All the obvious elements combine to manipulate the audience into a weepy time at the movies -- again.

For hilarity, characterization and clever structure, "The Hangover" is far superior. Still, there are some laughs in this uneven but good-natured raunchfest.

Who would have thought a fire-breathing monster could be one of the most adorable on-screen critters since Babe?

It could have delved a little deeper to keep us wide-eyed and engaged.

That's what The Bounty Hunter has rustled up -- along with a listless rom-com, a feeble thriller and a supporting cast of clueless characters.

Sitting through this movie is worse than being locked in a room with a continuous loop of "Nip/Tuck" playing on a jumbo screen.

The ensemble cast is strong. At its silliest comic moments it has a sitcom flavor, but the overall effect is gently amusing.

"Who wants to see a movie about a kid who's stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons?" Thanks to an endearing cast of characters and an energetic, if light, comic story, we do.

Its stylish and gritty authenticity is superbly suited to this murder mystery.

Powerfully honest, insightful and poignant.

It's an artistic and authentic evocation of an era but a rather surface-skimming story of the '70s all-girl rock band fronted by Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. If anything, it just makes you want to know more about Jett's back story and Currie's subsequent life.

Zone feels anticlimactic now. It also pales in comparison to Oscar-winning "The Hurt Locker," the most powerful film yet made about the Iraq war.

Plausibility aside, the key to making the scenario work is comedy. Much can be forgiven if it delivers enough laughs. That's the main problem here. It's short on clever humor and big on convention and formula.

The contrived insult comedy here feels old, borrowed and blue.

Overall, it's a gently bittersweet and affecting portrait.

When it comes to 3-D visual splendors, give me Wonderland over Pandora any day.

Melodramatic and laden with cop-thriller clichés, the story, set in one of New York's toughest precincts, is contrived and inauthentic -- and also grisly.

The Secret of Kells is a magical adventure unlike anything we've seen on screen before.

Director Kevin Smith's tweets, jokes and sharp commentary after being denied a seat aboard a Southwest Airlines flight because of his girth were a lot more engaging than Cop Out, his new movie.

Familiar B-movie fare, but it's also lively fun and presented with well-paced flair.

A compelling piece of naturalistic filmmaking, claustrophobic and thought-provoking.

Despite its flaws, Shutter Island is worth seeing for the palpably nightmarish and gothic world conceived by Scorsese

Marked by clever twists and turns, the story unfolds at just the right pace. The dialogue -- adapted by Polanski and British writer Robert Harris from Harris' novel The Ghost-- is incisive and interspersed with wit.

Yet it would be wrong, or at least simplistic, to dismiss Celine as a globe-spanning ego trip. Directed by Stephane Laporte, the movie offers something we seldom see anymore from public figures: grandiosity without either apology or arrogance.

What emerges is a banal horror film and a tepid action-adventure.

The film feels as calculatedly sentimental as one of those bland pink candy hearts.

You're more likely to roll your eyes than swoon over this slow-moving and far-fetched love story.

So leaden and obnoxious that it actually makes you long for the John Travolta of "Old Dogs."