We want to think of childhood as a time of innocence, even though we know that's a lie — because children see what grown-ups do, hear what grown-ups say and often suffer as a result of both.

"Flipped," a nostalgic coming-of-age comedy/drama from director Rob Reiner, wants to believe — and let its 13-year-old main characters believe — in childhood innocence. The Irish drama "Kisses" aims to let its preteen hero and heroine have their moment of innocence, but knows that the dreary real world must intervene.

"Flipped" is set mostly in 1963, only four years after the events in Reiner's classic "Stand by Me" — and when you first hear the nostalgic voice-over narration by 13-year-old Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe), you might think it's the same movie. Bryce recounts how his young life was ruined in the second grade when his family moved into a new house, and a girl his age, Juli Baker (played at age 13 by Madeline Carroll), glommed onto him as a best friend and potential prom date.

Then the movie flips, as the title suggests, and sees the same events from Juli's point-of-view. She agrees that she had a crush on Bryce from Day One, but discovers that her outgoing personality — she literally becomes a treehugger to save the neighborhood's old sycamore — grates on Bryce's nerves.

The two families are a study in contrasts. Juli's dad, Richard (Aidan Quinn), is a painter and a dreamer, and her mother, Trina (Penelope Ann Miller), is patient with her husband's artistic pursuits — and with the fact that they live meagerly because their extra income goes to keep Richard's brother Daniel (Kevin Weisman) in a private mental hospital. On the other hand, Bryce's parents (Anthony Edwards and Rebecca DeMornay) are straitlaced conformists, though Bryce's grandpa Chet (John Mahoney) sees in Juli the same spunk of his late wife.

Reiner and co-writer Andrew Scheinman (a producer on "Stand By Me" and several other Reiner films), adapting Wendelin Van Draanen, steep the movie in '60s nostalgia, from the Life magazine set design to the oldies on the soundtrack. But the movie feels static, like a diorama of '60s life rather than a living, breathing story.

The lower-class neighborhood in "Kisses" feels quite real — even too real for preteen next-door neighbors Dylan (Shane Curry) and Kylie (Kelly O'Neill). Dylan plays his handheld video games to avoid his abusive father (Paul Roe), but one day when Dad is hitting Mom (Neili Conroy), Dylan smashes the game into Dad's forehead, and then must flee out the bathroom window.

Kylie — who, we later learn, has her own domestic troubles — helps Dylan escape, and together they hop a canal boat into downtown Dublin. There, with the help of a suspicious wad of cash Kylie found under her siblings' bed, the preteens enjoy a magical evening lit by the Christmas decorations in the downtown shopping district and propelled by the music of Bob Dylan. (They even meet someone they think is Bob Dylan, played by an uncredited Stephen Rea.)

When the money runs out, Dylan and Kylie encounter the realities of downtown life: homelessness, crime and the fear of everyone around them.

In writer-director Lance Daly's lens, downtown Dublin is like a modern-day Oz — and the movie even starts by showing the kids' dreary home life in black-and-white, slowly moving to full color as the canal boat approaches the city. But every Oz has its Wicked Witch, and the children must decide whether their problems at home are worse than what they find on the street.

By the end of both movies, young love has made its way into each child's heart. One suspects, though, that the love of the kids in "Kisses" is stronger than the dewy-eyed romance of the kids in "Flipped," because it's built on real struggle rather than misty fantasy.

movies@sltrib.com —

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Flipped

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Kisses

Two views of young love, one misty and nostalgic, the other rough and real.

Where • "Flipped" opens at area theaters; "Kisses" opens at the Tower Theatre.

When • Both open today.

Rating • "Flipped" is rated PG for language and some thematic material; "Kisses" is not rated, but probably R for violence, sexual content and language.

Running time • "Flipped" is 90 minutes; "Kisses" is 76 minutes, and some of the heavily accented English dialogue is subtitled.