What's in theaters this week

'BEAUTY AND THE BEAST': An arrogant young prince (Robby Benson) and his castle's servants fall under the spell of a wicked enchantress, who turns him into the hideous Beast until he learns to love and be loved in return. The spirited, headstrong village girl Belle (Paige O'Hara) enters the Beast's castle after he imprisons her father Maurice (Rex Everhart). With the help of his enchanted servants, including the matronly Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury), Belle begins to draw the cold-hearted Beast out of his isolation.

RATED: G

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16

'THE IRON LADY': The same problems that plagued "La Vie en Rose," starring Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf, exist in this biopic of Margaret Thatcher, with Meryl Streep playing the former British prime minister. While both films feature strong performances from strong actresses playing strong, real-life women, the scripts are weakened by going strictly by the numbers. Sure, Streep reliably nails her impression of Thatcher - the hair, the voice, the steely demeanor. But the film from Phyllida Lloyd (who directed Streep in the ABBA musical "Mamma Mia!"), reduces this high-profile life to a greatest-hits collection of historic moments.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 16

'CONTRABAND': Yes, this follows the tried-and-true One Last Job formula. Yes, Mark Wahlberg is nestled deep within his comfort zone as a former master criminal who's lived a dangerous life and gone straight. Still, this is a solid genre picture that knows exactly what it is, has no delusions of grandeur and carries out its task in entertaining and occasionally even suspenseful fashion.

RATED: R

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'JOYFUL NOISE': If some incarnation of "Glee" were to be developed for the Christian Broadcasting Network, it would probably look a lot like this. Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton co-star as longtime enemies battling for control over a small-town Georgia church choir. Keke Palmer and Jeremy Jordan play teens sharing a forbidden love ... through song.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'THE DEVIL INSIDE': In Italy, a woman becomes involved in a series of unauthorized exorcisms during her mission to discover what happened to her mother, who allegedly murdered three people during her own exorcism.

RATED: R

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'WAR HORSE': Just in time for family friendly holiday feel-goodery is Steven Spielberg's sweeping, historical epic. The story began life as a children's book by Michael Morpurgo, then made its way to the London and New York stages to great acclaim featuring inventive puppetry, and now arrives in theaters with all the grandeur a master filmmaker can conjure. "War Horse" features a strong cast and the sort of impeccable production values you would expect. And yet it's overlong, painfully earnest and sometimes even hokey.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16

'WE BOUGHT A ZOO': This is about a family that buys a zoo. It's as high-concept as you can get, and it's equally straightforward in wearing its heart on its sleeve. We know to expect this because "We Bought a Zoo" comes from writer-director Cameron Crowe. We know there will be some poignantly phrased life lessons in store for this family as they struggle to reconnect after the mother's death.

RATED: PG

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16

'THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN': In his first foray into animation, director Steven Spielberg uses the technology to achieve something that could be described as cartoonish photo-realism — the images look like impossibly beautiful hand-drawn photographs — and then frees his camera from all earthly constraints. The results are extraordinary. This is the first in an intended series of films drawn from the comic books by the Belgian artist Herge (Peter Jackson, who produced the movie, is slated to direct the next one).

RATED: PG

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16

'THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO': To put it bluntly, this movie kicks butt. Director David Fincher orchestrates a stark but enthralling adaptation of the first novel in late author Stieg Larsson's trilogy. Its harsh emotional terrain could have wound up softened and sweetened, yet this was an ideal match of filmmaker and material. Rooney Mara, who had a small role in Fincher's "The Social Network," gives a controlled detonation of a performance as traumatized victim-turned-avenger Lisbeth Salander.

RATED: R

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — GHOST PROTOCOL': Luckily for Tom Cruise, this is one of his finest action flicks, just what he needs to restore his box-office bankability. For director Brad Bird, though, the fourth "Mission," rock solid as it is, ranks only as his second-best action movie, after the animated smash "The Incredibles." It's the best of the "Mission: Impossible" movies, though. This time, Cruise and his team (Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg) are blamed for bombing the Kremlin, so they go rogue trying to clear their names and stop a madman (Michael Nyqvist) from starting a nuclear war.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS': Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law bicker and banter and bob and weave with diminishing returns in this sequel to the 2009 smash hit "Sherlock Holmes." Director Guy Ritchie once again applies his revisionist approach to Arthur Conan Doyle's classic literary character, infusing the film with his trademark, hyperkinetic aesthetic and turning the renowned detective into a wisecracking butt-kicker. But what seemed clever and novel the first time around now feels stale and tired.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8