“Avatar” (B-): James Cameron’s 3-D epic has all the smack of a Film Not To Miss

“Avatar” (B-): James Cameron’s 3-D epic has all the smack of a Film Not To Miss — a movie whose effects are clearly revolutionary, a spectacle that millions will find adventure in. But it nevertheless feels unsatisfying and somehow lacks the pulse of a truly alive film. The plot is a little like the American frontier circa the 1800s, only transposed to the year 2154 on the faraway moon Pandora, the home of Native American-like, aqua blue, 10-foot tall creatures called the Na’vi. Arriving are imperialistic humans to plunder, and scientists to study. 161 mins. Rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking.

“The Book of Eli” (C): A meteorite and a subsequent war 30 years earlier has scorched the Earth and the population, who outfit themselves in goggles and leather. Across this charred land strides our Christian cowboy, Eli (Denzel Washington), a mysterious, solitary man who carries the last remaining Bible in his backpack, along with a knife and a shotgun. Eli is a prophet carrying The Word, and “The Book of Eli” suggests mankind will be saved by it. The Christian theme notwithstanding, “The Book of Eli” is really only a sepia-colored, shoot-’em-up Western. 118 mins. Rated R for some brutal violence and language.

“Extraordinary Measures” (C): Harrison Ford plays a very angry medical researcher with a potential cure for a fatal genetic disorder and a compulsion to lock horns with anyone he considers inferior, which is everyone. He teams up with a corporate climber whose young daughters are afflicted in this tear-jerker. PG for thematic elements, language and a mild suggestive moment.

“Leap Year” (C+): This romantic-comedy gets by, barely, on the charms of its stars and the beauty of its Irish scenery. Amy Adams and Matthew Goode aren’t particularly convincing during the loathing portion of their on-screen couple’s love-hate relationship, but when the ice thaws, they bring a tender depth of feeling to the oh-so-ordinary material. Adams’ control-freak Anna flies to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend, gets waylaid on the western coast and falls prey to the scruffy charms of Declan (Goode). She hires him to drive her to Dublin and, somehow, this short journey takes three days, long enough for expected romance to blossom and epiphanies to occur. 100 mins. Rated PG for sensuality and language.

“The Lovely Bones” (B-): Odd as it sounds, Peter Jackson needed to come down to Earth a bit more in his adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-seller about a murdered girl looking back on her life from beyond. The visionary filmmaker behind “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy still is in fantasy land, and the film suffers for it as Jackson crafts lovely but ineffectual dreamscapes of the afterlife that eviscerate much of the human side of the story. Saoirse Ronan leads an able cast chronicling her character’s journey from sensitive 14-year-old schoolgirl to shattered soul stuck in a nether zone between Earth and heaven. 135 mins. PG-13 for mature thematic material involving disturbing violent content and images, and some language.

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (A+): Director Lee Daniels assembles some of the unlikeliest ingredients — Mariah Carey, Mo’Nique, and a lead actress plucked from an anonymous casting call — to create a wondrous work of art. The film isn’t easy to watch and will test your tolerance for despicable behavior as a long history of physical abuse and incest unfolds involving an illiterate, obese Harlem schoolgirl. Yet “Precious” — both the film and its grandly resilient title character — will steal your heart. Daniels crafts a story that rises from the depths of despair to a place of genuine hope. This is great American cinema. 109 mins. Rated R for child abuse including sexual assault, and pervasive language.

“The Princess and the Frog” (A-): The spirit of Walt Disney lives on in this return to hand-drawn animation by the studio that pioneered the art form. “Princess” is just plain pleasant, an old-fashioned charmer that’s not straining to be the next glib animated compendium of pop-culture flotsam. Updating the Brothers Grimm tale “The Frog Prince” to the Louisiana bayou in the 1920s, the film centers on a waitress (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) whose dream of opening her own restaurant is sidetracked when she encounters a smooth-talking prince (Bruno Campos) transformed into a frog. 95 mins. Rated G.

“The Spy Next Door” (D+): Jackie Chan. Boring pen salesman. But really an ace CIA agent who’s retiring from the spy game to marry the single mom (Amber Valletta) next door. Only her kids (Madeline Carroll, Will Shadley and Alina Foley) can’t stand him because they think he’s a boring pen salesman. So she goes away and he volunteers to baby-sit to win over the little ones. Except these Russian spies come after him and the children ... You buying any of this? This sad little movie is built entirely to set up Chan’s stunt and fight sequences. 94 mins. PG for sequences of action violence and some mild rude humor.

“Youth in Revolt” (C): Michael Cera plays Nick Twisp, a precocious 16-year-old Californian who decides his virginity is an issue that must be addressed. On a summer trip to a trailer park in the country with his mother (Jean Smart) and her boyfriend (Zach Galifianakis), Nick falls for the beautiful Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday). To win her, he invents an alter-ego: a brash, arrogant French playboy dubbed Francois Dillinger. With little genuine rebelliousness and a lot of tired geek-wants-to-have-sex story, the overdone quirkiness of “Youth in Revolt” disappoints. 90 mins. Rated R for sexual content, language and drug use.

Associated Press