AMERICAN PIE 2 -- (Grade: D) It's one year later in the life of lovable loser Jim (Jason Biggs) and his pack of buds, who've returned for a surprisingly lackluster sequel to 1999's American Pie. Despite the fact that they're now college freshmen, these guys are just as sexually obsessed as they were in high school. Jim is still a klutz in the bedroom, which ultimately drives the plot of American Pie 2, writer Adam Herz's hit-and-miss follow-up screenplay. In a clumsy attempt to reunite the entire American Pie cast, Pie 2 has Jim and his friends Oz (Chris Klein), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and Stifler (Seann William Scott) share a beachfront house for a summer-long getaway. Past girlfriends (Tara Reid, Alyson Hannigan and Natasha Lyonne) are nearby. Oz's girlfriend Heather (Mena Suvari) mostly reconnects by phone. Jim's priority is to remake himself into a lover-boy worthy of his high school dream girl, the curvy Czech exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth). Nadia is coming to the boys' beach house, and Jim wants to be ready.Herz and director James Rogers never manage to recapture the sweet-natured innocence and shameless gross-out humor that made the first Pie such a likable comedy. With Pie 2, the tangled sub-plots necessary for uniting the cast seem forced and clumsy. The youthful spirit and likable coming-of-age message from the first film are gone. More importantly, Pie 2's few funny gags -- involving masturbation, urination and a dorm room fiasco best described as coitus interruptus -- fail to sustain the film's haphazard storytelling. -- SR (Rated R.)

THE ANIMAL -- (Grade: D) Not-so-funny Rob Schneider bumbles and fumbles his way through another uninspired slapstick comedy. Schneider plays Marvin, a shaggy-haired loser who dreams of ditching his file clerk job at the small-town police department and becoming a real cop. After undergoing emergency surgery with animal transplants, Marvin uses his newfound "animal" abilities to become a super-cop. The slapstick question is whether Marvin will lose control of his beastly instincts. The Animal's lack of comic worth ultimately rests on Schneider's leading-man deficiencies. His Jerry Lewis-inspired shenanigans aside, Schneider's shaggy loser turns out to be nothing more than a Barney Fife wannabe. Schneider is enthusiastic. But The Animal would be more worthwhile if it could claim one ounce of cleverness. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

APOCALPYSE NOW REDUX -- (Grade: A) This reedited version of Francis Ford Coppola's original 1979 film places additional emphasis on its hallucinatory and spiritual intentions. The result is a humanistic tale that serves as a welcome companion piece to Coppola's frequently misunderstood war movie. Of course, someone who has never seen Apocalpyse Now before won't recognize the addition footage. Still, like everyone, they'll simply be dazzled by a brilliant film. -- SR (Rated R.)

BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY-- (Grade: C) Bridget Jones's Diary is based on the best-selling book by Helen Fielding. Renée Zellweger gamely takes on a Brit accent and some well-publicized extra weight to bring this thirty-something "singleton" to life. Bridget Jones's Diary is full of supposedly adult, professional girls hooking up with the wrong guys at work, listening to the same Van Morrison song, and making embarrassing, public declarations of love.

To its credit, Bridget Jones's Diary doesn't stop there. Bridget fumbles into a bit of success on the job and observes her parents working through their own relationship issues. These real-life moments elevate a film that, like its heroine, desperately wants to be loved. Zellweger's efforts aren't entirely wasted, but I don't fall in love so easily. -- ttc (Rated R.)

BUBBLE BOY-- (Grade: C) Jake Gyllenhaal has the difficult task of playing a character whose need to live in a germ-free environment was first visited by original bubble boy John Travolta in a 1976 TV movie. Travolta's performance has become a cult classic of unintentional comedy and Gyllenhaal's over-the-top character, Jimmy Livingston, heads in a similarly campy direction. There are moments when the constantly grinning Gyllenhaal seems to be making fun of himself and the surreal people around him.Marley Shelton is pleasant enough as Chloe, the blonde object of Jimmy's affection. Swoosie Kurtz generates plenty of laughs as Jimmy's morally uptight mother. Still, it's Gyllenhaal's goofy charisma that ultimately drives the film's plot about Jimmy cross-country travels to prevent Chloe's marriage to a jerky boyfriend (Dave Sheridan).

