Jackie
Penguins of Madagascar-Kids Movie Reviews
They’re cute, they’re lovable and they’re all penguins!!! Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private are fun loving penguins who entertain humans all around the world. They’re so cute that it irritates the evil Dr. Brine, because the penguins get all the attention. Dr. Brine is an octopus who wants to capture all the penguins and steal their cuteness. So the penguins join an organization to stop Dr. Brine from destroying not only the Penguins but the world.
Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets.
Release Date: March 17, 2015
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 5+
Sexual Content: Moderate
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Talking Points:
The penguins look out for each other and help one another. Skipper tells one of the newly hatched, “You’ve got us, and we’ve got each other.”
Kids in the theater seemed to like the film, however parents may get bored.
Sexual Content: Moderate
- Character’s kiss.
- When the Penguins crash through an airplane overhead bin, we see Skipper crawl out with a woman’s bra on his head.
- A penguin discusses his attraction to a female owl.
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
- We see a ship blow up and helicopters explode.
- The penguins fall off a high cliff.
- Evil Octopuses chase the penguins, they destroy everything around them.
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
- Tranquilizer darts are shot at the penguins.
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Overall this is a cute and entertaining film for kids.
Horrible Bosses 2-Teen Movie Review
Dale (Charlie Day), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Nick (Jason Bateman) are back and ready to start their own business. After all, they’re tired of dealing with horrible bosses. However things don’t go as planned due to the slick investor they get involved with. So the trio decides to kidnap their financier’s son, Rex (Chris Pine ), and demand ransom for the money they lost. Now the adventure and mishaps begin as the three business owners try to pull off a big time crime even though they are truly not criminals. Horrible Bosses 2 is the sequel to the 2011 film, Horrible Bosses.
Rating: 2 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: February 24, 2015
MPAA Rating: R
Best Age Group: 17+
Sexual Content: Excessive
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will It Appeal to Teens? No
Talking Points:
The film has an all-star, to name a few…Jennifer Aniston, Chris Pine, Jason Bateman, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz.
Between the sexual contents and crude language, this is not an appropriate film for kids/pre-teens. See details below:
Sexual Content: Excessive
- Julia (Jennifer Aniston) claims to be a sex addict. She seduces a happily married man and has a sexual encounter with another man, in her dental office (she’s a dentist). We see pictures of the couple on a security camera, though it’s very fuzzy.
- There are sexual references and conversations throughout the whole film. Some topics include…oral sex, male/female body parts, sexual positions, homosexual encounters, rape and much more.
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
- A man is shot and killed
- A character repeatedly hits himself and bangs his head on a table, so that he will appear beaten up.
- Rex (Chris Pine) is very rude and disrespectful to his Hispanic housekeeper. She responds by sticking his toothbrush down the back of her pants and proceeds to rub vigorously. A few minutes later we see Rex brushing his teeth with that same toothbrush. This was a disgusting scene.
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
- Every swear word you can imagine and more were used throughout the film.
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
- Several scenes are set in a bar where we see character’s drinking alcoholic beverages.
- Character’s attempt to steal nitrous oxide from Julia’s dental office.
Will it appeal to most teens? Yes
Overall this is a silly comedy with a lot of inappropriate parts woven throughout the film.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1: Teen Movie Review
She’s the face of the revolution and a symbol of hope. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is a seventeen year old girl from District 12, and a survivor of the of the country’s inhumane Hunger Games. When she awakes in District 13 and discovers that District 12 has been shattered to rubble due to the previous games, she’s panicked and scared. Though her mom and sister are safe, she discovers that Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), her friend and true love, has been captured by the Capitol’s evil President, and is being used to spread propaganda. Now Katniss, with the help of some friends, must not only save Peeta, but save a nation and it’s oppressed people from their corrupt government. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1 is the third film in a trilogy, based on a popular novel by Suzanne Collins.
Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: March 6, 2015
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 12+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Talking Points:
This movie is not as violent as the previous films in the series. We don’t see children killing children as a source of entertainment. Having said that, this is a dark and somewhat disturbing film. While the nation of Panem is in the midst of a civil war, we see fighting and evil throughout the film.
The movie could spark some interesting parent/child conversations regarding war and propaganda.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Katniss and Gale briefly kiss.
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
- There are battles between the rebels and the “peacekeepers.” Character’s are shot to death, beaten and blown up.
- We see injured civilians and remnants of hundreds of corpses all over the ground.
- A character nearly choked to death.
