Given how hyper most Hollywood features for children are, one of the happiest events of the year is the BAMkids Film Festival, on March 4 and 5. The four programs of shorts are routinely crammed with jewels, and the features are refreshingly not-in-your-face. I’ve seen two: the German slapstick fantasy My Brother Is a Dog, and the lovely and moving Swedish adventure Misa Mi, about a cranky 10-year-old city girl, grieving over the death of her mom, who discovers Mother Nature in the Laplands.

Our Brand Is Crisis
Directed by Rachel Boynton. Koch Lorber Films. Not Rated.

16 Blocks
Directed by Richard Donner. Warner Bros. PG-13.

E-mail: filmcritic@newyorkmag.com.

Related:

• Archive: “Movie Reviews”
• Articles by David Edelstein
• Table of Contents: March 6, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!