Taking an absurd stance that qualifies Bubble Boy as a big-budget midnight movie, director Blair Hayes makes full use of Gyllenhaal's self-deprecating spirit. While many of its gags fail to hit their surreal targets, Gyllenhaal's goofball spirit remains perfectly on-target. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN -- (Grade: B) John Madden (Shakespeare In Love) and co-producer Miramax Films team up once again for an effort that labors under its prestigious pretense. Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a painstakingly crafted attempt to appeal to Oscar voters. Its fine pedigree includes a respected director, an Oscar-winning star (Nicolas Cage) and a stunning, foreign beauty (Penelope Cruz) on the verge of making men take leave of their senses. The story mixes the romantic with the historic. More importantly, Captain Corelli's Mandolin never forgets to highlight its precious moments of humor and personal sacrifice. As the titular officer, Cage gets to indulge in robust flourishes as he woos Cruz during Italy's occupation of a Greek isle during World War II. His opera-loving soldier has a heart which cannot be hardened by his circumstances. No romantic war drama is complete without the third side of the triangle that must bear the burdens of loss. Christian Bale assumes this role, playing a Greek resistance fighter who is also Cruz's betrothed. Captain Corelli's Mandolin offers no surprises. Still, the actors deserve extra credit for making each of their character's motivations ring true. Beacause of these believable performances, Captain Corelli's Mandolin becomes a perfectly played piece that may leave audiences humming on their way out. -- ttc (Rated R.)

CATS & DOGS-- (Grade: D) In director Lawrence Guterman's Cats & Dogs, Jeff Goldblum plays an absent-minded professor on the verge of discovering a cure for people allergic to dogs. The core joke is that a team of evil cats will do anything to destroy Goldblum's serum. In their eyes, such a cure will give dogs an unfair advantage. Of course, some secret spy dogs stand ready to defeat the cat menace.Live action, animatronics and computer-generated special effects are the real draw in this high-concept adventure. It's the effects that enable the dogs and cats to battle each other like a bunch of four-legged James Bonds. But no amount of digital effects can sustain a tale as threadbare as Cats & Dogs. By its anti-climactic finish, its clear that the film has wasted its cute premise -- SR (Rated PG.)

THE DEEP END -- (Grade: C) An astonishing performance from Scottish actress Tilda Swinton is the best thing about directors/screenwriters Scott McGehee and David Siegel's overly slick melodrama. Swinton is completely believable as a conflicted mother who's pulled into a blackmail plot by her teen-age son's clandestine relationship with a shifty club owner. It's a difficult role that Swinton performs spectacularly. Dazzling photography emphasizes the film's lush Lake Tahoe setting. But The Deep End's best visual effect belongs to Swinton's anguished face. -- SR (Rated R.)

DR. DOLITTLE 2 -- (Grade: C) In this sequel from Steve Carr (Next Friday), Eddie Murphy, that master of multiple personalities, transforms himself into Bill Cosby. Over a decade ago, Eddie's raw brand of humor was deemed too harsh for young audiences by Cos himself. Now, older and wiser, Eddie speaks fluently with animals as well as children.The film is nothing more than a sketchy collection of family sitcom moments. Dr. Dolittle 2 launches fart jokes and pop culture references with far less sophistication than Shrek or Sky Kids. One typically uninspired gag involves Dolittle receiving an offer he can't refuse from the animal kingdom's underworld leader, the Beaver. Unfortunately, since this isn't the Farrelly brothers or Keenen Ivory Wayans, there are no heads in the bed. -- ttc (Rated PG.)

