THE LIZZIE MCGUIRE MOVIE
RATING: PG
STARRING: Hilary Duff, Adam Lamberg, Clayton Snyder, Ashlie Brillault, Jake Thomas, Brendan Kelly, Carly Schroeder, Alex Borstein, and Robert Carradine
DIRECTOR: Jim Fall
PRODUCER: Stan Rogow
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Terri Minsky and David Roessel
WRITERS: Susan Estelle Jansen, Ed Decter and John J. Strauss
DISTRIBUTOR: Walt Disney Pictures/
Buena Vista Distribution Company
GENRE: Drama/Comedy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Adolescents and teenagers
SUMMARY: The Lizzie Mcguire Movie highlights the adorable Lizzie McGuire and her pals Gordo, Kate and Ethan, who set out to find a true adventure while on a class trip to Italy. Once there, Lizzie is mistaken for Isabella (who is part of a famous Italian pop duo) and begins to fall for Paolo (Isabella’s handsome pop star former boyfriend). While Lizzie is transformed from a gawky teen to a beautiful pop star, Gordo struggles to understand his true feelings for her, and surprising events force Lizzie to find the true meaning of friendship.
Lizzie Mcguire is almost completely devoid of language, violence, sex, and nudity, but it does carry the theme that ordinary kids can be famous if greatness is thrust upon them. The movie is fun and clean, lending itself to a good discussion about the pursuit of greatness and fame. Moral viewers might want to discuss the Bible’s warnings about the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes versus the godly ambition of servant leadership and kingdom righteousness. Overall, though, the movie is light, fun and sweet.
CONTENT: Moral worldview extolling self-sacrifice and honorable behavior in courtship, with some pagan elements with the extolling of "The 3 G’s-gold, glory, and guys/gals," especially with emphasis on attaining fame; very mild language; violence is light and slapstick in nature; sneaky children deceive parents and chaperones.
IDENTITY
RATING: R
STARRING: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina, Clea DuVall, Rebecca De Mornay, John C. McGinley, John Hawkes, William Lee Scott, and Jake Busey
DIRECTOR: James Mangold
PRODUCER: Cathy Konrad
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Stuart M. Besser
WRITER: Michael Cooney
DISTRIBUTOR: Columbia Pictures/Sony
GENRE: Mystery/Horror
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
SUMMARY: In Identity, ten travelers, who are caught in a savage storm, are forced to seek refuge in a strange desert hotel where there is a killer, and one by one, eventually are murdered.
For its genre, Identity absolutely delivers the scares. The movie draws viewers into the story. Well cast, with John Cusack and Ray Liotta in starring roles, Identity does some nice twists on "what is reality, and what is in our minds." Initially, the movie seems to be just another, "strangers-caught-in-a-haunted-motel-are-systematically-killed-by-an-unknown-boogie-man" B movie. To the director’s credit, he allows the viewer to settle "comfortably" into that storyline before twisting the plot in several different directions.
With lots of blood and gore and no redemptive elements, moral audiences may choose to ignore Identity. It is unrelenting in its ability to strain one’s nerves. Directed by James Mangold, who also directed Kate And Leopold, it is as far from a romantic film as possible! Identity is for people who just don’t get enough violence on TV-nerve jangling, shocking and knee jerking in its intensity (all in just the first 10 minutes)! There is, however, no real redemptive point to this movie, which includes enough blood and gore to sicken Sam Peckinpah.
CONTENT: Pagan worldview; 25 obscenities, mostly strong; very strong, excessive violence includes car wreck, woman hit by car, multiple stabbings, chokings, shootings, car explosions, and gore; sexual content includes allusions to sadomasochism and prostitution; some smoking depicted.
