“Don’t Mess With the Zohan” (B): An Israeli commando fakes his own death to pursue

“Don’t Mess With the Zohan” (B): An Israeli commando fakes his own death to pursue his dream of becoming a hairstylist in New York. With Adam Sandler and John Turturro. Directed by Dennis Dugan. PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language and nudity. 113 min.

“Get Smart” (D):You certainly can’t complain about the casting of Steve Carell in the lead role. And director Peter Segal (“Anger Management,” “50 First Dates”) retains just enough elements of the 1960s TV series to tug at baby boomers’ sense of nostalgia. Carell and Anne Hathaway as a far more butt-kicking Agent 99 than Barbara Feldon find themselves in a series of increasingly elaborate, explosive scenarios. PG-13 for some rude humor, action violence and language. 111 min.

“Hancock” (C): Will Smith has owned Fourth of July weekends with huge debuts for some passable but not-so-great movies, and he’ll likely do it again with this foul-mouthed-misanthrope-as-superhero flick. The movie has a crisp, entertaining set up: Smith is a superhero who hates everyone and is hated in turn for the chaos he causes. While everyone in Los Angeles may hate their resident dude with superpowers, the always likable, always bankable Smith makes you love Hancock. But after starting so fresh, the movie turns into a poor impersonation of a standard superhero tale. PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language. 92 min.

“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (B): In following up the original “Hellboy” from 2004 and his Oscar-winning 2006 masterpiece “Pan’s Labyrinth,” the director has outdone himself in both absurd humor and wild imagination. The visuals are the star, of course. But the sequel, which del Toro scripted from a story he co-wrote with “Hellboy” comic book creator Mike Mignola, wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without Ron Perlman returning as its wisecracking, beer-guzzling, kitten-nuzzling hero. Not only does Perlman completely get del Toro’s twisted sense of humor, he thrives on it. As the film’s title character, who grows from boy-devil to man-devil to reluctant, noir-style crime fighter, Perlman shows not just perfect comic timing but also an irresistible ability to laugh at himself. This time, Hellboy and the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense must stop a power-hungry, underground prince (Luke Goss) from awakening a dormant army of indestructible golden soldiers. Also returning are Selma Blair as Liz, Hellboy’s (literally) fiery girlfriend, and Doug Jones as the sophisticated fish-man Abe Sapien. PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and some language. 110 min.

“The Incredible Hulk” (C+):There’s a lot more action this time around as you might expect from “Transporter” director Louis Leterrier. This version is indeed bigger-stronger-faster, which seems appropriate in telling the story of a guy who’s been juicing. But the inevitable comparisons to “Iron Man,” Marvel Studios’ first blockbuster this summer, serve as a glaring reminder of what the “Hulk” lacks: wit and heart. Despite the presence of Edward Norton, an actor capable of going just as deep as Robert Downey Jr., we don’t feel a strong sense of Bruce Banner’s inner conflict. PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence, some frightening sci-fi images and brief suggestive content. 114 min.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (B): The real heroes of this film are director Steven Spielberg and the veritable army of superb technicians behind the film’s numerous stunts and special effects. It was either going to be a worse- or better-than-average Indiana Jones film. It turns out it’s one of the better ones and everyone involved can breathe a sigh of relief. PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images. 126 min.

“Journey to the Center of the Earth” (C+): The three-dimensional digital imagery used in Brendan Fraser’s subterranean adventure nearly defies Hollywood wisdom that no technological innovation can ever turn a bad movie into a good one. In 2-D, as it will play at most theaters for lack of sufficient cinemas equipped to project digital 3-D, the movie probably will come off as a lame bit of hokum that’s less a story than a theme-park ride. With crisp images and depth that make you feel you could reach out and stick your hand into the middle of the action, the movie projected in digital 3-D form actually makes that theme-park ride kind of fun. Fraser, Josh Hutcherson as his nephew and Anita Briem as an Icelandic guide star as a threesome that heads down below after discovering Jules Verne’s classic sci-fi novel might be based on an actual trip to the Earth’s center. PG for intense adventure action and some scary moments. 93 min.

“Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” (B-): This movie-based-on-a-doll set in the Depression has a message for girls, but it rushes to wrap things up with a neat, pretty bow at the end. Abigail Breslin stars, again proving she’s wise beyond her years but with a childlike innocence that can melt your heart. Breslin’s Kit Kittredge is a 9-year-old aspiring reporter, living comfortably in Cincinnati with her mom (Julia Ormond, weirdly cast) and dad (Chris O’Donnell), even as her schoolmates’ families are selling eggs to get by. Then Dad loses his car dealership and moves to Chicago seeking work; Mom starts taking in boarders (an eclectic mix played by Joan Cusack, Stanley Tucci and Jane Krakowski) for cash. “Kit Kittredge” contains useful lessons about decency, charity and perseverance. G. 100 min.