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS -- (Grade: D) The paper I wrote in sixth grade on Abraham Lincoln, the one that I copied verbatim out of the encyclopedia, was less plagiaristic than The Fast and the Furious. Certainly, there are movie formulas. You come to expect that in Hollywood. But the blatant copying of an entire script is out of control. The Fast and the Furious is Point Break. Substitute surfing for street racing, bank-robbing for electronics heists and the Zen-like misunderstood gang leader played by Patrick Swayze for the Zen-like misunderstood gang leader played by Vin Diesel. Otherwise it's the same film.

Campy bad actor Paul Walker takes Keanu Reeves's role as the dreamy agent who infiltrates the underworld and then gets caught up in it. It's amazing how both actors' line readings manage to sound exactly the same.

Furious does have a few thrilling moments but you'll be too distracted, wondering why it all seems familiar, to really enjoy them. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

GHOST WORLD -- (Grade: A) If the nerdy record collector Seymour (Steve Buscemi) was the only character in the teen comedy Ghost World, the film would still be worth watching. But Seymour is just one of many colorful supporting characters in director Terry Zwigoff's smart teen comedy. Ghost World's comical heroes are 18-year-old best friends and recent high-school graduates, Enid (Thora Birch) and Becky (Scarlett Johansson). These bored and cynical girls will do anything to avoid the world around them. Brought to life by believable performances from Birch and Johansson, Enid and Becky are the most honest of recent teen-age characters found in films like crazy/beautiful, Save the Last Dance and American Pie 2.

Based on the underground comic by Daniel Clowes, Ghost World finds rich satire and heartfelt comedy in a story where nothing seems to happen. With a screenplay co-written by Clowes and Zwigoff, Ghost World focuses on the disappointments in the lives of its insecure and disconnected characters. Every word of dialogue in Zwigoff's talkative movie rings with emotional familiarity. There were times when I felt like Enid was staring at me from behind her clunky black glasses. The result is that Ghost World is the one film this year that made me feel an emotional connection. -- SR (Rated R.)

Hardball -- (Grade: B) It's time to bury the hatchet, at least partially. Finally, Keanu Reeves' career moves show some forethought.

Hardball is a case in point. Reeves begins to shed his surfer dude image to create a flawed protagonist, Conor O'Neill, a gambling junkie whose debt has his life in danger. An old friend proposes to help him if he agrees to coach a Chicago inner-city boys baseball team.

Think Bad News Bears 'n the Hood. The film finds some nice, warm moments when the boys come together as a team and rise above their problems. It also has some deadly serious moments characterizing the quality of life for inner-city school children who live in continual fear. Still, Hardball stumbles as it rounds third and heads for home by foregoing plot and character conclusions with over-sentimentality and heavy-handed emotional manipulation. And you can't blame that on Keanu. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH -- (Grade: A) John Cameron Mitchell's Off-Broadway hit finds new life on the big screen. Thankfully, its punky attitude, Rock soundtrack and sexual double entendres remain intact. A botched sex change operation forces young Hansel (Mitchell) to leave something behind in his Communist East Berlin home. What he's left with is an "angry inch" and the tenacity to form a Rock band after his American GI lover dumps him in a Kansas trailer park. Under a blonde wig and glittery makeup, Hedwig is truly reborn.

Like the rousing Moulin Rouge earlier this summer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch proves that Rock attitudes are capable of rejuvenating the movie musical. -- SR (Rated R.)

Into The Deep -- (Grade: A) A screen that's six stories high by eight stories wide plunges audiences into an undersea forest of kelp that sways and teems with far more life than could be imagined in still photos or in other televised media.

