Most everyone knows that The Three Stooges were a classic comedy trio that began back in the 1920's. They were famous for their outrageous slapstick and were very popular both on TV and in movies. Now, more than 60 years after the original Moe, Larry and Curly ended their run as the Stooges, they're being revived.

I've never been a huge fan of slapstick, so I was a little worried going into "The Three Stooges". But I've got to say that I'm surprised by how funny the physical bits work in this film and fans of the original Stooges will be pleased with the effort put in by the filmmakers and cast to honor these comedy legends.

When this movie was original announced Moe, Larry and Curly were going to be played by Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn and Jim Carrey. What a different movie that would've been. In the end "Will & Grace"'s Sean Hayes stars as Larry (the curly-haired Stooge - for the uneducated), Will Sasso plays Curly (the bald Stooge), and Chris Diamantopoulos is Moe (the leader of the Stooges, who tries to hold everything together).

At the beginning of the film, we see the Stooges as babies, being dropped-off at the front of an orphanage (already with their famous haircuts). We then flash-forward 10 years and no one working at the orphanage can stand them anymore (including Mother Superior, played by "Glee"'s Jane Lynch) and no one wants to adopt them. Then we jump ahead another 25 years: Mother Superior hasn't aged a bit, but the Stooges have and they're still causing trouble at the orphanage.

So much so that the orphanage is being forced to close because it can't afford to pay all the bills that are piling-up from repairing things destroyed by the Stooges. So Moe, Larry and Curly decide to go out on their own and try to raise the $830,000 needed to keep it open. Along the way they get caught-up in a scheme involving Lydia (Sofia Vergara), Moe becomes a reality star on "Jersey Shore", and a lot of other funny and crazy things take place.

The film is divided into three acts, each beginning with updated version of the classic intros from the TV shorts. Some of the slapstick, especially early on, is laugh-out-loud funny. But, for me a least, it did get a little old after a while. But the second half does have some funny one-liners to keep the laughs coming.

But, sadly, "The Three Stooges" is not all Nyucks. The subplot involving Lydia is a waste. I would have liked to have seen more of the Stooges trying to come-up with ways of getting the money. There's a scene where they try to become farmers that is hysterical.

Besides Vergara and Lynch, the supporting cast also includes Jennifer Hudson as a nun (who's only in the film to belt out a couple of songs). An almost unrecognizable Larry David ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") also plays a nun, and he's a main target for hi-jinks throughout the film. And even though you know that a guy is playing a nun, it still works. Isiah Mustafa (the "Old Spice Guy") plays the "Jersey Shore" producer.

And yes, the entire cast of that MTV show is in the movie. Once Moe becomes a cast member, he, Larry and Curly get to do what just about everyone has been dying to do to these people since they first appeared on TV. However, this subplot is a little "out there" and goes on a bit too long.

Diehard fans will be happy with the actors' interpretations of the Stooges. All three handle the very tricky dialogue and pull-off the slapstick in style. There are plenty of moments where you know what's coming, but more often than not you laugh anyway. The characters are gullible and likeable, and Hayes, Sasso and Diamantopolous capture that and mesh very well on screen.

"The Three Stooges" is directed by The Farrelly Brothers. They're better known for their more adult comedies, such as "There's Something About Mary", "Dumb and Dumber" and "Hall Pass". "The Three Stooges" is actually their first PG-rated film in 10 years. Obviously there's a lot of silly, slapstick violence, along with some rude humor and a few gross moments. The film is appropriate for kids 9 and up, as long as their parents make it clear, as parents have had to do with their kids since this trio first appeared on screen, that they should not try to imitate anything they see The Stooges do. And just in case, you get a reminder of that at the end of the film (complete with an inside joke).

On The Official LCJ Report Card, "The Three Stooges" gets a C+.

If this film is a box office success we could see some of the original Stooges' movies and shows return to TV and the inevitible sequel, where we could meet the other three Three Stooges.

Since 2000 three Dr. Seuss books have made their way to the big screen: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", "The Cat in the Hat", and "Horton Hears a Who!". When you think of other classic Seuss books "The Lorax" doesn't immediately come to mind. So it's a bit surprising that this story was chosen to be the newest Seuss film. But the theme of the movie - protecting the environment - is certainly a hot topic right now.

Unfortunately "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" is just too simple to have an impact on anyone who sees it - kids or adults.

Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) lives in Thneedville where everything is fake and made of plastic and the people like it that way. There are no trees so everyone has to buy clean air. In order to impress a girl he has a crush on named Audrey (singer Taylor Swift), Ted needs to find a real living tree. His Gramma (voiced by Betty White - how predictable) tells him to go to the mysterious Once-ler, who lives outside of town.

The Once-ler (Ed Helms) tells Ted the story of The Lorax (voiced by comedian Danny DeVito). He is a short, orange creature who "speaks for the trees" and tries to protect them so he and his animal friends can live and thrive. When the Once-ler was younger, he came to the animal's beautiful home and chopped down all the trees so he could make a product out of them to sell to and make a lot of money - something he later regretted doing. The Once-ler decides to help Ted to try to undo his big mistake.

The movie begins promisingly with a musical number during the opening credits. Something pretty rare - and it works. And the first half of the film is o.k. There are touches of Seuss (including some rhyming dialogue) and the animation is bright and cheery.

But then "The Lorax" begins to go downhill - fast. It's almost as if the filmmakers forgot that this is a Dr. Seuss story. There's no wit, no charm. The movie becomes just another average CGI animated film. Which is shocking considering that it's made by many of the same people behind 2010's "Despicable Me", which is one of the most original movies of the past decade. "The Lorax" is filled with stereotypes and dull characters, such as a villain who's the shortest person in town and a fat bear who is the slowest and goofiest of all the animals.

One thing the movie's not filled with is laughs. There are hardly any funny lines. Most of the "jokes" are either overdone or incredibly predictable. An obvious attempt to duplicate "Despicable Me"'s hilarious minions with a group of goldfish fails miserably.

And, after the opening musical number, the rest of the songs are corny and unnecessary. It seems like they were added simply to get the very thin story to fill 90 minutes.

The animation is colorful, the voice cast is solid, and the Lorax and Once-ler characters do have a little depth to them. But it's very difficult for "The Lorax" to keep your interest when you know exactly what's coming.

It's rated PG for brief mild language. Young ones may like the colors and the characters, but will likely get restless halfway through. Anyone older than 8 or 9 will have a hard time caring about the story or the very basic environmental message.

On The Official LCJ Report Card, "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" gets a C+. This isn't one of Seuss' classic stories and so I guess we shouldn't be surprised that this is not even close to being a classic animated film.

Normally, if a studio is unhappy or not confident in a movie, they'll bury it by releasing it in either January or August. Warner Bros. released "Joyful Noise" this past January as one of the first new films of 2012, and now it's already out on Blu-ray/DVD. And while it does have some problems, "Joyful Noise" not a complete loss, thanks to the music.

Queen Latifah co-produced and stars as ViRose Hill, the newly appointed director of a Gospel choir for a church in a small town in Georgia. Dolly Parton plays G.G., who's also a choir member. She wanted to be choir director so the two don't get along.

The town is in tough financial shape, and the one thing that brings everyone together and makes them happy is cheering for the choir as they take part each year in the national "Joyful Noise" competition. They've never made it to the finals - but this year could be different - thanks to ViRose's daughter (played by Keke Palmer) and G.G.'s grandson (Jeremy Jordan). They're both great singers who bring some young energy, and some young love, to the choir.

There are also several subplots, including one involving ViRose's son, who has Asperger's syndrome; her husband, who's in the military and a really weird one involving one of the choir members that doesn't even belong in this movie.

"Joyful Noise" needed some serious editing. The 120-minutes could easily have been cut-down to 95, and it would have made for a much better film. And much of what could have gone involves the songs. The film is divided almost equally between the story and musical numbers, some that are great and others that are totally unnecessary. And all of the songs are performed in their entirety, even ones not involving any of the main characters. Parton wrote three of the tunes and she and Latifah have plenty of opportunities to prove they can still sing (though Latifiah's solo midway through the film sadly brings everything to a stand still).

Palmer is the best singer of them all. Her version of Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" at the beginning of the movie is tremendous.

From the commercials and the trailers you may think "Joyful Noise" is simply a musical/comedy, but the film does have some dramatic elements. And there are moments when it rises above the cheesy level where it exists most of the time. All of the acting is a little forced but I have to admit I did laugh a few times during the silly fight scene in the restaurant between Parton and Latifah, even though it's ridiculous.

"Joyful Noise" is rated PG-13 for language and brief adult content. Teens will like the young love story while fans of Parton will be thrilled to see her back on the big screen for the first time in 20-years. But the reason to see this movie is for the Gospel music. Again, not all the songs are hits, but there's enough here to make this at least a semi-joyful experience.

