The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Lady in the Water (Warner Bros.)
Atmospheric but unconvincing fairy tale about members of a suburban Philadelphia housing complex (Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Wright, Bill Irwin, Bob Balaban) who -- harking back to mythic times when humans and water creatures were friends -- attempt to return a nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) to the sea, while pursued by wolf-like beasts. Director-writer M. Night Shyamalan provides some trademark scary moments with admirably little overt violence, and the universal brotherhood theme is unarguably a noble one, but this aquatic "E.T." retread isn't terribly compelling despite skillful direction and solid performances. Some scenes of intense peril, suggested nudity. Ratings: A-II, PG-13

Little Man (Columbia)
Imbecilic comedy about a diminutive jewel thief (Marlon Wayans) who poses as an abandoned baby and is taken in by a childless couple (Shawn Wayans and Kerry Washington), playing on their kindness to retrieve a stolen diamond which wound up in the wife's handbag during a botched heist getaway. What could have been a serviceable farce with a sentimental plug for parenthood is instead a one-joke blunder by director Keenen Ivory Wayans, full of infantile slapstick and crass sight gags that play to diminishing returns. Crude sexual and bathroom humor, an implied bedroom encounter, vulgar gestures, some comic violence and scattered rude expressions. Ratings: L, PG-13

Monster House (Columbia)
Macabre computer-animated fairy tale about a trio of suburban kids (voiced by Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner and Spencer Locke) who set out to investigate the haunted happenings of an eerie old house that comes to life to terrorize their neighborhood. The film is full of wildly imaginative visuals; director Gil Kenan taps into childhood fears, crafting a smart and scary thrill ride that, though darker in tone than most children's fare and therefore inappropriate for very young tykes, is more fun than fright. Some frightening images and sequences, minor crude and suggestive humor and innuendo, theft, and mildly crude language. Ratings: A-II, PG

My Super Ex-Girlfriend (20th Century Fox)

Lovelorn New York architect (Luke Wilson) dates bespectacled art gallery assistant (Uma Thurman) who is actually super heroine G-Girl, though when the romance fizzles, she uses her powers to wreak havoc on him and his new girlfriend (Anna Faris), while an archvillain (Eddie Izzard) hopes to rid her of her superpowers. Ivan Reitman directs with the requisite light touch, and the leads are quite engaging, but too much of the dialogue is witless, and many of the gags are needlessly vulgar, with the situations less genuinely funny than they should have been. Nongraphic premarital sexual situations, brief rear nudity elsewhere, crude language, crass expressions, some profanity, mild action violence, sexist remarks. Ratings: L, PG-13.

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, under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian; NC-17 --- no one 17 and under admitted.