Two huge projectors achieve the 3D effect. And thanks to Newport IMAX Theaters' stadium seating, the images stream along above the heads of those in front of you. Curiously, as the beautifully exotic ecosystem expands before your eyes, the sensation is similar to being suspended in a deep-sea diving tank with your face pressed close to the glass. It may take supreme exertion of will power to not reach out to touch the fish or plant life that passes before you. Submit to the visual pleasures first. The commentary can be informative, but Into The Deep is, foremost, a feast for the eyes. -- ttc (Not Rated.)

JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK -- (Grade: C) It's official. These two pot-smoking, pop-culture referencing, potty-mouthed ne'er-do-wells cannot carry an entire film by themselves. What made Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (writer/director Kevin Smith) so interesting and fun in Smith's previous films was their scene-stealing brevity. Putting them in every scene of the new film, therefore, was a bad call. But Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back has some great moments. It's just no thanks to the titular pair. The supporting cast really puts the laughs in this film. Case in point: Jay and Silent Bob visiting the set of Good Will Hunting 2 is one of the funniest scenes in film this year. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck turn in two wonderful, self-mocking performances that steal the movie from the other brash duo for whom the film is titled. Don't delude yourself into thinking this movie is about anything though. In lieu of a plot, Smith just sends Jay and Silent Bob on a journey that gives him the excuse to stick his heroes (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher), his chums (Gus Vant Sant, Alanis Morissette) and his infatuations (Shannon Elizabeth, Eliza Dushku) into the mix. The result is a light romp with a bad mouth. -- RP (Rated R.)

JEEPERS CREEPERS --(Grade: C) Writer/director Victor Salva has crafted an old school horror film that wears its many influences like a warm patchwork jacket. The pacing lacks the weird feel of Night of the Living Dead or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but the landscape has all the creepy details in right places. Thankfully, Salva refrains from using the post-modern references that have dominated the Scream clones. Initially, the blank stares and slow reactions to the impossible situations may have audiences talking back to the screen like a Mystery Science Theater 3000 revival. The banter between siblings-in-trouble Trish (Gina Phillips) and Darius (Justin Long) is annoyingly realistic and worth every comment.About halfway through, Jeepers Creepers tips its hand. The story's true inspiration is not necessarily past horror films at all. Instead, Salva pays homage to the early horror novels of Steven King. There are creepy black crows and cats aplenty, prescient black folks trying to save doomed souls, and old songs that hint at the timeless quality of the evil diligently gathering itself. Unfortunately, like even the best King novel, there is no big bang at the end of Jeepers Creepers. The sound audiences will hear is the huge rush of their deflating hopes for a true guilty pleasure. The body of evil is still incomplete and just plain silly looking. -- ttc (Rated R.)

JURASSIC PARK III -- (Grade: D) Director Joe Johnston's installment of Steven Spielberg's popular monster-dinosaur-movie franchise turns out to be the worst entry in the three-film series. Granted, Jurassic Park III does stretch its visual-effects resources by adding two more dinosaur villains to its arsenal. But as a full-fledged monster movie, Jurassic Park III offers few shocks. Its tale of renowned paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill from Jurassic Park) leading a bunch of clueless civilians (Téa Leoni, William H. Macy and Michael Jeter) off a second dinosaur-infested island is fairly redundant. When Grant sprints through the jungle, trying to escape from a rampaging T-Rex, Jurasic Park III repeats the same thrills seen in the first two movies. Jurassic Park III is thoroughly unoriginal, and that's the worst thing you can say about any movie sequel. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

MADE -- (Grade: B) Swingers co-stars and real-life friends Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn reunite as a pair of Los Angeles pals who see an illegal errand for an elderly mobster (Peter Falk) as a last-ditch effort for improving their going-nowhere lives. Favreau also directed and co-wrote Made, so it's to his credit that the film possesses a matter-of-fact style and knowing sense for its everyday characters. Made unfolds its intimate story with the emotional credibility of a documentary. Everything about these two friends feels real. Then again, what else should we expect from the natural chemistry between real-life friends 0Favreau and Vaughn? If we're lucky, Favreau and Vaughn will work together as frequently as possible. Their playful banter and easygoing charisma is impossible to resist. -- SR (Rated R.)

