THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN
RATING: PG-13
STARRING: Sean Connery, Peta Wilson, Shane West, Naseeruddin Shah, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, and Jason Flemyng
DIRECTOR: Stephen Norrington
PRODUCERS: Don Murphy
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Trevor Albert and Mark Gordon
WRITER: James Dale Robinson
BASED ON THE GRAPHIC NOVEL BY: Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox
GENRE: Science Fiction/Fantasy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older children and adults
SUMMARY: The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen stars Sean Connery as adventurer Allan Quatermain, who teams up with six superheroes to stop a madman from controlling the world. Despite some positive moral and redemptive elements, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen may disappoint action fans and contains some paganism, light foul language and very strong action violence.
The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, set in 1899, opens well enough. After some action set pieces, Sean Connery’s character, Allan Quaterman of King Solomon’s Mines, is asked to help England stop a madman trying to start a world war. Though it tries hard to capture the thrills of comic book movies like Spider-Man and the X-Men movies, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen fails to generate their emotional, dramatic power and richness. Also, though there are some positive moral and redemptive/Christian elements due to its setting, there are references to Hinduism and witchdoctors among the heroes.
CONTENT: Mixed pagan worldview with moral, redemptive, Christian, and occult elements, including positive references to God, as well as some patriotic elements, and one selfish character expresses humanist sentiments; about 11 light obscenities and five light profanities, including use of British curse "bloody"; some very strong action violence; references to past sexual rendezvous; upper male nudity; and alcohol use; brief smoking
JOHNNY ENGLISH
RATING: PG
STARRING: Rowan Atkinson, John Malkovich, Ben Miller, Natalie Imbruglia, and Douglass McFerrin
DIRECTOR: Peter Howitt
PRODUCERS: Tim Beran, Eric Fellner, and Mark Huffman
WRITERS: William Davies, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade
DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures
GENRE: Comedy/Spy Spoof
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older children to adults
SUMMARY: Johnny English is a delightfully silly summer comedy starring Rowan Atkinson, Mr. Bean, in the title role, as a bumbling spy clerk who gets the chance to be England’s number one secret agent when the Crown Jewels are stolen. Fans of James Bond, Inspector Clouseau, and Maxwell Smart, and those who would like a cleaner Austin Powers movie, may love this genial spoof, which, however, contains a few obscenities, brief toilet humor, and other light objectionable content.
English slides in and out of being smooth and then abruptly bumbling in a way that makes him quite charming. John Malkovich is funny as the evil, smirking French villain, but could have taken that villainy a bit further for more comic effect. Also, his character is another greedy, maniacal businessman, an anti-capitalist clich??©. All in all, however, Johnny English is a nice oasis of silliness and fairly clean summer fun, especially for those who avoid Austin Powers for its crassness and vulgarity.
CONTENT: Moral worldview with highly patriotic protagonist; anti-capitalist element where villain is a greedy, wealthy businessman; a few anti-Christian jokes where criminal has "Jesus is coming; look busy" tattooed on his lower back and where hero mistakes Anglican archbishop for someone else, mixed with serious, positive Christian elements at a funeral and in a coronation ceremony; five obscenities, two light profanities, and bathroom humor; light action violence and comic violence none bloody, such as car chase, and gunfire.
