Your guide to movies playing in Aiken this weekend

Charlie St. Cloud NEW!

His latest film marks a rise, and a dip, on Zac Efron's creative trajectory. Moving beyond high-school roles and away from the song-and-dance silliness of "Hairspray" and "High School Musical," he takes a confident half-step toward becoming a mature romantic lead. The film itself? Not so good. "Charlie St. Cloud" is a lesser, over-sentimental effort that incorporates love, family drama, bereavement, comedy, seagoing adventure and mystical uplift. The nice thing about it is that Efron is not complacently relying on his looks. Charlie is a champion sailor heading to Stanford on an athletic scholarship when a horrible mistake ruins his dreams. His promising future crushed, Charlie signs on as caretaker of the local cemetery, where his cottage is a hideaway from reminders of his old life. He's locked in his own head, lonely, unable to connect and devastatingly hot. Who will rescue this forlorn, emotionally withdrawn dreamboat? Could it be feisty, beautiful Tess Carroll (Amanda Crew), his onetime classmate who plans to be one of the first women to sail solo around the globe? Who saves whom and how is one of the film's secrets. The near-death trauma that derailed Charlie's life gave him the ability to see spirits. As it turns out, the apparitions are real, and they play a key role in the melodramatic rescue-at-sea finale. Efron and Charlie Tahan, who plays his cheeky 11-year-old brother, have the best acting moments, demonstrating a likably cantankerous chemistry. The other actors fare poorly. But then we must understand this project for what it is, a mainstream star vehicle for a matinee idol who sets teen hearts aflutter. "Charlie St. Cloud" will have them snapping in the breeze like so many spinnakers. The rest of us will be a little bit seasick.

2 out of 4 stars -- Colin Covert, McClatchy-Tribune

Rated PG-13 for language including some sexual references, an intense accident scene and some sensuality. 1 hour, 49 minutes.

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore NEW!

"Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" is a sequel to "Cats & Dogs," a movie that was released nine years ago. In a world where cats and dogs battle crime, bumbling police dog Diggs (voiced by James Marsden) is recruited by a secret dog spy organization to help stop the evil Kitty Galore (Bette Midler). Diggs must work with his natural enemy, the feline spy Catherine (Christina Applegate) to complete the mission. Anyone who was born after the original movie was released will probably find the kitties and doggies cute. Others will be faced with a movie that lacks originality and comes across like someone trying to teach an old dog a new trick. Even the voice talent is uninspired - except for Nick Nolte as Butch, the haggard dog who ends up recruiting Diggs. The worst is Midler, whose Kitty Galore sounds like a bad Eartha Kitt impersonation. The only reason "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" is not a direct-to-DVD release is that it was shot in 3-D. That means it's not only a bad film, but it will cost you extra to see it. That's like getting bit by a dog and then finding out it has rabies.

Grade: D+ -- Rick Bentley, McClatchy-Tribune

Rated PG for action scenes. 1 hour, 22 minutes.

Ramona and Beezus

"Ramona and Beezus" is based on Beverly Cleary's children's books, which have been around for more than 50 years and vividly capture the playfulness and awkwardness of youth. Newcomer Joey King is Ramona Quimby. The movie follows the adventures of the 9-year-old, her teenage sister, Beezus (Selena Gomez), baby Roberta, dad Robert (John Corbett) and mom Dorothy (Bridget Moynahan). Ramona's Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin) has a subplot with next-door neighbor Hobart (Josh Duhamel).

11âÑ2 stars out of 4 -- Christy Lemire, Associated Press

Rated G. 1 hour, 44 minutes.

Salt

"Salt" is about a spy accused of being a sleeper, a deep-planted mole within the CIA. Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is on the run. She may be fleeing her CIA colleagues (Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor) because of her mental issues or she may be a Russian spy. A brief if not entirely brisk film, the tale is also interrupted by flashbacks that give us Evelyn Salt's back-story. August Diehl is miscast as the husband. But all those criticisms aside, it's still a short-enough time-killer of a thriller - not the worst of the summer, just a long way from the current state of the art.

2 stars out of 4 -- By Roger Moore, McClatchy-Tribune

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action. 1 hour, 38 minutes.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" stars Nicolas Cage as Balthazar Blake, who, since the days of Merlin, has been searching for the one magician born with the power to kill the evil Morgana le Fay. Blake finally finds him in geeky Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel, semi-appealing), a physics wiz at New York University. But close behind is Blake's old nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina). "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" can only fall back on the usual special effects and a standard fantasy-adventure script. There are moments of charm, but not enough to cast a spell.

2 stars out of 4 -- Rafer Guzmðn, McClatchy-Tribune

Rated PG for fantasy action violence, some mild rude humor and brief language. 1 hour, 52 minutes

Inception

A team of dream raiders for hire led by Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) attempt the risky proposition of planting an idea into the subconscious of a business empire heir (Cillian Murphy). The team includes DiCaprio; the calm point man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a model planner; the architect (Ellen Page), the upstart new recruit who draws up the visuals of dreams; the tourist (Ken Watanabe) who bankrolls the endeavor; the forger (Tom Hardy), who can assume the identity of others in dreams; and the chemist (Dileep Rao), who sedates the team and serves as their driver.

4 stars out of 4 -- Randy Myers, McClatchy-Tribune

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout. 2 hours, 28 minutes

Despicable Me

In "Despicable Me," Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) loves being the most notorious bad guy on the planet. When it looks like that title is about to be stolen by an upstart named Vector (Jason Segel), Gru comes up with the ultimate evil plot: Steal the moon. The only hitch is he needs the help of three orphan girls - Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (Elsie Fisher) and Edith (Dana Gaier) - to make the plan work. Gru adopts the girls.

Grade: B -- Rick Bentley, McClatchy-Tribune

Rated PG for crude humor and mild violence. 1 hour, 33 minutes.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

In "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," Kristen Stewart's Bella Swan must choose vampire stud Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) or werewolf hunk Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Her still-chaste dalliance with Edward and friendship with Jacob take on new strains as the Cullen vampire clan and the local werewolf pack join forces to battle the Newborn Army, made up of newly bred vampires.

2 stars out of 4 -- David Germain, Associated Press

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action, violence and some sensuality. 2 hours, 1 minute.