On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, "Joyful Noise" gets a C+. Inspirational music overcomes an uninspired story.

"The Adventures of Tintin" is a motion-capture animation film, based on the comics/graphic novels and co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. If you're a big fan of the Tintin character and you enjoy action/adventures films such as Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" series then you'll love "Tintin". If not, there's still enough here to give it a mild recommendation.

Tintin (played by Jamie Bell) is a teenage newspaper reporter who investigates mysteries. At the beginning of the film Tintin buys a model ship, that suddenly everyone wants. The ship gets stolen from Tintin's apartment, but the valuable item inside the model is left behind. Tintin and his dog Snowy set out to learn the secret of the ship, named The Unicorn (thus the original title of the film: "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn". Good decision by the studio to use the shorter name).

Tintin and Snowy are kidnapped and end up on a ship, where they meet-up with Haddock, the ship's captain (played by the king of all motion-capture actors - Andy Serkis), who's also behind held captive. They soon learn that there are more than one miniature of The Unicorn and why these models are so valuable. These three team-up to solve the mystery and beat the evil Mr. Sakharine (Daniel Craig) to a lost treasure.

"Tintin" is high-energy, non-stop action from the first scene to the final frame. Whether or not you think this style is exciting or exhausting will pretty much determine whether or not you enjoy the movie. Diehards of the Tintin stories and of this genre will be thrilled. For me the pacing is over-the-top and after a while I became numb from chase scene after chase scene.

On the technical side, the film is well done. The motion-capture is very realistic, especially with the human faces, which can be tricky. Except, unfortunately, with Tintin's face, which is a bit of a problem because he's in practically every scene. The creators made his eyes bug-out too much, and he hardly ever blinks. This makes him look creepy and blank. I find it hard to believe that this was done on purpose, but the fact that they couldn't get the main character's eye right is somewhat shocking.

The Spielberg touches are everywhere. Along with the very detailed chase sequences there are some great transition shots and creative dissolves between scenes. There's a good amount of slapstick comedy in the script, and some comic-relief characters - a pair of bumbling British detectives (played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost). And snowy the dog is not only cute, but he plays a key role as Tintin's sidekick.

"The Adventures of Tintin" is rated PG for the action violence, brief scenes of smoking and the fact that Haddock is drunk a great deal of the time. It's appropriate for kids 10 and up, but I'm not sure that kids who aren't familiar with the books will find this an adventure they'll enjoy.

On "The Official L-C-J Report Card", "The Adventures of Tintin" gets a C+. It got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated feature but was ignored by the Academy Awards because officials don't consider motion-capture true animation, and neither do I.

It's time to kick-off your Sunday shoes and cut "Footloose" once again because the remake of the 1984 film that launched Kevin Bacon's career has danced it's way onto Blu-ray and DVD.

Not only is this movie a remake, but it's an updated, present-day version of the original story. This time the setting is a small town in Georgia (the original took place in the Midwest). Newcomer Kenny Wormald plays Ren MacCormack, a high school senior who comes to town to live with his aunt and uncle after his mother dies. He's from Boston, was on the gymnastics team at his old school and  loves to dance. Ren soon discovers that this new town has laws against playing loud music and dancing in public, due to a fatal car accident that took the lives of five students three years earlier.

The town's minister (played nicely by Dennis Quaid) is the leader of the anti-dancing movement. He has a daughter, Ariel, ('Dancing with the Stars' Julianne Hough). His son was one of the kids killed in the crash. Ren takes an interest in Ariel and he becomes fast friends with Will, who becomes his goofy side-kick. But Ren's #1 goal is, of course, to get the laws preventing the teenagers from having fun changed so they can all dance again.

Obviously this is about as silly a storyline as you can get: Will the kids get to dance? It certainly doesn't make for much dramatic tension. Because of this just about everything in the film seems a bit forced. Maybe 27 years ago this issue had people sitting on the edge of their seats, but not in 2011.

The most surprising thing for me when I saw "Footloose" in the theater was the amount of dancing there is in the movie. I avoided watching the original (until I saw this one), but I knew there were some dance scenes. But there's so much of it here that at times I thought I was watching another "Step Up" film. There's even some country line dancing, which I didn't think people did anymore, even in Georgia (I've since been corrected).