THE MUSKETEER -- (Grade: D) Director Peter Hyams' reimaging of The Three Musketeers feels like a book report scandalously short on facts but deeply convinced that it merits only the highest marks. Calvin Klein model Justin Chambers creates the definitive D'Artagnan who cannot share the runway with the other Musketeers. Stephen Rea converts Cardinal Richelieu into a sad sack who lacks the energy to even sneer on cue. Although who needs to when you've got Tim Roth putting the lockdown on this summer's recidivist crown as the villainous Febre? The real crowd pleaser is supposed to be master fight choreographer Xin Xin Xiong whose stunts with ropes and ladders and barrels cannot replace swaying tree limbs and moonlit rooftops in our collective imaginations. That could be because Hyams chose to slice and dice everything into an incoherent mess. The film's tagline -- "As you've never seen it before" -- as least offers truth in advertising. -- ttc (Rated PG-13.)

O -- (Grade: A) Director Tim Blake Nelson and screenwriter Brad Kaaya collaborate for a suspenseful teen-age adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. Set around a winning basketball team at a Southern prep school, O is a well-told and skillfully directed portrayal of teen lifestyles and petty jealousies. True to its classic source, the jealousies in O soon turn deadly.Mekhi Phifer simmers as Odin James, the film's Othello-like character. With her school uniform and ponytail, Julie Stiles is likable as Odin's girlfriend Desi. But Josh Hartnett's complex performance as Hugo, a character based on Iago, turns out to be the best thing about the riveting O. With his devilish smirk and shifting eyes, Hartnett is thoroughly sinister.

As the psychological games grow in intensity, O turns into a breathless thriller. A scene where Odin shatters the glass on a gymnasium backboard is emotionally devastating because you know that he's lost his mind.

It's hard to say whether Columbine was the sole reason behind O's original distributor Miramax Films delaying its theatrical release. The film's depiction of school violence, promiscuous teens, drug use and alcoholism is more honest than gratuitous. Purchased and distributed by rival art distributor Lions Gate Films, O finally has its time in theaters. Ironically, it also happens to be one of the best movies in release. -- SR (Rated R.)

OSMOSIS JONES -- (Grade: B) Stand-up comic Chris Rock uses his motor mouth to full comic effect in the clever live action/animation comedy from directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly. Rock forfeits his facial expressions and physical sass by supplying the voice of a cartoon white blood cell. As Osmosis Jones, a bumbling cop intent on capturing the vicious virus Thrax (voice of Laurence Fishburne), Rock gets the rare opportunity to play somebody who is decidedly less than cool. David Hyde Pierce supplies the voice of a cold tablet named Drix who pairs with Jones to fight the virus. At risk is the very future of the City of Frank (a flubbery Bill Murray), the junk-food junkie zoo employee whose body is home to Jones and his microcosmic pals. Osmosis Jones makes up for its lack of animation artistry by creating a clever world tucked inside Murray's pudgy body. For those people who question whether the Farrelly boys can tailor their gross-out gags for family audiences, Osmosis Jones answers that question with a resounding yes. -- SR (Rated PG.)

THE OTHERS -- (Grade: B) Strange noises takes preference over spoken dialogue in a traditional English Gothic like The Others. Unseen people converse behind closed doors. A girl (Alakina Mann) and her younger brother (James Bentley) insist they've seen ghosts. The trick that keeps writer/director Alejandro Amenábar's psychological drama humming is guessing whether these ghosts are real or imagined.

The children's irritable mother (Nicole Kidman) is not convinced by their supernatural stories. Still, it's not long before she realizes that something otherworldly is inhabiting their country house.

