Serenity

Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is the best sci-fi ship captain since Han Solo, wry and funny and handsome, claiming he’s going to run away but always turning back to fight the good fight.

The Operative is the best sci-fi villain since Darth Vader, coolly intelligent, wickedly capable and, if he were capable of emotion, amused by the resistance of mere mortals to his faultless reasoning.

And River, well, she’s a sci-fi invention with no "Star Wars" or any other fictional precedent. She makes the movie "Serenity" what it is, a sci-fi tour de force at once rousing and deep. Yet she’s a wan, brooding mental patient seemingly incapable of much beyond a catatonic state. That the whole of "Serenity" revolves around saving her soul is just one of the film’s endearing qualities.

"Serenity" is a great way to try to get your young teenagers hooked on the neglected field of science fiction movies. If they see "Star Wars" as a Happy Meal toy series, or "Star Trek" as a lightspeed vehicle for mega-geeks, the humor, romance and action of "Serenity" might hook them on the genre.

The cult following for "Serenity" sprang from its origins with director Joss Whedon, who had created the "Firefly" TV series for Fox. When it was canceled, Whedon found money to continue the story in a movie.

Key to his success was bringing back Nathan Fillion as the charismatic Mal, and landing Chiwetel Ejiofor as The Operative. The tension between them drives "Serenity" toward its climactic confrontations.

For a sci-fi action film, "Serenity" is remarkably chaste. The Reavers, a rabid zombie group, provide tolerable blood and guts; there are one or two brief and inoffensive references to sex. After a string of escalating vampire and "Harry Potter" films, "Serenity" will come as welcome relief.

Rated: PG-13, but on the milder side, some action violence and minor sexual references; little profanity

Best suited for: Sci-fi fans and their kids ages about 13 to 17.