The name of this movie, Alice in the Cities in English, pretty much sums it up. Alice's mother meets a man, an aspiring writer, in New York, and ends up sending ten-year-old Alice to Amsterdam with him. Much of the movie consists of their stay in Amsterdam; in hotels, cafes, trains stations, on the road.

Deep parallels to Alice in Wonderland aren't apparent. The cities aren't much of wonderlands to Alice, whose attitude is mostly unimpressed throughout. The plot is almost nonexistent, and prior to appearance of Yella there's nothing much worth seeing. The picture is black and white, and very soft, looking as if made in the 50's rather than 70's. Yella is expressive, beautiful, and a fine actress, so well fills the void left by the lacking plot.

Not quite living up to the very high standards set by Astrid Lindgren's lovely children's book it's based on, this movie is nonetheless a fair adventure for children, or anyone charmed by the book. The beautiful portrayal of the Swedish nature, and the display of Ronja's love for it are the strong points of the movie. It's also always great to see older movies like this one that aren't so hysterical about tastefully showing a bit of naked skin.

Disappointing is excessive silliness of some events, so as to make the movie more suitable for children, and only mediocre success at creating a credible impression of another world and time. Hanna is likable and well suited for the all-important role of Ronja.

Based on the classic book, Charlotte's Web is a pretty and sentimental tale about animals of a barn and their friendship. Among the animals are a spider named Charlotte, and a piglet named Wilbur, who is a pet of Dakota's character Fern.

The story is sweet, the visuals attractive, and acting of both human actors and the CGI animals is solid. I suspect Templeton the Rat was the biggest deviation in style from the book, him being a bit too excessive for such a peaceful story. In its category of family movies with speaking animals this movie does well. However that's not our cup of tea, so without Dakota's smaller-than-you'd-hope role as the likeable Fern we'd rank this movie below the average.

The Williamsons live in a small mining town in Australia, and do the same as everybody do: dig and hope to find opals. Kellyanne (Sapphire), one of the family's two children, has little entertainment, but two very good although imaginary friends: Pobby and Dingan. One day Sapphire can no longer find her friends, and manages to make her none too thrilled father go look for them in late at night. He is caught near his neighbor's mine diggings, and gets accused of stealing, or "ratting," a serious and much-hated crime in the town. This sets the stage for main part of the movie.

Opal Dream is based on the book Pobby and Dingan, which is praised for its touching, gentle quality. The movie is rather different, realistic and rough, with the largest merits perhaps in its depiction of the life style of the Australian opal miners and their community. Sapphire is very well fit for the role of a girl who ignores much of reality around herself, and lives for her imaginary friends; a little odd, not quite like everybody else, and completely charming enough that you'll feel for her loss.

Michael (Adam Sandler) is a successful architect, who has trouble finding enough time for his wife and two small children. He happens to come into possession of a magical remote controller that allows him to skip the boring parts of his life, but the device comes with a cost. It's as silly as it sounds, and the plot is full of holes. While little Tatum, who plays one of the children, isn't on the screen enough, every moment of her presence is intensely cute, and makes the movie worth the while.

Better known as The Fox & the Child, this movie is all about beautiful visuals, and it's a crime it's not available on blu-ray. For someone into foxes, the film doubles as a nature documentary. On top of this, there is a charming story of the quest of a 10-year-old French girl's attempts to tame the fox, to become its friend. Adding some tension are incidents like hunters, an encounter with a bear, and the like.

The only characters in the movie are the girl, and, if you wish, the fox. Consequently there is no actual dialogue. The modest number of lines that Bertille speaks to the fox are dubbed in the English release, but at least the dubbing is unusually well done, partly not even noticeable.

Recommended for anyone who's into nature or cute furry animals.

Tara (AnnaSophia) and her mother Joleen end up homeless as Joleen's boyfriend goes to prison due to drug charges. She takes them to her brother James, a low-paid construction worker who is too kind and naive for his own good. After a few days Joleen quietly departs, leaving James to take care of Tara. In part because of the chores involved in taking care of Tara, James is repeatedly absent from his job, and loses it. Social services take Tara away. When James first time goes visit her at the temporary home, she pressures him into running away with her.

Desaturated, cold tones of the picture go hand-in-hand with the gloomy plot. If you don't mind the bleakness, the visuals are at times attractive. The major fault of the movie is the fact that nothing much happens. The main characters are portrayed very believably, and manage to bring the movie above the average. Nonetheless being credible is not quite enough to make a movie.

AnnaSophia's role as Tara is one of the three main roles, and she does respectably well. It's rare to see an early teenager portrayed in such a well-balanced manner. As intelligent and strong-willed girl as she may be, the fact her mother has disappeared is, appropriately, the driving motivation of the character. The teenage edginess is strongly present, yet no more than the lingering vulnerability of a child.

A well-made teen drama about the common subject of rape. There are no big surprises or deep messages, but the story is told with good taste and style, and is as devoid of clichés as possible. Kirsten, in her mid teens, is likable and interesting despite her quite consistently sullen and silent character. For the Kirsten-uninitiated, however, her earlier movie Panic Room should come first in the watching queue.

A sunny, sweet and delightfully real miniseries of two children, their mother, and the first summer of their life on the countryside. Ida's character Saara, supposedly ten years old, is a delightful girl, responsible, helpful, even a little precocious, but above all a real child of her age. The themes of the episodes cover such things as birth of a calf, visit of the kids' ex-father, and starting of school. Acting is rather theatrical, but Ida in the main role together with the wholesome, feel-good mood of the show makes it easy to recommend.

An unusually true-to-life film about one 9-year-old girl's summer that she spends home without anyone looking after her. Her family leaves for a long trip, and is forced to leave her home, to be taken care of by a young woman, a friend of the family. While the girl – she and her parents are never named – was upset when her parents leave, the nanny is far more an annoyance than helpful, and the girl successfully schemes to make the nanny, too, go away for several weeks.

The way the "home alone" theme is treated is the exact opposite of the notorious movie Home Alone. Flickan offers a very real look into the inner world of a quiet, resourceful child who finds herself without a care taker. She browses old photo albums, tries on clothes, watches the rain fall. There is no narration nor much dialogue, but its quality prevails over quantity.

She has two girl friends, who turn out not to be that nice, and she meets a boy of her age. The range of things she does and which happen to her reflect reality, with much of it mundane, but including fear, sexual curiosity, thoughtless cruelty, joy, and a touchingly small moment of triumph in the end.

Production values are a little on the weak side, which is not a problem for a movie of this type. Some more dialogue would have helped getting to know the girl however. As it is, I was left wanting something more.