The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and rated by the USCCB and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Office for Film & Broadcasting classifications: A-I -- general patronage; A-II -- adults and adolescents; A-III -- adults; L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling; O -- morally offensive.

MPAA ratings: G -- general audiences. All ages admitted; PG -- parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children; PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13; R -- restricted.

Aquamarine (20th Century Fox)
Sweetly told modern-day fairy tale about two 13-year-old best friends --- Claire (Emma Roberts) and Hailey (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque) --- who help a mermaid (Sara Paxton), washed ashore during a storm, experience true love in the hopes that the magic wish rewarded them will undo Hailey's impending move to Australia. With a delightful mix of fantasy, comedy and romance, director Elizabeth Allen's wholesome and warmly sentimental, if admittedly lightweight, effort scores points for admirably showing that authentic love can express itself in varied ways. Some mild sensuality and suggestiveness, a few crass expressions and innuendo. (A-II, PG)

Failure to Launch (Paramount)
Uneven but oddly likable comedy about professional "intervention" consultant (Sarah Jessica Parker) hired by the parents (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw) of a 35-year-old, still-living-at-home jock (Matthew McConaughey) in the hopes of making him independent enough to move out, with predictable romantic complications. Director Tom Dey maintains a spirited pace, there are some pleasing performances, the sylvan and aquatic settings are easy on the eyes, and the ending is morally sound, outweighing too many conversational expletives and a permissive view of premarital sex. Profanity, rough and crude language and expressions, implied sexual situations and banter, and a comic instance of rear male nudity. (A-III, PG-13)

Game 6 (Serenade)
A dreary day in the life of a philandering Broadway playwright (Michael Keaton) as his latest play is set to open shows him juggling his apprehensions about the play's reception by a notorious drama critic (Robert Downey Jr.) and hopes that his favorite team, the Red Sox, might finally win the World Series in 1986. Director Michael Hoffman's adaptation of a screenplay by novelist Don DeLillo has a decent cast (including Griffin Dunne, Catherine O'Hara, Bebe Neuwirth, Roger Rees, Lillias White and Harris Yulin), but feels hollow from start to finish, the New York theater milieu ringing particularly false, and the redemptive ending fails to balance the preceding 83 minutes of tedium. A few instances of profanity, rough and crude language, two nongraphic sexual encounters, one with rear and upper female nudity, premarital sexual encounters, sexual discussions, and a violent brawl. (L, R)

The Hills Have Eyes (Fox Searchlight)
Grisly remake of Wes Craven's 1977 horror film about a family (headed by Ted Levine and Kathleen Quinlan) whose cross-country road trip derails into nightmare territory when they break down in the New Mexico desert and are terrorized by a clan of cannibalistic mutant miners. Director Alexandre Aja proves adept at building suspense and an unnerving sense of isolation early on, before plunging into stomach-churning brutality that escalates as it steams toward its ludicrous climax. Excessive and gratuitously graphic violence, including bloody killings and dismemberment, numerous ax attacks and shootings, a gruesome suicide, a rape, a person set on fire, cannibalism, a dog mauling, many disturbing images, much rough and crude language, as well some profanity. (O, R)

The Shaggy Dog (Disney)
Lame reworking of the 1959 Disney comedy, incorporating elements of its 1976 follow-up, about a workaholic Los Angeles deputy district attorney (Tim Allen) who, while trying a case involving a sinister scientist (Robert Downey Jr.), is bitten by a mutt and soon finds himself turning into one, leading to nutty canine complications with his neglected wife (Kristin Davis) and two teenage children. Directed by Brian Robbins; even Allen's comic dexterity can't make this dog of a film hunt, resulting in slapstick silliness that is strictly for the pups. Some mildly crude humor and comic violence. (A-I, PG)

---CNS