Amenábar walks in the footsteps of Henry James' 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw and its 1961 film adaptation The Innocents when it comes to the haunted house storytelling behind The Others. Its core mystery -- who are the Others? -- is somewhat of a movie cliché. But I'm hard-pressed to remember the last film that made me squirm in my seat as much as The Others. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

PLANET OF THE APES -- (Grade: D) Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes remake turns out to be one of those extravagant Hollywood movies that never should have been made in the first place. Because the original movie is so entertaining, it's inevitable that Burton's Apes would be a terrible letdown. As it stands, Apes is an action blockbuster that doesn't seem to know what to do or where to go.

Burton claims that his version of Planet of the Apes will stay close to the cynical spirit of Pierre Boulle's original novel, Monkey Planet. But none of Boulle's political commentary about ecology, colonialism and social justice is evident in Burton's Apes. Stripped of the racial metaphors found in Boulle's novel and the 1968 film, Burton's Apes is content to be a typical adventure movie. The last must-see blockbuster of the summer has turned out to be a familiar story lost amid a vast desert location and an army of gorilla extras. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

THE PRINCESS DIARIES -- (Grade: D) Young Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is a real princess who just doesn't know about her birthright. Her grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews) comes to set her straight and brings along the dutiful Joe (Hector Elizondo) to assist with Mia's grooming. The film even has a real-life young teen queen in co-star Mandy Moore, who plays a popular high schooler getting her comeuppance. I'm exposing myself to charges of redundancy by noting that The Princess Diaries is a rehashing of Pygmalion and not a very good one at that. Such negativity will only show my age. The young girls in the audience will love the movie. -- ttc (Rated G.)

RAT RACE -- (Grade: C) Director Jerry Zucker and writer Andy Breckman update Stanley Kramer's 1963 screwball epic It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World into a slapstick farce about a group of people in a race to Silver City, N.M., for a $2 million prize. Rat Race isn't an authorized remake of Kramer's Cinerama comedy. Still, the idea of a bunch of people running around wildly in pursuit of money is not a terribly original idea.Zucker does his best to keep the sight gags coming in Rat Race. Monty Python alum John Cleese enjoys the biggest laughs as the man behind the goofy scheme. The rest of the comic ensemble -- Cuba Gooding Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Rowan Atkinson and Jon Lovitz -- enjoy equal shares of comic hits and misses. That's often the case with these types of slapstick comedies: Without credible characters or a substantial story, Rat Race comes to pieces once its gags run out. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

Rock Star -- (Grade: B) Director Stephen Herek has made a (semi-true) love letter to the metal kid who grows up wanting to live the Rock & Roll life. It's at times funny, touching and sweet. Granted, it doesn't have as much to say as Almost Famous did. It's not nearly as profound. But Rock Star is a fun flick, the cinematic equivalent of a Twisted Sister album.

People around him think Chris Coles (Mark Walhberg) is taking his obsession with Steel Dragon, the hit arena band of the moment, a little too seriously. He dresses like their lead singer, and his tribute band does only their songs. So when the actual band comes calling to replace their lead singer because of creative differences, they tap Coles to front the group. It's a dream come true. Or is it?

Along for the wild ride is Jennifer Aniston as girlfriend Emily. She is just as fun, cute and sweet as the film, but let's not hide the truth: She's just Rachel in hot '80s garb. Walhberg is a winning actor, the protagonist you just root for, no matter where he is. Rock Star is no exception. He brings that special something to the project that Kate Hudson brought to Almost Famous.

Herek (Holy Man) keeps the music playing even when the script fails him, notably at the final refrain when the film just seems to end for no good reason. -- RP (Rated R.)

RUSH HOUR 2 -- (Grade: C) Like all of Jackie Chan's movies, Rush Hour 2 has plenty of acrobatic kung fu, synchronized fighting and daredevil stunts. Punches are delivered with comic-book gusto. Kicks occur with childlike glee. The action is consistently outrageous. When the bathrobe-clad heroes confront the gang lord's thugs in a massage parlor, it's clear Rush Hour 2 is not to be taken too seriously.

