Chocolate, the 2008 Thai action film brought to us by the directorial genius of Prachya Pinkaew, is a touching kung fu fairy tale about an autistic girl and her best friend trying to help her gravely ill mother. Pinkaew is more well-known to American audiences as the man who helmed Ong-Bak: the Thai Warrior and The Protector (a.k.a.”Dude, Where’s My Elephant?”) with the fantastic Tony Jaa . Like his previous films, it feels like there’s an underlying theme of mysticism woven into an intricate and bloody tapestry of glorious violence.

Through the magic of kung fu, the heroine in Chocolate conquers insurmountable odds and learns the true meaning of love and family…while kicking a whole lot of lotta ass. This is a Thai action film, after all. Here the main rules are they don’t pull their punches, and if your cast escapes filming uninjured, you’ve done something wrong.

Once upon a time, Zin (Ammara Siripong ) fell in love with Masashi (Hiroshi Abe). Star-crossed lovers, she was the girlfriend of Thai gangster,”No. 8″ (Pongpat Wachirabunjong), and he was a Yakuza boss. The tense opening scene establishes the animosity between these two factions as both guns and lines are drawn. Once that’s out of the way, the audience gets to watch a steamy montage where Zin and Masashi fall deeper in lust/love with each other…you know, like you do when you’re badasses on opposing sides of a gang war.

Ultimately, this comes to a head during a Compton-style drive-by where Zin jumps out of the car to get between the bullets and her beloved. Not to be outdone in the drama department, No. 8 literally shoots himself in the foot as a statement to Zin that this romance BS with Masashi can’t continue. After a night of hot sex, Zin sends Masashi packing back to Japan for their own good.

More montages find Zin pregnant, and the little girl, Zen, is a “special child.” Trying to tell the father ends with a painful meeting with No. 8, so like any good mother would, she pulls up stakes and moves herself and her little girl next door to a Muay-Thai martial arts school where becomes enraptured by the movements of the students, and develops her superpower: perfect muscle memory.

Years later, Zen (Yanin Mitananda) and her best friend, Moom (Taphon Phopwandee ), are earning money performing stupid human tricks to pay for Zin’s cancer treatments. They stumble across mom’s old gang debt book and decide to collect. Asses get thoroughly kicked in Zen’s path to collect, finally leading up to a battle with No. 8 and his transvestite hooker army.

Mitananda really shines as Zen, with all of her autistic quirks, bad-assery, and single-minded devotion to her mother. The rest of the cast is fantastic as well, including the scene-chewing performance Dechawut Chuntakaro , leader of No. 8’s transvestite hooker army. All in all, Chocolate is a delicious, heart-warming film with a fairy tale ending that’s just a little perkier than a Shakespearean tragedy, but totally appropriate and worth it.

This is precisely the sort of movie I would make if I wanted something kids could watch in awe, while the adults laugh themselves silly.

Starting out with some SETI-style researchers-who only took the job because they wouldn’t have to do anything-end up having their plans foiled when they detect a U.F.O. It turns out to be a meteorite that crashes into Earth, specially on top of Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon), turning her into a 50-foot-tall woman.

Oh, and ruining her wedding.

In short order, the usual black helicopter goons show up and whisk Susan off to the secret government lab, where she meets all the great b-monsters of the 1950’s. B.O.B the blob (Seth Rogan)-a lovable pile of sentient goo, Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie )-a not-too-subtle reference to The Fly, The Missing Link (Will Arnett)-who is more Creature from the Black Lagoon than walking ape, and Insectasaurous-the requisite giant monster that resembles nothing less than the product of an unholy union of a gerbil, a puffer fish, and a ladybug. These characters are wardened by the hysterically funny Gen. W.R. Monger, played with verve by Keifer Sutherland-who, quite frankly, sounds like he wrestled a bull by the horns, took said horns, and carved them into the microphone he used to record his voice over.

Apparently the Monster crew has been sequestered for some time, only to be released when the world is accosted by the (slightly) intelligent alien warlord, Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson ). Their mission: Defeat Gallaxhar’s terrifying probe robot, then his army of very stupid clones, and finally Gallaxhar himself. I’m not really spoiling anything when I tell you they win. It’s a kids movie after all. That’s not really the point, it’s not that they win, but how.

Full of hysterical sight gags, clever bits of dialogue (“This place is an X-file, wrapped in a cover-up and deep-fried in a paranoid conspiracy!“), a dash of satire, and a surprising number of adult contemporary hits. Phrases like “Code Nimoy! Code Nimoy!” are frequently mixed-in with references to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Beverly Hills Cop-nevermind the fact that the entire movie is a nod to Dr. Strangelove. Even so, there’s a good balance between the referential pop-culture humor and jokes that stand on their own. It doesn’t hurt that the supporting voice cast is top notch as well, with Stephen Colbert, Paul Rudd, and Ed Helms all contributing.

The icing on the character cake is Susan, who does the full Sarah Connor/Ellen Ripley Hero’s Journey: going from delicate flower to destroyer of robots and stomper of alien ass. More importantly, she realizes she doesn’t need a man to make her happy. You go, girl!

We don’t do “family” movies on the Cavalcade often, but when one comes down the pike that has so many nods to the movies that inspired our love of schlocktacular cinema, we have to take a look. Fortunately, this movie’s great on all levels. If you were to Cavalcade it, feel free to mix and match it with one of the fore-mentioned 50’s romps, Monsters Inc., or Bolt-which has even more nods to Hollywood b-movies.