Ages 7 and up

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (93 min., PG) A superior second sequel in the animated series about animals from New York’s Central Park Zoo who end up on the island off Africa — except this time they end up in Monte Carlo. Under-7s may find some of the mayhem, especially now that the animation is more emphatic in 3-D, a little too harrowing. The script includes semi-crude toilet humor.

The middle ground

Men in Black 3 (106 min., PG-13) Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, joined by Josh Brolin, are back battling extraterrestrials. When one of the aliens escapes from prison, his murders are not bloody, but quite graphic for a PG-13. The film includes mild sexual innuendo. Smith has to jump head-first off the Chrysler Building, but it’s amusing rather than scary. The dialogue includes occasional midrange profanity and a Viagra joke.

Moonrise Kingdom (94 min., PG-13) Wes Anderson’s oddball love story about two alienated 12-year-olds in 1965 is not for middle schoolers or preteens. It weaves in adult themes and includes a mild sexual encounter between the kids. The kids have a nongraphic but startling make-out scene that involves French kissing, talk of feeling aroused, and an invitation for him to touch her breasts. Adults use midrange profanity.

Snow White and the Huntsman (116 min., PG-13) The level of violence and disturbing images make this a solid, sometimes R-ish PG-13, and probably not entertainment for preteens. Fight scenes include swords and daggers piercing flesh, though there’s not a lot of blood. More disturbing are images of Charlize Theron’s evil queen, re-forming out of a pool of dead crows and tar; rotting animal corpses in the Dark Forest; tree branches turning into serpents; and a huge, roaring troll that attacks the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth). The queen’s brother threatens Snow White (Kristen Stewart) in a subtly sexual way. The movie includes a nongraphic bedroom scene and toilet humor.

R-rated

Chernobyl Diaries (88 min., R) A group of college-age American tourists in Eastern Europe decide to pay a visit to you-know-where. While the events that unfold are intense — the protagonists chased by a bear, by wolves, and certain other creatures — images are not exceptionally graphic. However, there are remains of torn-apart human victims, and of dead and decomposing animals. The dialogue is peppered with strong profanity and there’s moderate sexual innuendo.

For Greater Glory (135 min., R) Scenes of battle and torture in this epic saga of religious devotion and violence are upsetting and intense. Battle scenes are hectic and loud, but none of the deaths or injuries are highly graphic. The film shows a priest hanged in his church by government soldiers, and another killed by firing squad. The toughest sequence shows a boy tortured by soldiers, then killed and rolled into a grave.

Hysteria (100 min., R) A doctor in late-Victorian England (Hugh Dancy) invents a forerunner of the vibrator in this low-key comedy. Numerous scenes show female patients being “treated” for their “hysteria,” and although they’re dressed and also covered with a kind of drapery, it’s very clear what’s happening. The doctors remain serious and are never sexually involved.

Prometheus (110 min, R) In this “Alien” prequel, the voraciously hostile, invasive creatures are a kind of slimy, hissing snake-squid hybrid, but with teeth. They attack and invade and destroy victims from within. These are the creatures of nightmares and not for under-17s who don’t have parental OK. We see characters’ heads explode when the aliens invade them. The script includes occasional profanity, sexual innuendo, and a homophobic joke. There’s a nonexplicit sexual situation. A character undergoes a self-administered surgical proecedure that’s gruesome.