The following movie reviews are supplied by Catholic News Service in conjunction with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of Film and Broadcasting.
For full reviews of these films, as well as earlier releases, visit the CNS movie site here.

This list will be updated regularly, and all reviews are copyright (c) 2011 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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“The Change-Up” (Universal)

The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

This raunchy riff on the age-old switched identities premise has a diligent but beleaguered husband and dad (Jason Bateman) temporarily exchanging bodies with his commitment-phobic ne’er-do-well best friend (Ryan Reynolds). Since the single lothario’s lifestyle includes making soft-core porn and indulging his aberrant sexual tastes, while his amigo’s parenthood is marred by diaper disasters, helmer David Dobkin’s puerile comedy amounts to little more than a tiresome attempt to expand the boundaries of bad taste.
Graphic nonmarital sexual activity, masturbation, upper female and rear nudity, drug use, repulsive scatological humor, several uses of profanity, pervasive rough and crude language.

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“Crazy, Stupid, Love” (Warner Bros.)

The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Multigenerational romantic comedy tracing the tangled loves of a long-married but recently separated suburbanite (Steve Carell), his dissatisfied wife (Julianne Moore), their 13-year-old son (Jonah Bobo) and the family’s 17-year-old babysitter (Analeigh Tipton) for whom the boy yearns, but whose heart belongs — secretly — to daddy. Also in the mix is the suave playboy (Ryan Gosling) who tries to teach the newly single nebbish the secrets of successful womanizing before being smitten himself (by Emma Stone).
As helmed by co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the proceedings eventually reach a conclusion that affirms genuine affection and marital fidelity over the apparent glamour of promiscuity. But the path to this mostly acceptable wrap-up is littered with sordid attempts to garner laughs from degraded behavior.
Strong sexual content — including semi-graphic adulterous activity, implied masturbation, and an amateur pornography theme — considerable sexual and brief irreverent humor, a couple of uses of profanity, a bit of rough and much crude language.

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“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (Fox)

The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

This iteration of the successful screen franchise based on the science fiction of French novelist Pierre Boulle is a prequel set in modern-day San Francisco. James Franco plays a master geneticist who believes he’s found the cure for Alzheimer’s disease using primate test subjects. When the apes run amok, however, the project is canceled and the animals are put down. Yet one chimp survives, with ultimately disastrous consequences for mankind.
While this is primarily a special effects-driven action film, as directed by Rupert Wyatt, it’s also a cautionary tale about human hubris and misguided science out to achieve a good end through morally unmoored means. As such, its real-life resonance is all too easy to recognize.
Intense and bloody action violence, including animal attacks, gunplay, and moments of terror, implied premarital sexual activity.

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“Cowboys & Aliens” (Universal)

The Catholic News Service classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Genre bender in which a posse of perplexed Old West townsfolk — led by an amnesic ex-outlaw (Daniel Craig), a ruthless local cattle baron (Harrison Ford) and a mysterious stranger (Olivia Wilde) — track the extraterrestrials who attacked their ramshackle village and kidnapped numbers of its citizens. Interludes of harsh violence and dubious — though inconsequential — theologizing by the community’s resident preacher (Clancy Brown) restrict the appropriate audience for director Jon Favreau’s sometimes clever, but ultimately unsatisfying, adaptation of Scott Mitchell Rosenberg’s graphic novel.
Intense, sometimes gory violence, including torture, brief partial nudity, ritual drug use, about a half-dozen uses of profanity, a few crude and some crass terms.

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“The Smurfs” (Columbia)

The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

The famous blue elves return in a 3-D mix of animation and live action as the evil wizard (Hank Azaria) who has long been their nemesis chases a sextet of them (voices of Jonathan Winters, Alan Cumming, Katy Perry, Fred Armisen, George Lopez and Anton Yelchin) from their enchanted forest village through a wormhole that leads into real-life New York City. As the pursuit continues through Gotham, the Smurfs attempt to navigate their new surroundings while coming to the aid of an expectant couple (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays).
Extending a franchise that originated in the 1950s with the work of Belgian cartoonist Peyo, and continued with a popular 1980s television series, director Raja Gosnell keeps the story fun for youngsters and largely free of objectionable elements, a few forays into potty humor notwithstanding. Moderately intense action sequences, mild scatological humor, some slapstick violence.

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Captain America: The First Avenger” (Paramount)

The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

A complete absence of cynicism, a crackling undercurrent of dry wit, and the classical purity of its golden-age Hollywood references distinguish this comic book adaptation relating the origins story of the titular superhero (Chris Evans). Director Joe Johnston displays a warm affinity for America in the 1940s as he chronicles the muscular warrior’s battle against a rogue Nazi (Hugo Weaving) and his restrained romance with a fetching scientist (Hayley Atwell).
Despite some scenes of destruction, the result is, for the most part, full-on family entertainment of the old school. Much action violence, including gunplay.

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“Winnie the Pooh” (Disney)

The Catholic News Service classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G — general audiences.

Delightfully innocent, predominantly animated adaptation in which the immortal bear (voice of Jim Cummings) finds his characteristic quest for honey interrupted by his friend Eeyore’s (voice of Bud Luckey) latest crisis — the downcast donkey has lost his tail — and by a misunderstanding that leads all the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood (voiced, among others, by Craig Ferguson, Travis Oates and Tom Kenny) to fear that Christopher Robin (voice of Jack Boulter) has fallen into the clutches of a monster.
With its messages about friendship and putting the interests of others first, directors Stephen Anderson and Don Hall’s visually and spiritually faithful screen version of incidents drawn from A.A. Milne’s classic books for children is family fare of the highest quality and widest appeal. The proceedings — though brief at an hour-and-a-quarter — are further enhanced by narration from John Cleese and songs by the husband-and-wife team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

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“Friends With Benefits” (Screen Gems)

The Catholic News Service classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Frustrated with the urban dating scene, a New York headhunter (Mila Kunis) and the formerly L.A.-based art director (Justin Timberlake) she recently recruited for a job in Gotham, form a pact to maintain their newfound friendship while also sharing commitment-free, emotionally uninvolved sex.
Neither friendly nor beneficial, director and co-writer Will Gluck’s thoroughly unromantic romantic comedy features excessively detailed bedroom scenes, a frivolous view of human sexuality and dialogue replete with obscenities. Strong sexual content including graphic nonmarital sexual activity, rear nudity, pervasive sexual and some irreverent humor, relentless rough and crude language.

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“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (Warner Bros.)

The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

One of the most successful movie franchises of all time goes out in style with director David Yates’ gratifying wrap-up to a decade of blockbuster adaptations. As the titular wizard (Daniel Radcliffe), now grown to maturity, continues to battle his evil nemesis, Lord Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes), he’s once again aided in the epic struggle by his two closest friends (Rupert Grint and Emma Watson). Many of the symbols and themes in the narrative, based on the last volume of J.K. Rowling’s run of phenomenal bestsellers, echo Scripture and comport with Judeo-Christian beliefs.
Too intense for the youngest viewers, the fantasy — which manages to strike notes both elegiac and exciting — is acceptable for most others. Much action violence, brief gory images, a single crass term.