Wormald is very likeable in this iconic role, though fans of Bacon and the '84 film will probably not like him. Hough is fine as Ariel, except that she's way too old to be playing a high school senior. Andie McDowell has a small but strong role as Quaid's wife.

"Footloose" is rated PG-13 for adult language and content, and teen drug and alcohol use. It's appropriate for teens and up. The plot is what it is and the editing, at times, is pretty choppy (including in the climactic scene that's missing several minutes), but the characters are nicely developed, the performances are solid and the music is great, including new versions of all the classics from the original soundtrack.

On "The Official Kid Critic Report Card", "Footloose" gets a C+.

I give the producers credit for going with the unknown Wormald. Originally Zac Efron was cast in the Kevin Bacon role but he apparently felt that he's outgrown these type of parts.

Based on a true story and a best-selling book, "Moneyball" stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the General Manger of the Oakland A's Major League Baseball team. Following the 2001 season the A's lose three of their best players to free-agency. The A's don't have tons of money to spend on player's salaries like most of the other teams do so Beane decided he needs to change the way he puts his team together.

First he hires a new assistant (Jonah Hill is great as Peter Brand) who analyzes baseball players by statistics and not their talent. These two then set-out to change the way that a winning team is built. Of course everyone else in baseball thinks they're crazy, including their own manager, Art Howe (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and all the team's scouts.

Beane, himself, was a great baseball player when he was young but he failed miserably when he got to the majors. We get several flashback scenes of his disappointments as a player and they drive him to want to win even more as a GM.

I didn't know most of the actual events from the A's 2002 season that are depicted in the movie, but I'm sure most adult baseball fans who watch it will, which will take away some of the suspense. But the biggest problem with "Moneyball", from a marketing standpoint, is that it's totally about baseball. Unlike "Jerry McGuire", which was a relationship movie disguised as a sports film or "The Blind Side", which was set in a football world but wasn't really about football, "Moneyball" is a baseball movie - period. A few brief scenes of Beane with his daughter only momentarily takes us away from the statistic and the strategies and the long discussions about players. And there's plenty of game action as well.

It did better at the box office than I though it would. More women and non-sports fans went to see it than expected. And the awards attention the movie has gotten will help it's DVD/Blu-ray sales.

As for the story, there's a major problem with using this season as the centerpiece of a Hollywood script that I can't give away but, again, if you know anything about the A's from that season you'll immediately understand. And the movie comes to an amazingly quick ending, especially for a 2+ hour film.

On the winning side, Pitt is very good. This is Beane's story, and Pitt is in every scene (that's no exaggeration). Hill proves he can play a light, dramatic role along with being in raunchy, R-rated comedies. The supporting cast is fine and the baseball scenes do look authentic.

"Moneyball" is rated PG-13, simply for a few cases of adult language. I can't recommend it for younger baseball fans, because there's too much talk and not enough action for most kids. Older fans of the game and of baseball history will enjoy it, but if that's not you and you're not a big Brad Pitt fan, you're better off skipping it.

On "The Official Kid Critic Report Card", "Moneyball" gets a C+. It's not a strike-out but certainly not a home run either. And for me, not a diehard baseball fan, it's a bit of a disappointment.

"Seven Days in Utopia" is based on the 2009 best-selling novel:  “Golf's Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia", by David Cook. It's the story of a young pro golfer who needs help in becoming a better player and a better person. While it's corny and formulaic, it's also a rare sports movie that doesn't simply focus on winning and losing.

Lucas Black stars as Luke Chisholm, who, from a very young age, has been pushed by his father to become a great golfer. On the final hole of a tournament in Texas Luke has a meltdown, loses the tournament and his father, who's also his caddie, walks away from him. On his way home he stumbles upon the very small town of Utopia where he meets Johnny (played by Robert Duvall). Johnny runs the town's golf course and also used to be a pro golfer.

Over the next seven days Johnny uses some rather unique methods to try to teach Luke how to improve his game both physically and mentally. The two develop a nice relationship as the old master passes along his wisdom on golf and life to the young student. It's not Yoda and Luke Skywalker, but many of the scenes between Black and Duvall are quite good.

Overall, "Seven Days in Utopia" is nice, but the story has too many holes - and I don't mean golf holes. Clearly there were some scenes missing in the screening I saw because at least one major plot point is never explained. And in general the editing is very choppy. And there are flashback scenes in which the characters ages are questionable.

