NEW THIS WEEK:

CURIOUS GEORGE (Universal Pictures)
Starring the voices of Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, David Cross, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright, Dick Van Dyke
Directed by Matthew O'Callaghan (The Itsy Bitsy Spider); Written by Ken Kaufman (Space Cowboys, The Missing), Dan Gerson (Chicken Little), and many more
Genre: Animated, Comedy, Family
Rated G
Tagline: "Show Me the Monkey!"
Story: Curious George, the mischievous monkey from the series of popular children's books, hits the big screen with a new comic adventure for kids of all ages.

In 1941, the husband and wife team of H.A. and Margaret Rey introduced the world to the trouble-making monkey known as Curious George, who would become hugely popular among parents and kids for his antic-filled adventures, and in 1998, the character was successfully revived by publisher Houghton-Mifflin for another generation. Now, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment are using the character as their stepping stone into the field of animation, bringing on an impressive voice cast with Will Ferrell voicing George's owner The Man in the Yellow Hat, and other popular actors including Drew Barrymore, Eugene Levy and David Cross voicing other roles. Plenty of animated films have been sold base on their star voice power, such as Disney's The Jungle Book 2 or The Rugrats Go Wild!, and usually it's done in hopes of getting the interest of the parents who might consider seeing the movie for the stars. At least, Curious George's G-rating will mean that parents can bring their younger kids, although that doesn't necessarily mean they will. Unfortunately, two-dimensional animation seems to mostly be a dead art, except maybe in Japan, and it doesn't even seem like a character who has been popular for over sixty years will be enough to get modern American kids interested in watching this type of animated film or to convince parents to bring their younger kids to theatres rather than plopping them down in front of a video. Unfortunately, the only model for Curious George are other recent February released animated movies like Pooh's Heffalump Adventure or The Jungle Book 2, and it's doubtful that Curious George will do that much better without a four-day holiday weekend, especially with the PG Pink Panther opening this week. Expect it to do better next weekend.

Why I Should See It: Because Curious George is one of the most lovable children's characters maybe of all time.
Why Not: Maybe you'd prefer to have the memory of the character cherished in your mind without it being besmirched by the presence of Will Ferrell.
Projection: $6 to 8 million opening weekend and less than $20 million total.

FINAL DESTINATION 3 (New Line)
Starring Ryan Merriman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kris Lemche, Alex Johnson
Directed by James Wong (Final Destination, The One); Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong (Final Destination, The One, Willard)
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rated R
Tagline: "This Ride Will Be the Death of You"
Story: Death is still looking for victims, and this time, he's back to high school students, as Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) foresees her own death and those of her classmates in a freak roller coaster accident when Wendy and six others are able to get away before it happens. But Death is still going to get his, and Wendy and her classmate Kevin (Ryan Merriman) must race against time to save those who got off the rollercoaster, before they die by other means. REVIEW

In March 2000, teen horror movies were all the rage thanks to movies like The Blair Witch Project and the finale to Wes Craven's Scream trilogy, which had a huge opening weekend a month earlier. Final Destination's premise of a group of teens being stalked by death didn't seem particularly appealing, and its $10 million opening wasn't that great, but over the next few weeks, word started getting around about the interesting idea, and ultimately, it would end up making $50 million in theatres and over $50 million in video rentals. Three years later, New Line released a sequel with almost none of the original cast—of course, they were mostly dead!—and with a new director, David Ellis, and that made $16 million its opening weekend, narrowly defeated for the top spot that weekend by the Colin Farrell thriller The Recruit. Because it didn't make $50 million in theatres, it would have seemed like the franchise was seeing diminishing returns, but it did decent business on DVD and found more fans on cable. Since then, horror has become quite lucrative, so the threequel is likely to find even more horror and gore fans that might see it in theatres than existed three years ago. Like the previous sequel, it's not about starpower or getting some hot young actors or actresses to fight death, although both of the two stars, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ryan Merriman, have experience in the horror franchise genre, having both appeared in The Ring Two last year. What's most interesting about this threequel is that it features the return of writer/director James Wong, and his writing partner Glenn Morgan, who went from being staff writers on "The X-Files" and "Millenium" to being big-time Hollywood genre players with their work on the first Final Destination. Since that movie, they made the sci-fi film The One with Jet Li, and the unsuccessful remake of Willard, starring Crispin Glover. While the R-rating might often be thought of something that might keep it from doing the type of opening weekend as last week's When a Stranger Calls, the rating may be considered a badge of honor among true horror fans, who'll want to see this in theatres to enjoy it with other people.

