6 and older:

“Ratchet & Clank” (PG): Fans 6 and older of the PlayStation video-game series can zoom along with this animated movie adaptation. (Of course, a new video game based on the movie came out April 12.) It’s fast-moving and full of throwaway gags, but kids will have no trouble following the story of how the intergalactic heroes of the title first met. Ratchet, a little Llombax with a fox/raccoon kind of look, leads a fairly dull life on his planet as a mechanic. He dreams of being a hero, but he’s too small to be accepted by the Galactic Rangers and their big-jawed leader, Capt. Qwark. Elsewhere in the galaxy, the evil Chairman Drek plots to destroy planets and use parts of them to make himself a new one. He’s aided by the mad scientist Dr. Nefarious and the enforcer robot Victor. A malfunctioning little bot escapes Drek’s lair and crashes onto Ratchet’s planet. Ratchet repairs him and names him Clank. Clank warns of Drek’s plans, and, sure enough, Drek’s warbots start to invade. Ratchet and Clank cleverly repel them, and Qwark has to enlist them into the Rangers. They must now take the fight to Drek and Nefarious and save the galaxy. (94 minutes)

THE BOTTOM LINE: An intelligence officer with the Rangers, Elaris, tortures one of Drek’s robots for information in a scene that goes a little far for PG. There are bits of semi-crude slang that whiz by.

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10 and older:

“The Jungle Book” (PG): A dazzling piece of technical filmmaking, this new take on Rudyard Kipling’s books has less success with its stark shifts in tone. Some bits are so visually intense, because of the blend of 3-D animation, live-action and motion-capture, that one cannot really recommend the movie for kids younger than 10. Yet other moments deep in the middle of the film lighten into a cheerful nod to the comic and musical gems of Disney’s 1967 animated version. With the voices of Bill Murray as Baloo the carefree bear and Christopher Walken as King Louie, the menacing ape, we hear snatches of “The Bare Necessities” and “I Wanna Be Like You.” But poor little Mowgli (Neel Sethi) – the orphaned human “man cub” rescued by the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and raised by a loving wolf mother, Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) – has a tough time of it. A vengeful tiger, Shere Khan (Idris Elba), has a grudge against the boy and aims to kill him, first dispatching his adoptive wolf father, Akela. Bagheera sees that Mowgli, for all his human cleverness, will only be safe in the man village. But trying to get him there proves a perilous journey, fighting off Shere Khan, a hungry python, King Louie and his monkey army, and the distractions of lazing down the river with Baloo. (105 minutes)

THE BOTTOM LINE: Parents will need to decide what their own children can handle, whether in 3-D or not – perhaps by pre-screening the film. When the tiger Shere Khan or the python Kaa – who both want to kill and/or eat Mowgli – go after the little boy, the encounters are quite scary. Mowgli survives in triumph, but it’s a rough go

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PG-13:

“Mother’s Day”: No corn goes unprocessed in this syrupy celebration of modern motherhood. That doesn’t mean willing audiences can’t have a good cry and a good laugh watching Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts and others get in and out of family-focused messes in upscale Atlanta. The film is fine for teens, but it’s tough to predict whether they’d actually like it. They may view its heavy-handed lesson, aimed at the boomer generation, about accepting mixed-race and same-sex marriages as really old hat. The characters might interest them more: Sandy (Aniston) has a meltdown when her ex (Timothy Olyphant) weds a young beauty, whom her two young sons dare to like. She meets a nice widower (Jason Sudeikis), but he’s still grieving and, anyway, she can’t flirt. Sandy’s pal Jesse (Hudson) is married to Russell (Aasif Mandvi), who’s of South Asian ancestry, and has a son with him, but has never told her racist parents. They also don’t know that her sister is married to a woman. Another subplot about a young mother, her stand-up comic boyfriend and Roberts as a television personality feels wholly fake. (118 minutes)

THE BOTTOM LINE: There’s a good amount of verbal and visual sexual innuendo, mostly mild and comic, but sometimes a little crude. Certain characters use racial, ethnic and homophobic slurs. There’s one use of the F-word.

“The Meddler”: The inevitable bumps in the road of adult life underpin the gentle plot of “The Meddler.” A low-key, sweet-natured film, it might pull in thoughtful teens who like to know what makes older people tick. Based on the real-life experiences of writer/director Lorene Scafaria, it sets up a tug-of-war between a recently widowed mom, Marnie (Susan Sarandon), and her troubled daughter, Lori (Rose Byrne). Marnie moves out to Los Angeles to be near Lori, a TV writer under stress at work, still grieving over her dad and pining for a boyfriend who has dumped her. A nonstop talker who needs to be with people, Marnie bugs Lori, via text, phone call and just-dropping-in-with-bagels. When Lori goes to New York for an extended shoot, Marnie stays in L.A., filling her lonely hours helping people she barely knows, trying to become part of their lives. She meets a nice retired cop (J.K. Simmons), but may not be ready for romance. Gradually, both Marnie and her daughter come to grips with their shared loss and move on. (100 minutes)

THE BOTTOM LINE: Pot-smoking is depicted, and there is some to-do about a home pregnancy test.

“The Huntsman: Winter’s War”: The tortuous plot of this prequel/sequel, even for fans familiar with “Snow White & the Huntsman,” will prove quite a tangle, but the movie is a visual feast. Its A-list actors add emotional and verbal heft, making that plot tangle feel both magical and real. The film’s violent battles, although largely bloodless, render it an iffy choice for preteens and even some middle-schoolers, as does its crude humor and sexual innuendo. A narrator intones, “Long before ‘happily ever after,’ ” as things get underway. Ravenna (Charlize Theron), that villainous queen with the magical mirror, arranges the fiery death of an infant (only implied), the love child of her sweet younger sister, Freya (Emily Blunt). Embittered, Freya turns cold and founds a kingdom with her own icy powers. She enslaves children to become her warriors. This takes place before the events of the first film, in which Eric the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) saved Snow White from Ravenna. Eric is one of the children Freya enslaves. He trains alongside Sara (Jessica Chastain). As adults, they are lovers, which is forbidden. Freya separates them violently and seemingly forever. The film then jumps ahead seven years – leaping over the Snow White story – and puts the Huntsman on a quest to find the missing mirror that Ravenna used for evil. With comically bickering dwarfs, he braves the wrath of Ravenna and Freya. (114 minutes)

THE BOTTOM LINE: The battle scenes are harsh, with swords, sticks and axes implying lethal impalements, although no gore is shown. Magical characters bleed tar. The protagonists pass through battlefields with the bodies of soldiers, horses and, occasionally, skeletons. Eric and Sara have two non-graphic love-making scenes with subtly implied nudity. There is one use of the B-word, and some fairly crude sexual innuendo.

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Horwitz has been reviewing movies for Washington-area media outlets including The Washington Post and WETA public television since 1988. The Family Filmgoer column offers weekly movie reviews with a focus on family, an invaluable tool for parents planning trips to the theater.

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