On the positive side there are some unpredictable moments, including a somewhat surprise ending. And, just as with this year's "Soul Surfer", there's a Christian element to the story that's right out in the open. It's refreshing to see God referred to in a motion picture in a serious, spiritual way. You can tell this isn't a Hollywood production.

As for the performances, Duvall is fanatastic. Even in a small film such as this he gives his all and proves, once again, that he is one of our finest actors. Black is just o.k., but there are very few actors who don't looks average when they share the screen with Duvall. Both Melissa Leo and Kathy Baker have very small, supporting roles. Deborah Ann Woll (TV's True Blood) is very good as Luke's love interest.

The worst part of the movie is that writer/director Matthew Dean Russell spends the last half hour with Luke's comeback tournament. The two Golf Channel announcers get more screen time than any of the actors from that point on. Russell stages a realistic-looking tournament, but the sequence goes on forever and is BORING! It could have been handled, more effectively, in half the time.

"Seven Days in Utopia" is rated G. There's nothing here for anyone to worry about. But if your not a golf fan it may to tough to get through, which is too bad, because the film's main message is that life is more important than golf. But the movie doesn't follow it's own advice. Still, I recommend it because of Duvall's performance and the refreshing story.

On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, "Seven Days in Utopia" gets a C+.

The "X-Men" series is one of the most successful film adaptations of a comic book in movie history. Back in 2009 we got to see how Wolverine, the #1 mutant, got his start. Now here we see how it all began for the rest of the characters and the entire "X-Men" society.

"X-Men: First Class" begins in 1944, during World War II but most of the movie takes place in 1962, during the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it uses the historical events of that time in the storyline.

James McAvoy stars as a young Professor Charles Xavier, who is studying how mutants (like himself) are created and how they develop their special powers. In an early scene, we see how Charles met his first mutant, Raven, when they were both kids. Around the same time, in a Nazi concentration camp, we see a young Erik (who would later become Magneto) watch as his mother is killed by evil mutant Sebastian Shaw, played by Kevin Bacon. Eric and Charles later meet up, become best friends and join forces to try to defeat Shaw and prevent the start of a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia.

Since "First Class" is a prequel to all of the other "X-Men" films it definitely helps if you've seen at least some of the other movies or have read the comics and it's interesting to see how they all got started. On the other hand, if you know nothing about "X-Men" at all, this is a good place to start, though you'll miss out on a lot of references and inside jokes.

The plot of "First Class" is interesting and though it sounds a little complicated, it's actually easy to follow. I would have liked to have seen more of Shaw. To have a great "good vs. evil" movie you need a great villain, and Bacon didn't get enough screen time. But he and the rest of the cast do give solid performances. Michael Fassbender is very good as Erik. January Jones ("Mad Men") and Jennifer Lawrence are also effective in their roles.

My biggest disappointment with the movie is with the special effects, some of which are very poor. Since this is the 5th "X-Men" you'd think there would be a "wow" moment or two, but there just aren't. This is being considered an action film, but there's a lot more dialogue than action scenes in the 2+ hours of the movie, which isn't a bad thing, because we do really get to know and understand these characters.

"X-Men: First Class" is rated PG-13 for action/violence and some brief adult material. It's appropriate for the 10 and older crowd, especially fans of the series, who will enjoy the whole back-story, including a few funny cameos.

On "The Official Kid Critic Report Card", "X-Men: First Class" gets a C+. Interesting story and good performances, but not enough suspense and weak special effects.

If Marvel decides there's at least one more "X-Men" film in the series to be made they can go one of two ways: 1) Continue after the story of "First Class" leading up to the start of the original film or 2) Make the mother of all prequels: "X-Men: Babies" - how they really all began. I'm guessing we probably won't see that one.

The original "Hoodwinked" opened nationwide in January of 2006 and it's always been a very special movie to me. Not only is it one of the funniest and most underrated animated films of the past 10 years but it's also the first movie that I reviewed. So when I heard, back in the Fall of 2009, that there was going to be a sequel, naturally I was excited.

If you're not familiar with what happened next here's a brief recap: A month before the scheduled release date of "Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil", the studio (The Weinstein Company) pulled the film. Apparently there were some major issues with Kanbar Entertainment, the production company. Burger King continued with their toy promotion for the film, even though it wasn't in theaters and, according to news stories, might never make it to theaters.

But finally came the news, earlier this year, that "Hoodwinked Too" would be released on April 29th. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely. And now it's out on DVD.

