This week brings two new films into wide release, one into a smallish nationwide release, and a sneak peak of what is sure to be a big hit with the family crowd. It is a weekend filled with adaptations from a number of sources. First, there is the sequel to a comic sourced superhero flick, a detective chick from the world of novels and television, and finally a video game translation. Hopefully all of them will offer up something worth watching, something that we all hope for every week.

On another note, we do get the opportunity to see the latest Pixar film, a week before its official release. There are two big reasons to try and catch this one: 1.) It's Pixar and 2.) It's directed by Brad Bird who also helmed the excellent Iron Giant and The Incredibles.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. (2007, 89 minutes, PG, action, trailer) The second time around for this team of heroes will hopefully be a step up from the first. While the first was not nearly as bad as the early word would have had you believe, it was still a disappointment considering the massive potential. The first teaser for this looked better than that entire first film. The team is established and a new foe is here — Silver Surfer, the herald of the planet killer Galactus. I really want to like this, though I think Jessica Alba is horribly miscast as Sue Storm, and the idea of Galactus as a space cloud is a little disconcerting. Still, I find myself anxious to see this one. Tim Story returned to direct the sequel. I think the fact that they are already moving forward with a Silver Surfer solo film could be a good sign.

Nancy Drew. (2007, 98 minutes, PG, comedy, trailer) Emma Roberts, niece of Julia, stars in the title role of the teen sleuth. I like to think we already have our Nancy Drew in the form of Veronica Mars of the show of the same name (sadly cancelled after three seasons). This film version seems to be taking an odd route of going comedic, though I never really thought of Drew as a comedic character, much like the Hardy Boys (whose books I read as a kid by the stackload). This film has Nancy investigating the long unsolved death of a movie star. I cannot say I am terribly interested, but this still could prove to be moderately intriguing. Among the co-stars are Rachel Leigh Cook and Tate Donovan. Andrew Fleming wrote and directed the film.