Why I Should See It: The premise still works and the kills are as creative as ever.
Why Not: But do people really want to see the exact same premise for a third time?
Projection: $20 to 22 million opening weekend on its way to $50 million total.

FIREWALL (Warner Bros.)
Starring Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Robert Patrick, Robert Forster, Alan
Directed by Richard Loncraine (Wimbledon); Written by Joe Forte
Genre: Action, Thriller
Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence
Tagline: "Everything He Loves is About to be Used Against Him" (Not the whip!!!!)
Story: Jack Stansfield (Harrison Ford), a family man who runs the computer security at a major multinational bank, finds himself having to hack his own system to help a high-tech bank robber (Paul Bettany) who has kidnapped Jack's family.
Mini-Review: Apparently, Harrison Ford has completely lost his knack for finding decent projects, because this bland cliche-ridden action thriller is a waste of his talents, as it is that of Virgina Madsen, Paul Bettany, and Robert Forster. The only real tension in the movie comes from composer Alexander Desplat's cookiecutter score, and things just gets more ludicrous as it goes along--when Bettany terrorizes Ford's character by giving his son cookies, you quickly realize that there's nowhere to go but down. Too bad the person who wrote this technology-based thriller didn't bother to maintain any sort of realism, because he lost his audience even before Ford pulls his laptop out in the middle of a heavy rain to use the built-in GPS to track his dog. This is an embarassment for all involved.Rating: 3/10

After more than two-and-half-years, Harrison Ford returns with a high concept high-tech thriller that puts him in an environment that his longtime fans should appreciate. While Ford has been keeping a fairly low profile, this may be his last movie before returning to the Indiana Jones franchise after over 25 years, and he certainly has plenty of older fans who would like to see him return to his former glory. Set in the world of internet banking, this thriller looks like a cross between Mel Gibson's Ransom, Bruce Willis' Hostage and the 2001 action-thriller Swordfish, pitting Ford against British actor Paul Bettany, best remembered as Russell Crowe's "best friend" in Ron Howard's Oscar winning biodrama A Beautiful Mind. They have a pretty amazing supporting cast including Virginia Madsen, coming off her critically acclaimed role in Sideways, Robert Patrick, Robert Forster, and Mary Lynn Rajskub, a long-time character actress who has been getting new fans from her role on "24." The problem is that Ford's generally older fans might not be interested in this type of action-thriller, and younger audiences won't necessarily be interested in a movie starring Ford, so the benefits of its PG-13 rating are probably moot. While this may be the first choice of older males, they're also the audience more likely to wait and watch this on DVD or try to catch one of the other films in theatres or even watch the Olympics.

Why I Should See It: Harrison Ford returning to the type of action-thriller which he has done so well.
Why Not: It looks like so many other movies that have been done way too many times before
Projection: $11 to 13 million on its way to $30 to $35 million.

THE PINK PANTHER (Sony/MGM Studios)
Starring Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Beyoncé Knowles, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Kristin Chenoweth, Henry Czerny
Directed by Shawn Levy (Cheaper by the Dozen, Big Fat Liar; Written by Len Blum (Meatballs, Stripes, Private Parts), Steve Martin
Genre: Comedy, Remake
Rated PG for occasional crude and suggestive humor and language
Tagline: "Get a clue!" (Truer words have never been spoken.)
Story: The famous Pink Panther diamond has been stolen once again, this time from the ring of a murdered world-famous soccer coach. Once again called upon to crack the case, inspector Jacques Clouseau (Steve Martin) must try to retrieve the diamond, although his bumbling incompetence might make it a bit harder.
Mini-Review: Trying to compare Steve Martin to Peter Sellers would reach a level of folly only matched by Clouseau's own silliness. This is an entirely different beast, and you have to give Martin credit for successfully returning to the type of comedy he did so well in movies like "The Jerk." Although most of the humor is pretty obvious and stupid, and the French accents are inane, some of the gags are so outlandish, that you can't help but laugh. Rating: 5.5/10

When people hear the words "Pink Panther", they might not immediately associate it with the feline cartoon character created by Friz Freleng in 1963 as the introduction for the series of detective comedies, but instead, they may associate it with the star of said films, the late great Peter Sellers, who turned the bumbling French detective Inspector Clouseau into the most beloved character of his career. Directed by long-time Sellers collaborator Blake Edwards, 1963's The Pink Panther was followed by four more films in the next 15 years before Peter Sellers' death, when they somehow managed to put together a sixth Pink Panther film, Trail of the Pink Panther, using old clips. A concurrent film made without Sellers bombed in 1983, and then ten years later, Blake Edwards returned to the franchise, trying to kick off a new series with Italian actor/director Roberto Benigni playing the Son of the Pink Panther, but that film did even worse than Benigni's version of Pinocchio.

