Family
Family movie reviews
Mr. Popper’s Penguins Review
When you get a package in the mail it’s typically a book, clothing, or some sort of electronic device, but not for Tom Popper. Tom (Jim Carrey) is a high-powered business man, who’s divorced with two kids. He’s more concerned about his job, and never missing an important meeting than his teenage daughter and son. However, things change when he inherits six penguins from his deceased father. Now Tom discovers his true emotions through these six annoying, but loving penguins. He bonds with his ex-wife, and gradually learns how to communicate with his daughter, and son. Mr. Popper’s Penguins is an entertaining, fun movie is based on a 1939 children’s book.
Rating: Three out of five buckets
Release Date: December 6, 2011
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: Any age
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Talking Points
Initially Tom doesn’t have the best relationship with his children, it’s not that he doesn’t love them, he just has a hard time expressing it. We all know that dealing with teens can be challenging at times. I’m not quite sure getting penguins is the way to go, but it worked for Tom. He realized that his kids were a lot more important than any job.
Tom was not allowed to have pets in his New York apartment, so he lied to his neighbors, denying that the penguins were his; he even bribed the door man not to tell anyone about his secret. He lied in other difficult situations too; there were little or no consequences, not a great thing for kids to see.
This is a sweet, innocent movie that kids will be entertained by, however parents may get a little bored by the storyline, and silly humor…I did.
There was a lot of potty humor used throughout the movie, with bird droppings as the main source of humor. In one scene, Tom held each bird up over the toilet so they can do their thing…the kids found this to be funny.
Sexual Content: Mild
• Tom’s teenage daughter talks a lot about her love life dilemmas, and how to deal with boys.
• Slight innocent flirting between Tom and his ex-wife.
Violent Content: Mild
• The penguins crash a fancy cocktail party, they cause a little mayhem while people were tripping over them, and things were falling all over the place.
• Tom and the zookeeper argue and fight.
Crude/Profane Language: Mild
• “Freakin” and “What the…..?” is used.
Overall this is a sweet, innocent movie, one for kids of any age. It’s probably not a movie they’ll remember and talk a lot about, but they will be entertained while in the theater.
Monte Carlo Review
I’m sure most teenagers would love to go to Monte Carlo and be treated like royalty. Well, that’s what happened to Grace, (Selena Gomez) a down to earth girl who just graduated from high school. She planned an ordinary trip to Paris for the summer, with her best friend Emma (Katie Cassidy). Things started out a little rough as Grace found out that her tightly wound step-sister Megan (Leighton Meester) is their chaperone. However things dramatically change once they’re in Paris. Grace is mistaken for a British heiress; so the girls lose their tour guide, and the next thing they know, they’re on a private jet to Monte Carlo, where they encounter a lot of adventure and romance.
Rating: Four out of five buckets
Release Date: October 18, 2011
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 9+
Sexual Content: Mild, kissing and flirting
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
See the trailer of the movie here!
Talking Points:
This is a cute entertaining movie, one that girls will especially enjoy. Even though Grace (Selena Gomez) and her friends get caught up in their “fake, pretentious life” (as Grace pretends to be Corelia, the British heiress); they ultimately realize that all the material things and glitz and glamour won’t make a person happy. They also realize that the simple things in life aren’t all bad.
Grace wants to raise money for a charity event that helps children in Romania. This could be a great parent/child conversation on the car ride home.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Lots of kissing.
- The girls wear skimpy bikinis and revealing outfits.
Violent Content: Mild
- The girls tie Cordelia (the British heiress) up in her room with an apple stuffed in her mouth; so she’ll keep quiet.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- The “a-word” is used, other than that words such as “crap” and “heck” are used.
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
- Characters are shown drinking wine and champagne.
This movie is great for it’s target audience, tween girls! It’s not a deep, inspirational movie, but does have an important message for these young girls. It’s not about what you wear, or how much money you have, it’s about being a good person, and doing the right thing! In my mind, that’s not a bad thing for tween girls to see.
Monsters vs. Aliens Review
Susan, a cute California girl,(voice of Reese Witherspoon), is hit by a meteorite on her wedding day, and grows to 49 feet, 11 inches tall. Then, the military takes her away to their secret compound as a government test subject, and that’s where she meets a group of monsters. Rather than destroying each other, Susan and the monsters become great friends, as they’re trapped together. They are finally released when an alien robot lands on Earth, and the President of the U.S. enlists the monsters to attack the Alien Robot, and save the world.
Rating: Three out of five buckets.
Release Date: September 29, 2009
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 5+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Talking Points:
Initially the monsters seem scary and threatening to Susan, but as they become friends, the monsters transform into harmless, fun creatures. They love Susan, and will do anything for her, and Susan feels the same way about them.
