Bedtime Stories 1 1/2 Stars—Adam Sandler returns to the familiar man-child of yore with this desperate family friendly comedy about wild nighttime fantasies that magically come true. Sandler seemed to have moved beyond the goofy persona he forged for himself with movies like “Billy Madison” and “Little Nicky” with surprising vulnerability and nuance in “Punch-Drunk Love” and “Spanglish.” Although “Bedtime Stories” represents a first for Sandler—a comedy that’s appropriate for all ages—it still feels like a giant leap backward. Forced to look after his young niece (Laura Ann Kesling) and nephew (Jonathan Morgan Heit) for a week while his sister (Courteney Cox) is out of town, Sandler’s hotel handyman Skeeter Bronson finds the only way to connect with the kids, and get them to sleep, is by telling them bedtime stories. Soon, the kids are chiming in with ideas about what the tales should include—gum balls falling from the sky, violent midgets—and in no time, those details start creeping into Skeeter’s life. It’s a whimsical and not-too-shabby idea, but the result is too often flat, crass and disjointed. British comic Russell Brand gets the few funny lines in the script, but the always lovely Keri Russell goes to waste in the straight-woman role as Skeeter’s would-be love interest. PG for some mild rude humor and mild language. 95 min.—Christy Lemire



The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 3 1/2 Stars—It’s the damnedest thing. You look into the elderly man’s blue eyes behind a pair of old-fashioned spectacles, look at the sweet smile ringed by wrinkles, and you know that’s Brad Pitt under there. But the special effects are so dazzling, and Pitt’s performance is so gracefully convincing, that you can’t help but be repeatedly wowed. Director David Fincher has always proven himself a virtuoso visual stylist—to the point of seeming like a shameless showoff at times—with films like “Fight Club,” “Panic Room” and “Zodiac.” But here, he’s truly outdone himself: He’s made a grand, old-fashioned epic that takes mind-boggling advantage of the most modern moviemaking technology. Fincher’s film, based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages in reverse, is rambling and gorgeous—perhaps a bit overlong and gooey in the midsection—but still, one that leaves you with a lingering wistfulness. Pitt, as the title character, travels the world and lives a life that’s adventurous and full, but he can never truly be with the woman he loves, Daisy (Cate Blanchett), whom he met when she was just a little girl and he was a boy trapped in an old man’s body. Eric Roth’s script may seem naggingly similar to that of “Forrest Gump”—which he also happened to write—but it seems more concerned with the transformational power of true love than the gimmickry of an unusual existence. PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking. 167 min.—Christy Lemire



Marley & Me 2 Stars—Aww, look at that cute, fluffy puppy in those “Marley & Me” ads. It almost makes you think you’re in for a feel-good comedy about a rambunctious yellow Lab and the family who loves him no matter what chaos he causes. Well, “Marley & Me” is all that, but if you’ve read the best-selling memoir by John Grogan that inspired the movie, you also know that it has more than its share of hanky moments. So yes, it’s effective in its ability to evoke emotion—having said that, it’s not a particularly good movie. Director David Frankel (“The Devil Wears Prada”) leaps back and forth in blandly episodic fashion between the incorrigible Marley doing wacky, destructive things and his owners, journalists John (Owen Wilson) and Jenny (Jennifer Aniston), furthering their lives as a married couple and, ultimately, as parents. There’s no great momentum, just a long, flat arc toward the inevitable. PG for thematic material, some suggestive content and language. 123 min.—Christy Lemire



Valkyrie 1 1/2 Stars—Much ado has been made about this film, starring Tom Cruise as would-be Hitler assassin Col. Claus von Stauffenberg. There is the release date, which has been moved around several times until finally being set for Christmas, the perfect time for a feel-good movie about killing Nazis. There’s the marketing of the film: Is it a historical thriller featuring Cruise in an eye patch, or is it a straight-up action picture full of explosions? And then, of course, there is the Cruise factor itself—the fact that his very presence adds a layer of tabloid-friendly fascination. Turns out Cruise is both the central figure in “Valkyrie” and its weakest link. He’s distractingly bad, the iconography of his celebrity so strongly overshadowing his performance. With his hard, flat American accent, he stands out in every single scene. (Then again, if he had affected a German accent—or a British one to blend in among his co-stars—he would have invited derision for that, too. Maybe the guy just can’t win.) It’s too bad, too, because “Valkyrie” looks great. With its impeccable production design and German locations, it feels substantial and moves fluidly. No one ever doubted the ability of Bryan Singer, director of the first two “X-Men” movies, to make a solid, energetic actioner. But Cruise is outclassed and outmatched by every member of the strong supporting cast, any of whom would have been more believable as Stauffenberg: Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp and Eddie Izzard. PG-13 for violence and brief strong language. 120 min.—Christy Lemire



