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Family Film Guide: 'Speed Racer,' 'What Happens in Vegas'
Friday, May 09, 2008
The Post-Gazette reviews movies from a family perspective:
'Speed Racer'

Rated: PG.

Suitable for: Ages 7 and up.

What you should know: Based on the Japanese-animated 1960s cartoon, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) tears up the track in his Mach 5 race car, rendered by glittering, colorful computer-generated effects.

Language: More "jeepers" and "cool beans," but a few mild expletives creep in along with a boy giving the bad guy the middle finger.

Sexual situations and nudity: Not much. Speed and girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci) don't even get a full kiss until the end of the film, and Speed's little brother warns the audience for the sake of "more cootie-sensitive viewers."

Violence/scary situations: Cars hang from and eventually topple over cliffs; cars crash and explode, although the occupants survive thanks to Kwiksave Foam that encases them in a rubber ball as they're ejected from the vehicle; a bad guy beats a racer and threatens him with flesh-eating piranhas; ninjas attack the heroes.

Drug or alcohol use: Negligible.

'What Happens in Vegas'

Rated: PG-13.

Suitable for: Teens and older.

What you should know: Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher play New York strangers who go to Vegas to nurse their wounds and end up drunk and married. Plans for a quickie divorce go awry when he wins $3 million.

Language: Characters almost use the f-word a couple of times, and other milder expletives are employed.

Sexual situations and nudity: A quick montage of a couple ends with a woman in bed the next morning. Adults are shown in their underwear, some of it skimpy.

Violence/scary situations: Punches are thrown and fruit tossed, and hotel guests overreact when they find themselves sharing a room with strangers.

Drug or alcohol use: You name it -- champagne, beer, shots -- and it's consumed, often to excess.

First published on May 9, 2008 at 12:00 am
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