PG-13
“Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation”: Perfectly fine for kids 10 to 12 on up, this fifth entry in the “Mission: Impossible” series isn’t the least bit tired. It has wit, smarts, style and ingenuity. In the prologue, ace IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) snatches a shipment of nerve gas from bad guys — in midair. But soon after, he’s taken hostage by an evil operative from the Syndicate, an international terror group. A mysterious woman, who may be a double or triple agent, helps him escape. In Washington, the head of the CIA (Alec Baldwin) believes the Syndicate is Ethan’s hoax. Remembering how IMF was blamed for blowing up the Kremlin (in “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol”) and embarrassed him, he has IMF decommissioned and Ethan branded a traitor. So Ethan goes rogue to hunt down the head of the Syndicate, with secret help from fellow IMF-ers (but now CIA employees) Benji (Simon Pegg) and Brandt (Jeremy Renner). (131 minutes)
THE BOTTOM LINE: The blood-free action sequences feature slamming fists and banging heads; a knife fight; high-speed motorbike chases; a near-drowning; a man in a ticking suicide vest; and gunplay. The script includes rare sexual innuendo and a few S-words.
“Ant-Man”: Most teens and lots of kids between 10 and 13 will get a charge out of “Ant-Man,” especially if they love comics, science, insects or any combination thereof. Despite the big digital effects, this is the most human of the recent Marvel Comics adaptations, with a different, gentler sort of sparkle and snap. There are references to “The Avengers” and the superhero agency SHIELD, but “Ant-Man” is its own film. Paul Rudd plays Scott, a skilled burglar newly out of prison and hoping to go straight and pay child support for his little girl, Cassie. When things go badly, he rejoins his burglar buds to break into a vault in a San Francisco house. He finds a strange suit and helmet, puts them on, hits a button and suddenly is ant-size, zipping through city sewers. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) owns the house and invented the suit. Too old to scramble his own atoms, he wants Scott to become Ant-Man, break into Pym’s old company and steal back the miniaturization formula from Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), who has nefarious plans and a miniaturized alter-ego, Yellowjacket. (117 minutes)
THE BOTTOM LINE: Yellowjacket aims a weapon at a person and an animal and reduces each to gelatinous puddles. The mayhem includes a few punch-ups, a wrecked helicopter and an exploding building. Scott’s little girl is threatened by Yellowjacket. The generally mild dialogue includes two S-words and a few less-crude expressions.
“Pixels”: This Adam Sandler epic opens with a likable mix of humor and romance, but degenerates into a charmless, self-indulgent sci-fi farce with unimpressive effects and lame intellectual underpinnings. Kids 10 and older who love their Xboxes or online war games may still get a kick out of “Pixels,” because it celebrates the early arcade games their parents may have played. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Centipede, Space Invaders and Frogger all get 3-D big-screen time. In a prologue set in 1982, we meet middle school nerds Brenner, a gaming whiz; Cooper, his biggest fan; Ludlow, who’s just weird; and Eddie, who talks tough and beats Brenner in competition. Cut to the present, Cooper (Kevin James) is president of the United States, Brenner (Sandler) installs video components, Ludlow (Josh Gad) weaves conspiracy theories and Eddie (Peter Dinklage) is in prison. Space aliens attack a U.S. military base on Guam using 1980s gaming technology to reduce everything to pixels, and President Cooper asks Brenner, Ludlow and Eddie to teach the military how to stop the invaders. (105 minutes)
THE BOTTOM LINE: The PG-13 rating seems unnecessary, except regarding one character who inappropriately grabs the behinds of Navy SEALs. Otherwise, the action, sexual innuendo and most of the dialogue are all quite mild. Exceptions include one use each of the S-word and the B-word. Battle scenes are not scary or bloody, as it’s all pixels.
“Paper Towns”: Teens who read the young-adult novel that inspired this movie — by John Green of “The Fault in Our Stars” — may find the adaptation pretty true to the book’s tone, complete with narration by the protagonist, Quentin, aka “Q.” Yet as a film, “Paper Towns” fizzles. First, very little happens. And second, Quentin and Margo — she’s the girl next door for whom he carries a torch — aren’t that interesting. Quentin’s friend, Radar, and Radar’s girlfriend, Angela, are interesting and deserve their own movie but are relegated, as is the case in so many Hollywood films, to being the hero’s African-American friends. Quentin’s other buddy, Ben, is crass and really annoying. One night near the end of senior year, Margo asks Quentin to go with her on a revenge binge to punk a boyfriend who cheated on her. The next day Margo disappears, and Quentin is sure she left clues. He, Radar, Angela, Ben and Margo’s best pal, Lacey, drive to Upstate New York to find Margo. (109 minutes)
THE BOTTOM LINE: Ben talks about sex a lot and uses crude but not graphic sexual slang. Quentin and Margo see a classmate naked, his hands covering his privates. Two teens at a party are shown in partial undress, making out. Others drink. It’s implied that Radar and Angela have sex. There is some mild and perceptive humor about race. The script features moderate profanity and toilet humor.