- During a bomb raid, characters of District 13 hide underground. We hear the loud booming noise while the scared victims seek shelter.
- A character is injected with venom, and used as a human weapon. We see him struggling as he’s in severe pain.
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Overall this is an intense drama. Depending on the child, I feel this is appropriate for kids ages 12 and up.
Dumb and Dumber To-Teen Movie Review
Lloyd (Jim Carrey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) are back…and it’s been twenty years. This time they’re on an road trip to find Penny, a 20-year-old, beautiful woman who happens to be Harry’s daughter. On their journey they meet a lot of people and come across a lot of adventures, while hoping to meet the daughter Harry never knew he had.
Rating: 2 and 1/2 out of 5
Release Date: February 17, 2015
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 15+
Sexual Content: Excessive
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Talking Points:
- The best part of the movie is the clever name…”Dumb and Dumber To.“
- The film is a silly comedy, with disgusting and crude humor.
Sexual Content: Excessive
- Lloyd has an ongoing fantasy about having a sexual encounter with Penny (Harry’s daughter). He imagines himself taking her clothes off, then he wakes up and finds himself licking part of a semi-truck.
- A woman is referred to as a “titanic whore,” she was known to have slept with a lot of boys in her youth.
- Lloyd fondles an elderly woman under the bedcovers.
- A woman seductively sucks on a man’s toes.
- A man grabs a woman’s breasts.
- There are sexual jokes and references made throughout the film regarding incest, gays, oral sex, menstrual bleeding…
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
- Assassins throw knives into a man’s chest.
- A character is shot in the shoulder.
- A young girl’s tooth is knocked out from being hit with a bedroom door.
- A firecracker blows up inside a car causing a character to become temporarily deaf.
- We see a disgusting wound on a man’s back that had been stitched together.
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
- The f-word is said once, we hear “sh-t,’ “b–ch,” “a–,” “ba–tard, and “h—,” throughout the film.
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
- Harry’s roommate is a drug dealer who cooks meth.
- We see characters drinking margaritas, beer and wine.
- A woman poisons her husband’s food.
Will Kids Like It? Yes
- I interviewed a few high school freshman boys who thought the film was very funny.
- I interviewed a mom who thought the film was disgusting, though her pre-teens liked it.
Dumb and Dumber To is a PG13 comedy, parents need to be aware of the crude humor woven throughout the film.
Big Hero 6-Kids Movie Review
When Hiro, an intelligent 14 year old boy, says, “ouch,” Baymax appears. Baymax is a big marshmellow-like inflatable health care robot, that Hiro’s older brother, Tadashi, invented. After a tragic criminal act, which kills Tadashi and threatens the city of San Fransokyo, Hiro is left sad and depressed. However it’s Baymax and Tadashi’s nerdy friends that come together and help Hiro find the villain behind the awful crime. Big Hero 6 is a wonderful animated, action packed film, one for the whole family.
Rating: 4 and 1/2 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: February 24, 2015
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 5+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Talking Points:
- The theme woven throughout film is about helping one another, whether it’s your family, a friend or someone in need.
- There are fun loving and wonderful characters in the film, especially Baymax!!!
- Hiro, Baymax and their four geeky friends use their talents and work as a team to solve the crime.
- Parents need to be aware of the issue of death in the film. Hiro’s parents passed away when he was three, and his brother dies when he’s fourteen. This may disturb young kids. Having said Hiro is taken care of by his loving Aunt; the movie demonstrates a healthy way of handling grief.
Sexual Content: Mild
- There’s a brief explanation of puberty and hormonal changes.
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
- The villain in the film uses millions of tiny robots to destroy streets, vehicles and buildings.
- During a car chase, Hiro and the gang drive off a pier and into an ocean…Baymax rescues them.
- When Hiro reprograms Baymax, Baymax becomes scary as he intends to destroy and kill the bad guy.
- The Big Hero 6 team uses their defensive skills when trying to capture the villain, which shows some action and fighting scenes.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- Bonehead,” and “Holy Mother of Megazon” are said.
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
- When Baymax’s battery is low he’s portrayed as silly and drunk.
Will Kids Like It? Yes
I interviewed three kids:
- A five year old boy said he loved the film, though he thought the “bad guy” in the mask was scary.
- A nine year old boy said he loved it, and his favorite character was Baymax.
- A thirteen year old girl said she didn’t like it and thought it was corny
Overall this is a fun action film, one for the whole family.