Mortal Kombat

It is too violent for children and too silly for anyone else.

Novices may find the ground rules difficult to follow, though if you cut away the baroque detail you are left with a blunt, noisy, violent fight between good and evil.

The only decent video game turned into a movie. Why? Obviously because the filmmakers have really tried to offer some eye-popping visuals that can provide the same stimuli as the video game itself.

A martial arts action-adventure with wondrous special effects and witty production design, it effectively combines supernatural terror, a mythical slay-the-dragon, save-the-princess odyssey and even a spiritual quest for self-knowledge.

The guys in the recording studio who made the ooofff! augghhhh! sounds are the ones who really had all the fun.

Anderson does a good job of edging humour into dumbness - Lambert gets a few witty looks - and the art direction and effects are okay.

The producers of "Mortal Kombat" know that the film's strength movie is based on the actors' roundhouse kicks, not soliloquies. So it's not surprising that the sci-fi action-adventure is heavy on fight scenes and low on plot.

The wonderful (and practical) use of a limited budget, the film's phenomenal production design, and exquisite cinematography, and the admittedly terrible application of CGI.

Time hasn't been kind to every facet of Anderson's Mortal Kombat, but its well-crafted atmospherics, heightened action, and enthusiastic cast ensure it remains one of the more spirited video game adaptations to date.

I'll say it over and over again. Just because you own the rights to a franchise...any franchise, if you can't tap into the emotional reasons why we love these characters and their stories, save your money.