All in the name of research and to give you the heads up on what's worth seeing - and what's not these school holidays.

While the characters are different - you've got princesses, pop stars, sloths, superheroes, stooges and teddy bears - the themes are similar. Find yourself and kick some butt.

Most of these films are in 3D but that's more for the novelty than anything else. The only one that needs to be seen with added dimension is The Amazing Spiderman.

Brave (PG) - 3 ½ stars

You'll need: to try the accent.

Brave is set in medieval Scotland and is the tale of Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald), a free spirited young woman with long, red locks as wild as her nature.

She's a talented archer and a free spirit but she's not the 'lady' her mother, Queen Elinor, (Emma Thompson) wants her to be. And she's not ready to be married off, either.

Merida rejects the destiny that's bestowed upon her by tradition and asks a witch to chance her fate.

There are lots of colourful characters in Brave, the best of which is King Fergus who's brought to life by Billy Connolly. He's magic! Merida's little brothers ('wee little devils') are super cute too.

Brave is good (in fact it's way better than Cars 2) and it's definitely worth seeing, but it's not Toy Story 3-exceptional.

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift (PG) - 2 ½ stars

You'll need: to drop the kids off and pick them up when it's over.

Ice Age 4 actually starts out quite promisingly, but like its main characters, loses its way pretty quickly.

This time Ray Romano's Manny, (who's stressed out dealing with the pressures of being dad to a teenage girl), Diego and Sid are swept away on an iceberg when their continent starts to split. They soon discover they'll have to battle a band of nasty pirates if they're going to make it home.

There are a handful of new characters in this film the best of which is Granny. She's a batty, old sloth voiced by Wanda Sykes. Jennifer Lopez, rappers Drake and Nicki Minaj are in it too.

But star power isn't enough to fill the holes in the plot. There are too many conveniences in a story and setting that's very familiar. Primary school kids probably won't notice, but their parents will.

Katy Perry: Part of Me (PG) - 4 stars

You'll need: fairy floss and tissues.

If you can dream it, you can be it. That's the moral of Katy Perry's story.

This movie surprised me because it was a lot more personal than I thought it would be. It relives Katy's 2011 which was a year of career highs (a massive world tour, five number one hits from one album) and personal lows (her marriage breakdown).

There are magical home movie moments with Katy's Christian parents and what stood out is that from an early age she knew she was going to be a star. She asks if her parents will watch her on MTV. Her mum says: "I'm not going to watch you if you have half your clothes off."

Katy Perry managed to kick butt in the music world but wasn't the overnight success you might think. She'd been working hard for a long time. She'd been dumped by record companies and misguided by people she thought were meant to help her.

I loved this movie. I felt inspired after this movie. Yes, really!

Ted (MA) - 3 stars

You'll need: to be over 15 and not be easily offended.

Here's one for the upper school kids who'll most likely get a kick out of how naughty the dialogue is.

John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) was an unpopular little kid when he wished his teddy bear to life. Now he's in his 30s and living with his girlfriend (Mila Kunis) who thinks it's time he grew up and ditched his furry friend.

Ted is from the makers of Family Guy and if you're familiar with the show you'll recognise the voice of Ted (Seth MacFarlane) as the guy who also voices Peter Griffin. It's full of below-the-belt jokes mostly for shock value.

Wahlberg does a good job and Kunis is sweet enough, but MacFarlane's bear is the star of the movie.

There are cameos from Sam Jones who played Flash Gordon in the 1980 movie and Norah Jones – who's completely out of place (and not very good at acting).

Unfortunately most of the funniest bits of Ted – like the Thunder Buddies song - were in the trailer so there aren't too many surprises.

The Amazing Spiderman (M) - 3 ½ stars

You'll need: to suspend your belief and to visit the bathroom before you go in.

Perhaps you've already seen a Spiderman movie or three, but this is the 'untold story'. It's also a long story that's almost split in two parts – the first is the character setup, the second is the action.

Andrew Garfield who you might remember from The Social Network plays 17-year-old Peter Parker. He does a pretty good job portraying adolescent awkwardness (considering he's 28 in real life) and Emma Stone is his love interest Gwen Stacy.

Peter is struggling with his identity and curious to find out more about his dead father who was a ground-breaking but misunderstood scientist. What ensues is a spider bite and PP's mutation into Spiderman. There's also a battle to save the city from a giant lizard.

Marvel fans will be suitably pleased with The Amazing Spiderman but there's also enough in it for someone who's never picked up a comic and (shock horror) doesn't know who Stan Lee is. (Look out for his cameo if you do know who he is.)

This Spiderman is leaner and younger, has a few new tricks and he's better than Tobey Maguire.

The Three Stooges (PG) - 3 stars

You'll need: to like dad jokes.

This movie uses one of Hollywood's most famous 'fill the gap' storylines. It's the one where (blank) has to raise enough money to save (blank).

You've seen this story played out in the latest Muppets movie, Happy Gilmore and Sister Act.

But probably the film The Three Stooges has most in common with is the 1995 'classic' The Brady Bunch Movie.

Like the Brady kids, Larry, Curly and Moe are trying to come up with enough cash to save their home. In this case it's the orphanage they grew up in. And like the Brady kids, the retro stooges are out of place in a modern setting.

If you can look past the overacting on Sofia Vergara's part you'll get some 'dad joke' laughs from The Three Stooges. The Farrelly Brothers also look to pop culture for giggles and Moe ends up on the set of Jersey Shore with Snooki and The Situation.

I would have liked more from Jane Lynch but Sean Hayes (you know him as Jack from Will & Grace) was great and this movie was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be.