USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - Hoppity Goes to Town is Family Video Pick

Hoppity Goes to Town is Family Video Pick

WASHINGTON (April 16, 1999) --The 1-800-311-4CCC movie line reviews Life for the week of April 16-22. Also included on the toll-free line is a review of Hoppity Goes to Town, this week's suggested home video for family viewing.

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

The April 16-22 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.

Never Been Kissed -- Because of implied affairs and sexual references, a sex-education scene involving condoms 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. Never Been Kissed is a bogus romantic comedy in which 25-year old rookie reporter Drew Barrymore goes undercover as a high school senior to write about teen life and ends up reliving her adolescent insecurities before winning the heart of her English teacher. Movie cliches and stereotypes abound, and Barrymore's clunky performance further sinks the contrived coming-of-age tale.
Life -- Because of some violence, mild sexual innuendo, intermittent profanity and recurring rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. In Life, Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence spend six cantankerous decades stuck together on a Mississippi prison farm after being wrongly convicted of murder. The foul-mouthed comedians display some chemistry together but the bittersweet tale is often shapeless in its scattershot focus on racism and injustice.
Goodbye Lover -- Because of its jokey treatment of murder and promiscuity, kinky sexual situations with nudity, some violence, recurring profanity and constant rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Goodbye Lover is a tawdry comic thriller in which a faithless husband and wife (played by Dermot Mulroney and Patricia Arquette) conspire to murder his brother (played by Don Johnson) then turn on each other as a cynical police detective (played by Ellen DeGeneres) watches the body count mount. The humor is forced in this attempt to blend comedy with film noir and the smug ending is predictable.
A Walk on the Moon -- Because of its theme of infidelity, fleeting violence, brief nudity and recreational drug use, some rough language and a few instances of profanity, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. A Walk on the Moon sensitively explores the effects of adultery on a Jewish family in 1969 when the husband (played by Liev Schrieber) discovers his wife (played by Diane Lane) is having an affair while spending the summer in the Catskills with her two children and mother-in-law. The drama presents credible characters forced to weigh marital commitment vs. personal fulfillment in the turbulent atmosphere of the late 60s.
Go -- Because of recreational drug use, a multi-partner sexual encounter, some nudity, brief violence, grand larceny, occasional profanity and much rough language, the U.S. Catholic Conference classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Go is a smirky comedy that divides its time between a smalltime drug deal gone awry with near deadly consequences and a gambling jaunt to Las Vegas also culminating in violence. The energetic but mindless comedy takes a benign view of promiscuity, substance abuse and drug dealing.
Cookie's Fortune -- Because of a suicide, an implied affair and some 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. Cookie's Fortune is a droll Southern comedy of manners in which bossy spinster Glenn Close attempts to cover up the suicide of her aunt, resulting in the arrest of the aunt's devoted caretaker (played by Charles S. Dutton). The human dimension of the movie's quirky characters and their gently comic interactions provide steady charms.

The family video of the week is Hoppity Goes to Town -- The U.S. Catholic Conference classification is A-I -- general patronage. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. Imaginative animated story with the title grasshopper helping his insect friends find a new home when tiny Bugville is doomed by a skyscraper project, after which Hoppity must rescue his honey-bee sweetheart from a villainous beetle. The animation is playful and often inventive with a little slapstick menace, and the pleasant music of Frank Loesser and Hoagy Carmichael helps matters along, especially a contrived subplot about a songwriter and a penthouse garden.

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.usccb.org and http://www.catholicdigest.org/stops/movies/index.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."