Any oldest child remembers when things were so dull that you resorted to playing with your much younger brother or sister. Zathura takes place on one of those days, and the best thing about the movie is the way it captures the resignation, rivalry and even glimmers of affection that make up a play date

When Pooh’s Heffalump Movie was released – at a time when even Pixar Animation Studios had ventured into PG-rated territory with The Incredibles – it was nearly impossible to find big-screen fare for the smallest ones in the house. Winnie the Pooh filled the void. This third feature based on A.A. Milne’s classic characters enfolds

Writer-director John Gatins is no Carroll Ballard – the animal-movie specialist behind The Black Stallion – but he still manages to grace this tale of a girl (Dakota Fanning) who cares for an injured horse with a few quietly effective moments. There also are some nice scenes between Fanning and Kurt Russell as her workaholic,

This sequel to Disney’s 1996 cash cow may not be as cynical as Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but it still exists just to rake in the dough by catering to kids’ crudest instincts. Glenn Close returns as the loud and boorish Cruella De Vil, and the movie mainly follows her lead.

In essence a Spy Kids rip-off, Agent Cody Banks exhibits just enough creativity to be appreciated on its own terms. The movie is less about gadgets and spies than that awkward, hollow feeling a boy gets in his stomach the first time he calls a girl. And Frankie Muniz – in the throes of puberty

Everyone’s favorite ogre couple sets off to meet her parents, where an image-is-everything attitude will put their blind love to the test. The precious theme of the original is more explicit this time, yet the jokes come just as fast and furious. (This is the only kids’ movie I can think of that could get

A fine feature debut from computer-animation director Chris Wedge and Blue Sky Studios, about the adventures of a mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano), a sloth (John Leguizamo) and a saber-tooth tiger (Denis Leary). Financier Twentieth Century Fox seems to have steered Wedge’s dark sense of humor towards a gentler, Disney-esque narrative, but the movie’s best

As Akeelah Anderson, the 11-year-old spelling prodigy at the center of Akeelah and the Bee, Keke Palmer has a studied air of concentration that keeps not just her character but the entire movie on track. Without Palmer’s no-nonsense demeanor, this would have been the sort of wholesome slice of family entertainment that’s hard to swallow.

Stuart Little aims right for the heart – and the movie often hits its mark. An adaptation of E.B. White’s classic children’s story about a naive and gentle mouse, Stuart Little combines realistic computer animation and expert model work to create a fairy-tale world reminiscent of Babe and its sequel.