But the disappointing truth is that Rush Hour 2 suffers from the same uninspired storytelling found in most of this summer's big-budget movies. In fact, Rush Hour 2 struggles just to connect its kung fu sequences in a believably dramatic manner. The movie slows every time Chan pauses to catch his breath and practice his English. Chan's gravity-defying stunts have a way of compensating for a film's dramatic shortcomings, but Rush Hour 2 never stops feeling like a movie that was made without a script. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

SCARY MOVIE 2 -- (Grade: C) The Wayans Brothers (writers/actors Shawn and Marlon along with director Keenen Ivory) are back and ready to show how well-versed they are in the latest releases on video and DVD. Every gag in Scary Movie 2 has been appropriated from a recent movie. Blockbuster Video should sue for an executive producer credit. The original Scary Movie had as its inspiration the Scream series. Scary Movie 2 lacks this focus. The movie leans on the remake of The Haunting with more gags targeting Hollow Man, Charlie's Angels, What Lies Beneath, Mission: Impossible 2, Hannibal and even Nike basketball commercials. I just pray these guys didn't spend too much time watching all those awful movies to prepare for Scary Movie 2. That would be a really scary idea. -- ttc (Rated R.)

SPY KIDS -- (Grade: B) There is a valuable lesson tucked alongside the chases, explosions and gadgetry of writer/director Robert Rodriguez's rousing family adventure Spy Kids. Beneath the surface of a tranquil family life, a child can discover great adventure. He'll also find the hero inside himself.

Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) and his big sister Carmen (Alexa Vega) can't get enough of their mother's (Carla Gugino) bedtime stories about how she met and fell in love with their father (Antonio Banderas). The difference is Gregorio Cortez (Banderas) and his wife Ingrid (Gugino) are secret agents.

Gregorio and Ingrid's first assignment in nine years places them in the clutches of evil genius Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming). It's up to Juni and Carmen to become junior James Bonds and save their parents from mutated secret agents, giant robot thumbs and cyborg children. With a little bit of luck, Juni and Carmen might very well save the world.

Banderas and Gugino make an attractive pair of secret agents. But Spy Kids ultimately succeeds thanks to the bravery of its pint-sized heroes, Sabara and Vega.

In fact, the only letdown is that a junior agent adventure like Spy Kids proves incapable of producing a Bond-like finale of over-the-top explosions and outrageous stunts. Still, Spy Kids did borrow one important detail from the Bond movie handbook. Its closing scene sets up the next Spy Kids adventure. -- SR (Rated PG.)

THE SCORE -- (Grade: D) A three-way dramatic punch of Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro and Edward Norton fails to breathe some much-needed life into director Frank Oz's pastiche of 1970s crime dramas. De Niro looks tired as the gentleman thief who promises his girlfriend (Angela Bassett) he'll retire after one last job. Norton is surprisingly one-dimensional as the egotistic hot-shot who partners with De Niro for the heist. Only Brando, as the heavyset mastermind behind the crime -- the theft of a priceless scepter from the Montreal Customs House --gives the film a charismatic jolt. Brando energizes The Score every time he appears on screen. If Brando wasn't confined by his supporting role status, The Score might have become the taut crime drama it aspires to be. Instead, it's an uninspired heist tale that we've seen countless times before. -- SR (Rated R.)

SHREK -- (Grade: A) In directors Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson's Shrek, the role of the handsome prince is switched to something ugly and green. Everything about Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) screams, "Blech!" It's what one expects from a Scottish ogre. In the school of animated heroes, Shrek is intentionally unorthodox.The adventure starts when the laughable villain Lord Farquaad (voice of John Lithgow) sends Shrek and his unlikely friend, a talking donkey (voice of Eddie Murphy), to rescue Princess Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz) to bring her back to be Farquaad's bride. Of course, Shrek doesn't realize Fiona is cursed with a magic spell.