The story picks-up where the original left off. Granny, the Wolf and Twitchy are all working for Nicky Flippers at the Happily Ever After agency, the group that makes sure all fairy tale stories have a happy ending. Meantime, Red is off training with the Sister Hoods, where young women are taught Kung Fu and how to bake goodies

An evil witch has kidnapped Hansel and Gretel and when the HEA tries to rescue them Granny gets captured, too. After one major twist, the plot simply becomes the good guys trying to defeat the bad guys.

This is a case where a script is both good and bad. The dialogue among the characters is sharp. There are a lot of funny lines, wise-cracks, inside jokes about fairy tales, pop culture and the original "Hoodwinked". If you didn't see the first film or saw it and didn't like it, you probably aren't going to enjoy "HToo" as much as I did.

But it's not a great film by any means. The story itself is weak. The original film was a "whodunit" and it kept you guessing to the end. Here the story is very straight forward, with no imagination. Hard to believe that the same writing team from the first film also wrote this one.

The animation style has changed a bit. The characters are a little softer (even in 3D) and at times early in the film the voices and mouth don't match perfectly. There's no excuse for that. Most of the very talented voice cast from the first film is back, including Glenn Close, Patrick Warburton, and David Ogden Stiers. Hayden Panettiere takes over for Anne Hathaway as Red, and Bill Hader and Amy Poehler join the cast as Hansel and Gretel. Much of the dialogue is very fast and often characters are talking right on top of each other so you have to listen closely to get all the lines and jokes. And the 3D is totally unnecessary.

"Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil" is rated PG for some brief language and mild cartoon violence. Young kids will laugh at the silly parts but won't get most of old movie, TV show and pop culture references (I didn't get all of them). Again, if you didn't see or like the original you're not going to have a great time watching this sequel, and that goes for people of all ages. But if you liked "Hoodwinked" and have been waiting for "Too" there's enough here to satisfy you.

On "The Official Kid Critic Report Card", "Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil" gets a C+. It's clearly not as good as the original (which I gave a B+) but it's great to have these characters back again. I only wish they were in a better story. That would have been a Happily Ever After ending for everbody.

Disneynature's 2011 Earth Day documentary, "African Cats", takes place in Kenya, and focuses on a pride of lions and a family of cheetahs, both trying to survive. The lion story involves a battle over territory involving two male rivals and an aging lioness trying to stay alive to protect her cub, while the cheetah tale centers around a mother's effort to raise her cubs and teach them how toi live and hunt in the wild.

The studio's previous theatrical releases - "Earth" (2009) and "Oceans" (2010) - featured a wide variety of animals, on land, in the air and underwater. Many of the creatures in those films had never been seen on screen before, at least not this close. Because of that there was a "Wow" factor with "Earth" and "Oceans" that's missing from "African Cats". There isn't anything in this film that I was amazed or even mildly surprised by.

However, as is always the case with Disneynature, the photography is phenomenal. And the direction and editing of the wildlife footage superb. I'd really like to see a "making of" documentary of this documentary. Some of the shots of the animals are so tight, even during the intense action scenes, that it's hard to imagine how the camera people were able to get them.

And Samuel L. Jackson, who narrates the film, gives a warm and friendly read, with plenty of emotion. But the main problem with "African Cats" is that the stories of these two groups don't grab you emotionally. Because of the decision to go specific, the storylines of these cats have to be interesting and unfortunately they aren't. There isn't enough drama or character development to hold my attention for the entire movie. I wish that we were shown more footage of other species and their situations.

Walking out of "African Cats" I didn't have the feeling that I had just learned something new about lions and cheetahs or the African savanna, and most people will feel the same way. In fact most of the concepts of life and death among animals in "African Cats" can be found in Disney's own - "The Lion King". And that had laughs and some great music!

Even though "African Cats" is rated G, and it comes from Disney, that doesn't mean it's appropriate for the entire family. This film is all about wild animals hunting, killing and eating other wild animals. Parents - there is a lot of death in this movie (remember, the "Circle of Life" thing?), so don't show this to the little ones thinking this is going to be a cute and cuddly experience. It's o.k. for kids 8 and up, as long as they understand the "predator-prey" situation involving animals in the wild.

On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, "African Cats" gets a C+.

Disneynature's 2012 Earth Day film will be "Chimpanzee", which tells the story of an orphaned chimp. Another very specific story. Let's hope this one has something interesting to say.