The movie suggests lessons of friendship and self-sacrifice(it doesn’t matter what you look like). Susan’s parents are even supportive of her monster friends.
It’s a colorful animated action movie, with enjoyable characters and light humor.
The 3D affects were well-done.
Sexual Content: Mild
- When Susan starts to grow very tall, her wedding gown tears, though the dress stays on her, it looks like a revealing mini dress.
- Teenagers go parking at night, the girl wants to smooch a little, but they don’t, because a spaceship lands near them.
Violent Content: Mild
- Slight violence, especially when the alien robot destroy The Golden Gate Bridge, with cars and pedestrians on it.
- When the meteorite lands, it momentary crushes Susan.
Crude of Profane Language: Mild
- Exclamations are used, such as; “what the flagnod?” and “holy Cheez-Its!”
- OMG is used several times.
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
- One character mixes several bottles of alcohol, and makes a cocktail.
Adults may get bored, my friend saw it, and fell asleep. I also got a little bored so did my 11 and 12 year olds.
Mirror Mirror Review
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” Mirror Mirror is a comedic adaptation of the Snow White legend that we’re all familiar with. In this film, Julia Roberts is the evil Queen who steals control of a kingdom and becomes a ruthless, cruel ruler. However, things change when the seven courageous dwarfs help Snow White (Lily Collins) fight to reclaim her birthright, and also win the heart of her true love…Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer).
Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets.
Release Date: June 26, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 8+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Talking Points:
I loved seeing the transformation of Snow White. She starts out as a meek child and turns into a respectable, strong, leader. With hard work and determination, she eventually believed in herself, and had the confidence to do the right thing. A great parent child conversation.
This was a very entertaining film for the whole family, as kids will enjoy the fun character’s and the colorful scenery. Along with action and suspense.
It was sad to see the towns people suffer as the Queen raised their taxes to buy lavish gowns, and throw amazing balls.
During a full body treatment, the Queen was stung by bees and scorpions, in addition to bird poop being smeared across her face. This was a disgusting scene.
Sexual Content: Mild
- The Queen gives Prince Andrew a love potion, which causes him to fall madly in love with the her. He jumps on her, pushes her onto the bed, while licking her face.
- Snow White passionately kisses the prince.
Violent Content: Moderate
- The evil Queen was on a mission to kill Snow White. She becomes very obsessed and cruel while trying to obtain her goal.
- There were many fist fights and sword fights throughout the film, though sometimes shown in a comedic way.
- Two character’s were captured by bandits and tied up, while hanging upside down. The prince and the Queen’s soldiers were attacked by the same villains. Even though violent, this was a silly, funny scene as well.
- Characters were attacked by a magical, large creature, which may scare younger kids.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- “Idiot,” and “jerk,” are said.
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
- One dwarf came home drunk after a night at a pub.
Overall this is a fun, action packed, entertaining movie for the whole family. Parents need to be aware of the moderate violence throughout the film. I recommend this for kids ages 8 and up.
Mars Needs Moms Review
“My mom washes my clothes, my mom vacuums, my mom tucks me in.” That’s what nine year-old Milo (voice of Seth Green) said when he discovered that his mom was captured by Martians.It all started one night when Milo and his mom (voice of Joan Cusack) had an argument, (Milo didn’t eat his broccoli), and Milo said, “My life would be better if I didn’t have a mom at all.” Milo soon came to realize that he really did need his mom, however the Martians thought they needed her more, so they grabbed her, and off to Mars they went. Now it’s up to Milo to rescue his mom from Mars, and let her know how much she’s loved and needed in their home….something all mom’s want love to hear.
Rating: Five out of five buckets
Release Date: August 9, 2011
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: Any age
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
See a clip of my review here!
Talking Points
This movie is absolutely adorable. It’s a heartwarming movie, one for the whole family, with a blatant message about the importance of love, and that, “Moms are great and family is essential.”
After Milo told his mom, that his life would be better if he didn’t have her; he felt awful and immediately wanted to apologize, though it was too late. This could spark a good parent/child discussion. It was cute to see how determined he was to try to save his mom.
This film was very fun, with likable characters: Gribble (voice of Dan Fogler), another human stranded on Mars, was funny, and had a lot of good one-liners. He was Milo’s “best bud,” and very tech-savvy, which helped Milo later in the movie.
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Mild
• Some Martians shoot lasers at Milo and his friends.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
• Words like “dummy” and “jerk” were used.
I laughed and I cried in this wonderful animated movie. Parents will love the messages about love and family, and kids will love the characters and storyline. Mars needs his moms, but don’t we all! Good for all ages!