Bearing that in mind, it would seem like a big mistake to try to revive the character again, but this time MGM had a ringer in comic actor Steve Martin, who loved the original movies and thought he could finally do Sellers justice by playing the character. At the time, Martin was coming off two back-to-back 2003 hits with Bringing Down the House and the holiday hit remake of Cheaper by the Dozen, and Martin reunited with the latter movie's director Shawn Levy, to take on the Pink Panther franchise. They were able to put together an impressive cast that included Kevin Kline, a popular actor in his own right, French actor Jean Reno as the new Cato, and chart topping R ‘n' B singer Beyonce Knowles, while showcasing the screen debut of Kristin Chenoweth, best known for Broadway's hit musical "Wicked."

The Pink Panther (remake) is a leftover from MGM Studios, brought over to Sony when they bought MGM last year, but they quickly bumped the movie from its potentially lucrative summer release to mid-February, which usually doesn't bode well. Although the movie looks stupid as hell, it seems to offer the same dumb physical comedy that has helped recent movies like Big Momma's House 2 and last year's The Pacifier find a vast mainstream audience, and the character was popular long before Austin Powers was a twinkle in Mike Myer's eye, so the movie might get a lot of business based on the name alone. The fact that it's getting the typical oversaturation of theatres means that it won't be hard to find for those looking, and the PG rating makes it something that parents can go see with their kids.

Why I Should See It: Maybe Steve Martin will bring something new to the relaunch of the Pink Panther series to not make it so bad.
Why Not: Because the thought of a Pink Panther movie without Peter Sellers is horrifying to think of...especially since they've already tried it twice before.
Projection: $16 to 18 million on its way to $40 to 45 million

LONDON (Destination/Samuel Goldwyn)
Starring Chris Evans, Jessica Biel, Jason Statham, Isla Fisher, Joy Bryant, Kelli Garner, Dane Cook
Written and Directed by Hunter Richards
Genre: Drama
Rated R for strong sexual content, pervasive language and drug use, and some violence
Story: A guy (Chris Evans) crashes the going away party for his ex-girlfriend London (Jessica Biel) hoping for one last chat before she leaves town, but he ends up getting locked up in a bathroom with a crazy Englishman (Jason Statham).
REVIEW (Coming Soon!)

Hunter Richard's debut features a number of upcoming actors showing acting chops they've rarely had a chance to flex in their more mainstream films from Chris Evans, the hot guy from movies like Cellular and Fantastic Four, who takes on a more haggard appearance as he pines for his ex-girlfriend, played by Jessica Biel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Blade: Trinity), and gets into verbal fisticuffs with the mad Bateman, played by Jason Statham (The Transporter). This alternative talking heads drama also has prominent appearances by Isla Fisher from Wedding Crashers and Kelli Garner from The Aviator, and though there isn't much of a story, you do get to see a lot of younger actors branching out a bit from the roles we're used to seeing them in.

Why I Should See It: A lot of hot actors doing things they're not known for doing, mostly involving sex and drugs
Why Not: Might not be enough of a story and too all-over-the-place for most of their fans

STAR OF THE WEEK: Harrison Ford

While the thought of writing a career retrospective of an actor who has been making movies for over thirty years is enough to give anyone hives, Harrison Ford is one of those actors who has had some serous career highs, up until recently, where it seems like his career has been leveling off a bit. Since this weekend's Firewall is his first movie in over two years, it seemed appropriate to try to look over where things went right… and where things seem to be going wrong.

Of course, everyone will always best remember Ford as Han Solo from George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy or as Indiana Jones from the three movies made by George Lucas with director Steven Spielberg. In the fifteen plus years since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ford kept busy with a string of successful thrillers and dramas, his biggest non-franchise hit being1997's Air Force One, which was produced by the same people who produced Firewall. The success of that film helped him build up enough of a fanbase to help later movies like the romantic comedy Six Days, Seven Nights with Anne Heche, and the horror-thriller What Lies Beneath with Michelle Pfeiffer. He then took a few years off to make the submarine thriller K-19 and the buddy cop comedy Hollywood Homicide, neither which made much of a mark at the box office, making one wonder whether his fans were tiring of Ford's film choices.

Most of Ford's films have been released during the summer with only a few exceptions and that movie, The Devil's Own, was only a moderate success, but Firewall will try to get him back into the public eye as he prepares to return to his most famous role, that of Indiana Jones, for a fourth movie that has been in the works for years.