Fractured or otherwise, Shrek is still a fairy tale at heart. That matters end "happily ever after" is a dramatic given. Shrek just happens to give the time-honored phrase a playful jab in the ribs. -- SR (Rated PG.)

SUMMER CATCH -- (Grade: F) To mark the release of the third collaboration between Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Matthew Lillard (She's All That, Wing Commander) where they play would-be college ballplayers, let's count our blessings. Baseball season is not over. There's always a Reds game to watch. ESPN is televising the Little League World Series. Signing up for the office softball game would be more fun that watching Summer Catch. Just don't ask me to accept Prinze as a poor New England landscaper's son and aspiring pitcher who needs a little faith and the love of a good little rich girl (Jessica Biel) to become a big-league prospect. After watching Prinze's celebrity interview with Derek Jeter on ESPN to promote Summer Catch, I realized I could just as easily see him playing the guy who cleans my septic tank. He's that unbelievable as a star pitcher.

Director Mike Tollin is best known as a producer of cinematic gopher balls (Ready to Rumble, Varsity Blues) and kiddie TV fare (The Amanda Show, Good Burger). It's no wonder that he and writers Kevin Falls and John Gatins fail to make accommodations for adult audiences. Scenes pick up in the middle of yawn inducing moments that can only loosely be defined as conversation. Fortunately, it doesn't take long for these supposedly dramatic moments to end. Summer Catch is a numbing collection of swings and misses. There's more heat in winter. These boys of summer aren't even capable of fanning themselves. -- ttc (Rated PG-13.)

SWORDFISH -- (Grade: D) As corrupt CIA agent Gabriel Shear, John Travolta begins the caper film Swordfish with a rambling monologue. "You know what the problem with Hollywood is?" Shear says, speaking matter-of-factly into the camera. "They make shit." The unintended irony is that Shear could be talking about his own awful movie.

At least Swordfish director Dominic Sena knows how to grab an audience's attention. Early in the film, a bank heist explosion, filmed from a whirling 360-degree, digitized vantage point, jolts Swordfish to life. It's an astounding effect. But soon afterwards, Swordfish becomes just another threadbare actioner filled with redundant pyrotechnics and car chases. -- SR (Rated R.)

TOMB RAIDER -- (Grade: B) Tomb Raider, starring bad girl Angelina Jolie, goes toe-to-toe with Raiders of the Lost Ark on all counts, except one. Whereas Tomb Raider is a blast to watch, full of envelope-pushing action and the strongest adventurer since Indy, it lacks heart. Mind you, it's still entertaining, but it seems like hollow entertainment.

Nevertheless, Angelina Jolie helps make you forget any quibbles you might have with the film. On her chutzpah alone, Tomb Raider shines. She has the uncanny ability to be tough and sexy simultaneously. Tomb Raider nails Jolie's unique blend of erotic toughness. And while his script lacks depth, West manages to make a fine movie independent of its video game origins -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME -- (Grade: B) It's the age-old game of cat and mouse. When two people are linked romantically, they will stop at nothing to get upper-hand on the other. All's fair in love, right?

Two Can Play that Game is a fine retelling of this overdone (but still universally relevant) tale. A fresh cast, a smart script and a break-out lead performance from Vivica A. Fox ultimately redeem the film from its trite premise.

Shante (Fox) has love all figured out, and is quick to mentor her girlfriends on the matter, until she finds her man Keith (Morris Chestnut) with another woman. What follows is Shante's personal textbook on how to get her man back. By film's end, everyone will learn a little lesson on love.

Most of the film's laughs come from Anthony Anderson as Keith's pal Tony. It's as if Tony read "The Rules" and figured out how men can get around them. Better still is Fox. Her no-holds-barred performance and sass lead the film. It takes the right character and smart actor to pull off the talking-to-the-camera trick (see "Bueller, Ferris.") Fox manages the task and the film is better for it. Because in love, you really only know what's going on when you can step inside someone's head. -- RP (Rated R.)

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