“Kung Fu Panda” (B): A fat, lazy, untrained panda (Jack Black) dreams of becoming a kung fu master in this animated feature from Dreamworks. Easily the best-looking thing the studio has done, this is less addled by pop cultural references than its predecessors. The message is annoyingly familiar, but otherwise the film is an entertaining picture with great action sequences. PG for sequences of martial arts action. 91 min.

“The Love Guru” (C): Self-love does not seem to be an issue for Mike Myers, starring as a guru with an inferiority complex who falls for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ owner (Jessica Alba) while counseling the team’s lovesick star (Romany Malco), whose wife has run off with a rival goalie (Justin Timberlake). Myers spent years honing his character and he’s obviously having fun, his earnestness making some lines seem funnier than they are. But his zeal cannot save most of the empty jokes from landing with a thud. PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language, some comic violence and drug references. 88 min.

“Meet Dave” (D+): Eddie Murphy stars as both a human-sized spaceship that has landed on Earth and its itty-bitty captain, who’s at the controls from inside the head. It’s a high-concept premise from screenwriters Rob Greenberg (“Frasier”) and Bill Corbett (“Mystery Science Theater 3000”), but the execution is mostly lowbrow. Director Brian Robbins, whose “Norbit” with Murphy last year looks like a bold slice of comic genius by comparison, runs through a variety of bland fish-out-of-water scenarios in workmanlike fashion. Dave, as the spaceship awkwardly names himself once he figures out how to speak, must navigate the streets of New York as part of his plan to drain Earth of all its water and bring the salt back to his own planet. This requires him to hail cabs, go clothes shopping (in what amounts to a shameless ad for Old Navy) and eventually enter a hot-dog eating contest — which leads to the obligatory bathroom gag afterward. Ed Helms, Gabrielle Union and Kevin Hart co-star as some of the tiny beings who help run the ship, with the likable Elizabeth Banks going completely to waste as the human who befriends him. PG for bawdy and suggestive humor, action and some language. 90 min.

“The Wackness” (D+): This coming-of-age dramedy asks us to dig deep within our nostalgia wells and reminisce about the mid-1990s. Summer of 1994, to be exact. That’s when writer-director Jonathan Levine graduated from high school, like his film’s sullen hero, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck), who deals pot from an Italian ices cart in the New York City heat. Mainly, the setting means we’re in store for plenty of rap (Notorious B.I.G., Tribe Called Quest), references to Kurt Cobain and “Forrest Gump,” Giuliani-bashing and privileged white kids liberally peppering their speech with words like “mad” and “dope.” It all feels self-conscious and it makes Luke feel like an annoying type, even though Peck, a long way from the Nickelodeon sitcom “Drake & Josh,” shows some believable glimmers of vulnerability beneath the bravado. In the months before leaving for college, Luke embarks on an unlikely friendship with his aging-hippie shrink, Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley with stringy hair and a wavering accent). At the same time, he makes the mistake of falling for the doctor’s sexually precocious stepdaughter, Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby, Ellen Page’s wisecracking sidekick in “Juno”). R for pervasive drug use, language and some sexuality. 101 min.

“WALL-E” (A): This bold experiment from Disney Pixar is essentially a silent film in which the two main characters, a mismatched pair of robots, communicate through bleeps and blips and maybe three words between them. And yet director and co-writer Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo”) is resourceful enough to find infinite ways for them to express themselves — amusingly, achingly, and with emotional precision. Ben Burtt, a two-time Oscar winner who created R2-D2’s signature sound effects in the “Star Wars” movies, provides the “voice” of WALL-E, or Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class. Seven hundred years after Earth was abandoned, WALL-E is still doing the job he was programmed to do: pick up all the trash that was left behind and compress it into tidy packages. But he’s a romantic at heart with an eye for nostalgia. It’s only upon the arrival of the sleek, shiny Eve, a robot sent back to the planet on a search mission, that he realizes how lonely he’s been. Rated G. 97 minutes.

“Wanted” (B):This super-stylized, wildly outlandish action flick will pick you up, throw you around, drop you back down on the ground and leave you begging for more. It’s the ideal, mindless summer thrill ride — one that you can’t take too seriously, even when it starts to take itself too seriously. “Wanted” follows the transformation of Wesley Gibson (the increasingly versatile James McAvoy) from miserable cubicle dweller to master assassin. Angelina Jolie, as the aptly named Fox, yanks him from his dreary life and introduces him to The Fraternity, a secret society of freakishly skilled, highly trained killers — of whom his late father, the man he never knew, was the best of the best. Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language and some sexuality. 110 minutes.