Have you

gone to the movies with your children lately and been

absolutely shocked?

It seems

movies today get a particular rating and then stretch

that rating as far as it can go. "The Nutty

Professor II: The Klumps" is a perfect example. The

film is rated PG-13, but there is little in the film but

profanity, adult themes and gross-out humor (not to

mention it has a weak plot and just isn't nearly as

entertaining as the first film.)

There is a

way to find out exactly what you're getting yourself into

before you go to the movies and it involves only a few

minutes on the Internet. There are thousands, possibly

millions, of web sites devoted to reviewing movies and

spelling out exactly what is involved in each one. Sites

like moviemom.com ,

screenit.com , and capalert.com have

breakdowns of every film in wide release as well as an

assortment of video reviews, so that viewers will never

again be unpleasantly surprised by what their children

are seeing.

Moviemom.com

is brought to you by Nell Minow, a columnist for Child

Magazine. Minow has written a book reviewing films for

children and updates her information on her web site

weekly. The site has reviews of new movies, video

releases, films appropriate for older kids and teens and

a list of all time best family movies. There is also a

very handy search engine to help you locate a particular

film in a matter of seconds. If you want to know if a

film is appropriate for your kids, ask moviemom.

Similar to

moviemom and a little more specific in its breakdown is www.screenit.com . The site

breaks down movies, music, videos and DVDs with a large

box full of categories such as profanity, nudity,

violence and so on. Each box is rated on a scale from

none to heavy. A review of the plot and film continues

and then comes the "Our Take" section. This

section is brutally honest about the movie and goes on to

list every offense in the film. In its "Nutty

Professor II" review, the list of sexual references

is over a page and a half long.

To take it

one step further, www.capalert.com

gives a Christian analysis of modern films. The site is

the first to point out that it is not a movie review

service but an analysis service. The sponsors do not

favor one movie over another; they merely report what

occurs in the film. They break down movies similarly to

screenit.com, but also provide scriptural references. The

site is very informative, but can be a bit unsettling. It

seems to pore over every film with a magnifying glass.

Its analysis of "Chicken Run" seemed a little

over the top and makes one wonder how it would review

"Bambi" or "The Ten Commandments."

If these

sites don't provide you with enough information, such as

whether the film is any good despite how much sex or

violence is in the film, visit www.mrqe.com . MRQE stands for

movie review query engine and will provide you with every

review for a movie the site's sponsors can find. The site

finds reviews from newspapers all over the country as

well as from fan web sites. There were close to 100

reviews for the film "Coyote Ugly," and that's

a lot of bad reviews.

So, before

you drag the kids to the theater this weekend, go on the

web and visit some of these web sites. At least you'll

know what you're up against and maybe you could find a

more appropriate film for the family.

Some sites

also offer you the chance to give your review of the

film. Locally, you can visit digitalcity Atlanta or 99x.com and instantly chime

in about the film you most recently viewed. After all,

everybody is a critic.

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