Family
Family movie reviews
Nanny McPhee Returns Review
This is the story about Isabel Green, (Maggie Gyllenhaal) a mother trying to run the family farm while her husband is away at war. Isabel has three mischievous kids of her own, but when her wealthy niece and nephew from London join the family on the farm, that’s when the trouble and chaos begins. Luckily for Mrs. Green, Nanny McPhee(Emma Thompson) appears at their door, ready to take over. Now Mrs. Green can actually have time to herself, and enjoy a cup of tea, while Nanny McPhee teaches the children five valuable lessons.
Rating: Four out of five buckets
Release Date: December 10, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: Any Age
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Talking Points:
Nanny McPhee teaches the children to respect others, to have good manners, and to keep things cleaned and picked up. Initially the kids don’t like her at all; they are rude, disrespectful children, but they gradually learn to appreciate the rules and boundaries that are enforced by Nanny McPhee. They become much happier and well adjusted children.
This is a great movie for the whole family, with some valuable lessons for children. Nanny’s five lessons are:
1) Stop fighting, 2) Share nicely, 3) Help each other, 4) Be brave, and 5) Have faith. She doesn’t leave the Green’s farm until the lesson’s are all completed.
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content:
- The only violent or disturbing scenes would be when we first meet the children. They are a parents worst nightmare. Punching, kicking, and pulling each others hair was their normal behavior. They would also break things and destroy other people’s property, until Nanny McPhee arrived.
The movie is rated PG. There was some potty humor, which made the kids giggle in the theater, but other than that it was a very wholesome fun movie.
While the movie was fun and entertaining, some parts were a little drawn out, and boring, my ten year old son agreed.
I interviewed a family afterwards that had kids ages six to thirteen. They all loved it, and said they would see it again.
Overall this is a wonderful, feel good movie. With Nanny McPhee’s five lessons, it’s hard not to enjoy, and hope that your kids get something out of it. I read a statement in a movie review that said, “Talk, Make these subjects part of the post-movie ice cream experience for your family.” What a great idea! I give it four out of five buckets.
The Odd Life of Timothy Green Review
Life brings many surprises, especially for the Greens. Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) are a happily married couple eager to start a family. However their dreams are shattered when the doctor tells them that conceiving a child will be impossible. While grieving their awful news, they fill a small wooden box with notes describing characteristics of what they hoped their child would be like. They dig a hole in their vegetable garden and plant their special wooden box. The next morning a 10-year old boy named Timothy appears at their house calling them “mom,” and “dad;” a true surprise, one they’ve always dreamed of. The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a Disney story about the trials and joys of parenting. This is a heartwarming film for the whole family.
Rating: 4 and 1/2 buckets
Release Date: December 4, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 6+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? Maybe
Talking Points:
Parents will enjoy this film, and will be able to relate to Timothy’s parents. They wanted to protect him, comfort him and wanted the best for their son! Timothy’s mom (Jennifer Garner) says, “It’s not that we wanted him to be perfect, we wanted it to be perfect. His childhood.”
Timothy is an odd character, though an adorable, loving boy. In the movie they say, “it’s okay to be different.” A good parent/child conversation.
Though Timothy’s parents loved him more than anything, they made mistakes, and struggled with different parenting issues; as we all do at times. When asked what they would do differently, they said they’d make new mistakes, maybe even more of them.
Kids may get bored as the film has a mature subject matter about parenting. Having said that Timothy is cute fun loving boy, which kids will enjoy. There are some funny parts geared towards kids.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Timothy and Joni (a girl he has a crush on) almost kiss. They have a cute relationship.
- Timothy’s parents decide to give him, “The Talk,” however they get distracted by a family emergency.
- Since Timothy came from a garden, younger kids may have questions about where they came from.
Violent Content: Mild
- Timothy gets bullied by his classmates.
- Kids smear food and ice cream on Timothy’s face.
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
- Character’s drink wine.
Will Kids Like It? Maybe
- I interviewed kids ages 6 to 8 who liked the movie. Having said that I feel that this is more of a grown-up film, one especially for parents!
Overall this is a wonderful, endearing story. Because of the mature subject matter, I’m not sure all kids will enjoy the film. However the content is appropriate for kids ages 6 and up.
Lincoln-Family Movie Review
Sixteenth president of the United States from 1861 to 1865, leader of the Union during the Civil War, dedicated husband/father, and a wonderful man referred to as “honest Abe.” Lincoln chronicles President Abraham Lincoln’s final months in office. We see his fierce determination to end the civil war and abolish slavery. We see his personnel struggles and the difficulties he had to face while pursuing his heartfelt goals as president. Lincoln is a dramatic war film, one that mature teenagers and adults will enjoy.
Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: November 16, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 15+
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? Yes (mature teens)
Talking Points:
This is an educational film, one that mature teenagers will find very interesting. For example, in the beginning of the film we see Lincoln visiting troops; we heard soldiers reciting Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. This film will spark great parent/child conversations. However, since the film is 150 minutes, and mostly dialogue, I feel that younger kids will get confused and bored.
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Moderate
- We see character’s stabbed with bayonets and beaten.
- Lincoln visits a battlefield filled with corpses.
- We see orderlies emptying carts of human limbs into a huge pit.
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
We heard the f-word one time. Also “sh–,” “b–ch,” and “d–n” were said.
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
- Character’s were shown drinking beer and wine.
- We see character’s smoking cigars.
Will Kids Like It? Yes (mature teens)
Overall this is a wonderful, educational film. It’s appropriate, however due to the mature subject matter I recommend this film for kids ages 15 and up.
Leap Year-Family Movie Review
“Leap Year” is a romantic comedy about Anna (Amy Adams); a very structured, controlling young woman from Boston. When her materialistic boyfriend doesn’t propose on their anniversary, she remembers an old Irish tradition in which women can freely ask their boyfriends to get married on Leap Day, Feb 29th. Ironically, it just so happens that her boyfriend will be attending a cardiologist’s seminar in Dublin, late February in a leap year. As she travels to Ireland to propose, her flight encounters a storm, and her plane lands in Wales, so Anna ends up paying an innkeeper (Matthew Goode) to drive her to Dublin. Predictably, the two bicker their way to Dublin, gradually falling for each other as they race to get there by the 29th.
Rating: Four out of five buckets
Release Date: May 4, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 12+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: None
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Talking Points:
It’s a feel good, lighthearted, cute, entertaining PG movie that pre-teens, and teenage girls will enjoy.
The soundtrack is great, and the scenery beautiful.
Amy Adams and Matthew Goode are terrific. Their characters are very likable and charming.
It’s a great movie for moms to take their pre-teen and teenage daughter, and not feel uncomfortable with the kind of sexual scenes that are in most romantic comedies these days.
Sexual Content: Mild
- The movie instills good old fashioned values. When you find true love, you get married, grow old together, and live a long happy life. A rule in a small town Irish Bed and Breakfast was that boarders must be married if they’re going to sleep in the same room. This is a nice message for young girls.
Violent Content: None
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- There may have been a few swear words, but not much at all.
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
- Characters were socially drinking in a few scenes.
Though the movie is very predictable, and a little cheesy, it’s really enjoyable.
Overall, it’s a fun, charming movie that most girls 12 and up will enjoy. I’ll give it 4 buckets.
The Karate Kid-Family Movie Review
If you want your child to hang up their coat, with a good attitude, then see this movie! Karate Kid is a remake of the 1984 original film. This is the story about a twelve-year-old boy Dre Parker (Jaden Smith), and his mother, who moves from Detroit to China, and once they’re in China, Dre is bullied by his classmates. A maintenance man and former martial arts champ, prepares Dre to take on the bullies.
Rating: Four out of five buckets
Release Date: October 5, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 10+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Talking Points:
My favorite part of the movie is the wonderful relationship that Dre and his mentor Mr. Han have. When Mr. Han agreed to instruct Dre in martial arts, Dre not only learned karate, but he also attained a newfound confidence, which helped with his daily struggles.
I also loved the “coat” part of the movie, as I mentioned in the synopsis, probably because my kids don’t always hang up their coats. Initially, Mr. Han gives Dre a training exercise of hanging up his coat, the motion is to help with karate, but he also taught Dre to respect and listen to his mother. Adults and kids will appreciate that scene.
Some great messages that Dre learned from Mr. Han, which are stressed throughout the movie are:
“Life will knock us down, but we can choose whether or not to get back up.”
“Kung fu is not about fighting, it’s about making peace with your enemies.”
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
I absolutely loved this movie! However, I felt that the PG rating was not appropriate. I think older boys would like this movie, but will be deterred by the PG rating, and younger kids will want to see it because of the PG rating. However, I would not recommend this movie for kids younger than ten years old. There are many violent scenes; to name a few:
- When we first met the gang of bullies, they punched and kicked Dre many times, before they flipped him to the ground.
- The next time we saw them, they beat Dre to a pulp, which was very disturbing, especially for younger kids to view.
- There were also many disturbing scenes during the big karate tournament.
Profane or crude language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
- There was drinking, and Mr. Han had some alcoholic issues.
My friend and I brought our two ten year old sons to this movie, which was great, we all loved it. It was an action packed, entertaining movie, with solid moral messages. I recommend this for kids ages ten and up. I give it four out of five buckets.