A parents' guide to select new movie releases:

‘Kit Kittredge: An American Girl'

Rating: G.

What it's about: A plucky girl who longs to become a reporter finds the most compelling ­stories she could tell right under her own roof when the Great ­Depression hits home.

The Kid Attractor Factor: Abigail Breslin starring as a character inspired by a popular and pricey doll.

Good lessons/bad lessons: There's no shame in being unemployed, having to go to a soup kitchen or being homeless. And people should stick together and help each other out, especially when hard times hit.

Violence: Not really, although some occurs off camera.

Language: Squeaky clean.

Sex: Not even hinted at.

Drugs: None.

Parents' advisory: The family-friendliest movie of the summer that isn't a cartoon, custom-built for 10-and-unders.

‘Hancock'

Rating: PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language.

What it's about: A drunken superhero with a terrible attitude has his image burnished by a do-gooder public-relations guy and finds himself caring about life, the world and the human race again.

The Kid Attractor Factor: Will Smith, superhero chases, brawls, cute kids.

Good lessons/bad lessons: “Fate doesn't decide everything. People get to choose.” And being stronger than everybody else doesn't make you right.

Violence: Gunfire, gunshot wounds, deaths, blood, and a lot of cars get crunched.

Language: A lot more ­profanity than you'd expect from Will Smith.

Sex: More PG-13-worthy sexual attraction than anything overt.

Drugs: Lots and lots of ­alcohol is consumed by the hero.

Parents' advisory: More violent and more coarse than the usual Will Smith fare. Take the PG-13 seriously.