Relative unknown Joey King (yes, Joey is a girl) plays Ramona Quimby, a spirited young girl whose boundless energy and active imagination are alternately endearing and frustrating to those around her, especially big-sister Beezus (played by Disney Channel mainstay Selena Gomez).

When Ramona’s father (John Corbett in ultra-sensitive hunky-dad mode) gets laid off, Ramona cooks up scheme after scheme to help the family out. But as her efforts routinely backfire, even Ramona begins to question her propensity for marching to the beat of her own drum.

Ramona and Beezus is a light family drama that occasionally gets a bit sad. I even shed a few tears – though I attribute those to experiential relatability more than anything else. It’s hard not to relate to, recognize, or envy the various relationships touched upon in the movie: There’s Ramona’s relationship with her sister Beezus; her relationship with her parents (Corbett and Bridget Moynahan); her parents’ relationship with each other; her relationship with her school teacher (Sandra Oh); her relationship with her Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin), and Bea’s relationship with a former high school sweetheart and neighbor, Hobart (Josh Duhamel). None cut too deep. But then again, this movie has a rather limited target demo consisting mostly of 8-12 year old girls. I took two smart and sassy 10-year-olds and they both seemed to enjoy it. Rumor has it that Miley “Hannah Montana” Cyrus was initially offered the role of big sister Beezus. All I can say is… well… thank goodness for small movie favors. I’m still processing The Last Song.

Ultimately, Ramona and Beezus is just okay as a feature film. It’s more like a good TV movie with a really good cast and a really, really good message for girls (and boys) of all ages. When Beezus admonishes Ramona for always coloring outside the lines, Ramona sets her straight, saying (paraphrasing here) “Sometimes I like to color inside the lines. It just depends on the picture.” I like that answer.

The Despicable Me of the title is a super villain named Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) who accomplishes his evil deeds with the assistance of a mad scientist named Dr. Nefario (voiced by Russell Brand) and an army of amusing yellow minions. But recently, Gru’s been one-upped by a younger villain named Vector and he’s feeling the pressure to pull off an epic heist. So he gathers the minions and Dr. Nefario and announces his grand plan: they’re going to steal the moon! First though they have to “acquire” a shrink ray, but just as they manage to steal it, Vector swoops in and grabs it from them.

Gru must get that shrink ray back and part of his plan to get inside Vector’s lair involves sending in three little orphan girls selling cookies. So he adopts the girls, Margot, Edith and Agnes, and of course, they turn his life upside down. We start to see a softer side of Gru as they start to warm his evil heart. He becomes so attached to them he even begins to rethink his plan to steal the moon.

By the end, Gru manages to do it all and be both super villain and super dad. He even manages to make his hard-to-please mother (voiced by Julie Andrews) proud. This is a movie with heart and humor, and even with the extra charge for 3D, is well worth the price of admission.

My seven-year-old movie buddy was completely engrossed. He loved this movie and walked out of the theater practicing his “Airbender” moves. For me it was just okay. It had a nice environmental message for the kids and borrowed elements from martial arts and Eastern philosophy. But the performances were not very good and the storyline was disjointed, jumping from scene to scene with little cohesiveness.

The movie takes place in a world with four nations: Air, Water, Fire and Earth. In each of these nations, certain people have the power to manipulate or “bend” an element. But only one individual has the power to “bend” all four elements. That person is the “Avatar.” But he disappeared a century ago just as the fire nation launched a brutal war against the other nations, completely wiping out the Air Nation. At the beginning of the movie, the Avatar reappears after being frozen in a kind of state of suspended animation and it turns out he is a boy from the Air nation – the last Airbender – who doesn’t realize he’s been missing for the last 100 years or so.

As the movie progresses, he begins to accept his responsibility as the Avatar and with the help of a young brother and sister from the Water Nation, sets out to restore balance in the world and avoid being captured by the Fire Nation along the way. But this is going to be a long and difficult journey for the young Avatar and this movie is just the first in a trilogy so don’t expect any resolution at the end – expect it to set up part two.

If you’ve got a young boy who enjoys marital arts and stories about fantasy worlds, or who is a fan of the Nickelodeon animated series, then by all means take him to see it. Otherwise, there’s no reason to go.

Oh and footnote: we saw it in 2D and from what I’ve heard from others who’ve seen it, that’s just fine because it was not originally shot in 3D and was converted after the fact. Apparently, this makes for murky 3D and there have been a lot of complaints about that with this movie.

The Karate Kid

The plot of The Karate Kid (2010) draws from the basic storylines of both The Karate Kid (1984) and its sequel, The Karate Kid, Part Two (1986) which took place primarily in Japan. For this reboot, Jaden Smith plays 12-year-old Dre Parker, a kid from Detroit who moves to China with his single mother (Taraji P. Henson) when her vague factory job is relocated for some vague reason.

On his first day in China, Dre falls for a pretty classmate but cultural differences get in the way of their budding friendship- as do a bunch of bullies who pummel Dre with some fairly intense kung fu body chops every chance they get. Fortunately, the maintenance guy at Dre’s apartment building is a closet kung-fu master, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who grudgingly agrees to take Dre on as a student. The heart of the movie is the bond they form as Mr. Han teaches Dre respect and honor (and kick-ass moves) in advance of a kung fu championship tournament where his opponents are taught to show “no mercy.” Boo, hiss!

If you’re a fan of the original, you’ll feel a sense of loss for iconic lines like “sweep the leg” and “wax on, wax off”. But let’s face it, the dialogue doesn’t make or break this type of movie. It’s all about the action, the sentimental Dre-Han bromance, and China’s cultural and scenic gems.

The movie gets off to a rather slow start and the two-and-a-half-hour running time is excessive. But kids in the theater generally seemed to enjoy themselves, though the violence was, at times, a bit much for the youngest among them. All in all, The Karate Kid reboot is a decent-enough flick. But I still like the original better. I’m allowed to wax nostalgic that way. Or is it, “wax on, wax off” nostalgic?

My 10-year-old niece was not as enamored by the flick as my now-14-year-old nephew, but I suspect that’s because my nephew has grown up somewhat parallel to TS3’s main ‘human’ character, Andy.

Toy Story 3 opens with Andy clearing out his room as he gets ready to leave for college. He decides to hold onto his favorite toy, Woody, and put the rest of the toys in the attic. But through a series of mishaps, all the toys end up at a local daycare center that sorta resembles the Island of Misfit Toddlers and Toys. At first, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Rex, Hamm the Piggy Bank, etc. have high hopes for their new digs — after all, they just want to be played with. But things take a nasty turn when some other toys – led by a bear that smells like strawberries- imprison Andy’s toys and turn Buzz against his friends by setting him back to ‘demo’ mode. Sounds crazy, but it’s all quite clever.

Ultimately, the toys must work together to escape the daycare center and find their way back to Andy’s house before he heads off to school. The soundtrack hits all the right notes. And a sassy Barbie and metrosexual Ken are definite scene-stealers.

Bottom line: Toy Story 3 is a great choice for a family movie outing (especially if you’ve seen 1 and 2 in theaters or on TV/DVD). Don’t feel compelled to see this one in 3-D, however. It doesn’t really add anything to the experience. But definitely stay through the credits. There’s a fun little ‘extra’ that’s worth watching as you verify all the famous voices that go with the various characters, from Tom Hanks’ Woody and Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear to Ned Beatty’s deliciously-evil Lotso bear.