Seven Pounds 2 1/2 Stars—This is a clever one, all right, but it might actually be too clever for its own good. Will Smith stars as the mysterious Ben Thomas, an IRS agent who drops in on random Los Angeles residents with financial trouble and analyzes whether they’re good or bad. If they’re good, they get the gift of his infinite generosity: a break on their debts, a little extra time to get their affairs in order, and perhaps something even more life-altering if he deems them especially fit. But Smith’s demeanor is so eerily detached and even robotic at times, he makes you wonder whether Ben is functioning as a force of benevolence or evil—for all of two seconds, that is. Come on, this is Will Smith we’re talking about here. Nevertheless, Gabriele Muccino (who directed Smith in the 2006 drama “The Pursuit of Happyness”) and writer Grant Nieporte jump all over in time, trying to keep us on our toes. With its many twists and revelations, “Seven Pounds” does make you work, which is vaguely refreshing when so much is so mindless. It makes you wonder, for example, why Ben drives a junker car home each day to his beachfront mansion in Malibu. But it also initiates and drops various subplots when it should have focused more on the relationship between Smith and Rosario Dawson. As one of the chief beneficiaries of Ben’s kindness, Dawson’s Emily Posa literally has a broken heart that he has plans to fix. Dawson is effortlessly lovely as always, and the warm scenes she shares with Smith suggest the kind of classic, tragic weepy “Seven Pounds” could have been if it had shed its pretensions and stopped trying so hard to wow us with its complexity. PG-13 for thematic material, some disturbing content and a scene of sensuality. 118 min.—Christy Lemire



The Tale of Despereaux 1 1/2 Stars—Which came first, the rat or the mouse? Doesn’t really matter. Even though Kate DiCamillo’s book “The Tale of Despereaux” came out in 2003—and won a Newbery Medal for outstanding children’s literature—the animated film version still feels like a rip-off of “Ratatouille,” which was only released last year. That’s partly because of the premise: It’s a food-laden fairy tale about a rodent (voiced by Matthew Broderick) who must overcome his underdog status to save the day. But the bigger problem is its lack of comparative charm. Whereas the gorgeous, sophisticated “Ratatouille” was both a crowd-pleaser and a critical favorite, duly winning the Academy Award for best animated feature, “Despereaux” feels obvious, preachy and heavy-handed. And that’s a surprise given that the script was co-written and produced by Gary Ross, whose previous screenplays include the smart, winning “Dave” and “Pleasantville.” Aside from its muted tones, there’s not a whole lot of subtlety to be found here in the film from directors Sam Fell (“Flushed Away”) and longtime animator Robert Stevenhagen—certainly not in the way it shifts awkwardly among three plots, all of which are connected to Princess Pea (Emma Watson). Roscuro the rat (Dustin Hoffman) accidentally falls into the queen’s soup, killing her and prompting darkness and depression throughout the kingdom of Dor. Roscuro is exiled for the act, but next comes Despereaux, a tiny mouse with giant ears who fears nothing. As such he’s also banished, but then along comes the crass, portly serving girl Miggery Sow (Tracey Ullman), whose jealousy of the princess threatens the palace and gives Roscuro and Despereaux a chance to redeem themselves. G. 93 min.—Christy Lemire



Yes Man 2 Stars—Someone should have butted in with an emphatic “No” before the cameras rolled for this Jim Carrey comedy, whose makers said yes to a commonplace screenplay that lacks the wit or heart to lift the movie above its formulaic premise. Director Peyton Reed and the movie’s three screenwriters never give you much reason to cheer Carrey as a shut-in who drops his anti-social ways after encountering a self-help guru preaching the power of saying yes to everything. Instead, the filmmakers rely on Carrey’s rubber-faced expressions and manic energy to carry their tame jokes and sight gags. The laughs are scattered, and Carrey’s exploits often are painfully artificial. While Carrey and a supporting cast led by Zooey Deschanel are likable, they all seem like props for a one-note idea. Carrey is in pure safe mode here, doing nothing to stray from the formula, and consequently, doing nothing all that interesting. PG-13 for crude sexual humor, language and brief nudity. 104 min.—David Germain





RATINGS: 4 stars: Excellent; 3 stars: Good; 2 stars: Fair; 1 star: Poor