USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - Youngsters See Purple in Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie

Youngsters See Purple in Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie

WASHINGTON (April 3, 1998) -- The 1-800-311-4CCC movie line reviews Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie for the week of April 3-9.

The 800 movie review line is a project of the Catholic Communication Campaign (CCC).

The April 3-9 list includes the following theater releases and their classifications according to moral suitability. Movies are evaluated according to artistic merit and moral suitability by the U.S. Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting.

Wide Awake -- Because of its vivid depiction of a youngster's grief and a few crude words, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG -- parental guidance suggested. Wide Awake offers a disarming tale of a 9-year-old Catholic schoolboy whose depression over the death of his grandfather leads him to search for signs that God and heaven really exist. The picture deftly captures the child's sincerity in finding the caring presence of God in daily life as he comes to terms with his loss.
Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie -- The U.S. Catholic Conference classificat�on is A-I -- general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G -- general audiences. Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie brings the popular TV show to the big screen as the friendly purple dinosaur visits the circus with three children who use their imagination to take flight in a hot-air balloon. Pre-schoolers will certainly enjoy the colorful musical numbers but the syrupy proceedings are less likely to amuse their elders.
Meet the Deedles -- Because of comic violence, sexual innuendo and gross humor, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG -- parental guidance suggested. Meet the Deedles is a sophomoric comedy in which dopey twin brothers save Yellowstone National Park from being undermined by prairie dog tunnels. The mindless enterprise offers a disjointed series of skits alternating between dumb-and-dumber routines, toilet gags and life-threatening stunts.
The Newton Boys -- Because of some gory violence, sexual innuendo, comic treatment of crime and occasional profanity, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. The Newton Boys gives a glossy account of four fun-loving brothers who quit their Texas farm in 1919 to make a living robbing banks until their arrest in 1924 Chicago. Though it provides a credible re-creation of the colorful era, the result tends to glamorize the brothers and their criminal exploits.
Mercury Rising -- Because of recurring violence, intermittent profanity and some rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Mercury Rising is a routine thriller with Bruce Willis as a renegade FBI agent trying to protect a 9-year-old boy from being murdered by government agents after breaking into a top secret computer file. The formula action story is elaborately but unconvincingly plotted, with lackluster results.
Lost in Space -- Because of frequent fantasy violence, mild sexual references and occasional coarse expressions, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Associat�on of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Lost in Space follows a family of five rocketing from earth to a space colony who along the way get hijacked by a stowaway causing their craft to careen into various life-threatening situations. In this noisy, big-budget version of the mid-sixties TV series, the special effects win out over a jumbled, overly busy story1ine.

The classifications are A-I - general patronage; A-II - adults and adolescents; A-III - adults; A-IV - adults, with reservations (an A-IV classification designates problematic films that, while not morally offensive in themselves, require caution and some analysis and explanation as a safeguard against wrong interpretations and false conclusions); O - morally offensive.

The movie reviews are produced by the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC) Office for Film and Broadcasting, which each week provides full length movie reviews, brief capsules and film classifications of new theater releases.

Reviewers include Henry Herx, Director, and Gerri Pare, Associate Director, of the Film and Broadcasting Office, which is funded by the CCC.

The capsule reviews are available on the World Wide Web. They can be found on two sites: http://www.nccbuscc.org and http://www.CatholicDigest.org/stops/movies/movies1.html.

Full-length reviews of the above and other movies are available through America Online at the Catholic News Service site on AOL, and can be accessed by AOL members using the keyword, "CNS."