feeling weary, battered, and cranky.

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) calls it "noisy and endlessly unpleasant." The hero, he says, "shares a problem with many in modern culture: a need—in his case literal—to be constantly stimulated, with sex and violence being the drugs of choice. … A dizzying hybrid of Speed, D.O.A. and the 'Grand Theft Auto' computer game, the film … loads on the video-game-style action in an empty and mindless exercise."

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Adam R. Holz (Plugged In) writes, " … [B]efore I let loose too many descriptors such as depraved, degenerate, obscene and immoral, let's make this short and simple: Crank is a pointlessly foul—not to mention bloody, profane and pornographic—cocktail. There's little else that needs to be said regarding this latest look-how-far-we're-going-to-push-it-just-because-we-can actioner."

"Loud." "Obnoxious." "Shallow." Those are some of the words used in the mainstream press, although there are apparently many who apparently enjoy loud, obnoxious, and shallow.

Trust critics on Trust the Man

Trust the Man follows two frustrated couples through the ups and downs of love and marriage. But in spite of an impressive cast—David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, and Maggie Gyllenhaal—the film has failed to inspire film critics.

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) writes that the cast "is wasted in [this] tepid and often coarse comedy-drama. … [It] offers the occasional sharp observation about modern-day relationships, but the characters' infidelities and casual attitude toward sex is highly problematic, despite the morally sound wrap-up …."

Mainstream critics are similarly underwhelmed.

Not Yet Rated rants against ratings board

Who decides whether a film will be rated PG or PG-13?

What must be cut to bring an NC-17 film down to an R-rating?

In Kirby Dick's new documentary, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, we are brought along as a team of curious investigators turn their binoculars toward the secretive MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), and try to understand just how the current film-rating system works.

Just how secretive is the MPAA? Dick had to hire private detectives to learn who works there. And as we follow his progress, we also hear from several disgruntled filmmakers who believe their work has been treated unfairly.

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) calls it "a lively if disjointed and ultimately unconvincing documentary. … Dick's premise is undermined by most of the illustrative clips used here, which, if anything, seem to prove that the movies from which they derive … well deserve their restrictive ratings in terms of sex, violence and/or language, artistic matters notwithstanding."

Often frustrated by the MPAA's inconsistencies, mainstream critics are celebrating the way this film raises important questions.

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Crossover getting year's worst reviews

It's difficult to find a positive review for Crossover.

Half-naked cheerleaders, intense basketball rivalries, Wayne Brady, and a disastrous script … this is a movie with the potential to drop from the screen to the rental shelves in record time.

Marcus Yoars (Plugged In) says, "It's hard to slam—pun intended—a sports movie when it tries to preach solid messages in between slow-motion action shots and game-winning buzzer-beaters. Certainly that task becomes easier when a filmmaker tosses in needless sex, alcohol abuse and foul language. … And certainly it's necessary in the case of Crossover because of its out-of-sorts acting, scribbled story line and cliché -ridden dialogue."

Greg Wright (Looking Closer) says, "Every once in a long while, a sports film comes along that reaffirms the spirituality of pure athletic competition, inspires our youth to giving at least one effort their best shot, and reminds us all of the value of honesty, perseverance, trust, and teamwork—all while being stylish, entertaining, well-acted, and innovative. Crossover is not that film. Not by an urban Detroit mile (or seven—even eight)."

The movie is making mainstream critics very, very cross.

More reviews of recent releases

The Illusionist: Denny Wayman and Hal Conklin (Cinema in Focus) say, "The power of this romantic tale rests not only in the believable romance between the two lovers both as teenagers and as adults, but also in the evil of the prince whose egotistical ambition is matched by his abusive behaviors. Love and justice winning out over evil and ambition speaks to our hearts."

Christopher Lyon (Plugged In) isn't quite so pleased. "The period story is mysterious, tricky and potentially quite satisfying. But the final experience, though diverting, doesn't live up to its potential."

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