Fantasy
Fantasy movie reviews
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Review
Harry Potter has more adventures in his second year at Hogwarts. He is warned by a mysterious house elf not to return to Hogwarts because terrible things will happen to him. However he ignores the warnings, and returns to school with his friends Hermoine and Ron where he is the center of attention because of his 1st year heroics. He falls under suspicion, however, when messages written in blood warn that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened and students start getting petrified (literally) in the hallways of Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine work together to discover the Chamber and rescue a student who gets drawn into it. Once again, Harry is confronted by the spirit of the evil wizard Voldemort who is trying to return to the physical world.
This movie is also rated PG for mild violence. As in the first movie the visual images may be disturb some kids. Good for kids ages 7 and up.
Rating: Five out of five buckets
Release Date: April 11, 2003
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 7+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content:Mild
Harry Potter and the Socerer’s Stone Review
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is the first movie in the Harry Potter series. We meet Harry as a misfit orphan in his Aunt and Uncle’s home. Through an amusing series of events he learns that he is a wizard and has been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There we meet many of the characters who play important roles in subsequent movies, namely his two best friends Ron and Hermione, the game keeper, Hagrid, and the headmaster, Dumbledore. In this movie, Harry learns how his parents were killed and begins his ongoing conflict with their killer, Lord Voldemort. Voldemort was also killed when Harry’s parents died and in this movie his spirit is attempting to return to the physical world through the use of the Sorcerer’s Stone.
The movie is rated PG, mild violence, good for kids ages 7 and up. It is an exciting escape into a clever and well constructed fantasy world. Although I would recommend parents to use their discretion, especially with children who would react negatively to frightening visual images.
Rating: Five out of five buckets
Release Date: May 28, 2002
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 7+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
The Dark Knight Rises Review
A hero turned into a fugitive, that’s how we last saw Bruce Wayne/Batman eight years ago in The Dark Knight. At the end of the previous film Batman had taken the blame of the death of D.A. Harvey Denton and the crimes the D.A. had committed. Batman ultimately wanted the people of Gotham to be inspired by their D.A’s example of hope and heroism; a true selfless act. Now in The Dark Knight Rises Bruce Wayne/Batman comes out of his self-imposed exile and has another dangerous mission to accomplish. With the arrival of a ruthless masked terrorist named Bane (Tom Hardy), Bruce Wayne must put on his mask and cape and save Gotham City from the evil villain. The Dark Knight Rises is a very dark, violent, action packed movie, however it does have some wonderful lessons woven throughout the film.
Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: December 4, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content:Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? Yes
Talking Points:
Amongst the violence and gore, the film has a message of hope and humility. Bruce Wayne/Batman wanted to save the people of Gotham; he sacrificed his life in hoping to do so. He didn’t want any recognition or glory; he hid under his mask and cape, while saving lives. Batman never gave up, he did what he had to do, and did the right thing. Batman’s good, humble deeds could spark some great parent/child conversations.
The main theme of the film is good vs. evil. The villain is a cruel evil man, while Batman is a good helpful person.
Batman came from a wealthy family, though he was grounded and realized what was truly important in life… not the material things.
This was a very suspenseful film, I was at the edge of my seat, not knowing what was going to happen.
There are flashbacks and references to Harvey Dent from the previous movie. For people that have not seen Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, they might be a little confused.
There is an all-star cast to name a few; Tom Hardy, Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anne Hathaway.
This is NOT a movie for young children. Kids tend to admire the Batman character, and some even like to dress up as Batman; however this is not a movie for young kids. Depending on the child, I would say it’s appropriate for teenagers and up, however they may not understand the underlying messages.
Sexual Content: Mild
- We see two character’s passionately kiss; in the next scene they’re shown lying in bed. It’s implied they’ve had a sexual encounter.
Violent Content: Excessive
- There are gun shots fired throughout the whole film.
- Several character’s are punched and brutally beaten.
- Bane, the evil terrorist, ruthlessly killed hundreds of people. It was very disturbing when he grabbed another character by the throat and choked him to death.
- We see Bruce Wayne/Batman suffer as he was brutally beaten by Bane, this was another disturbing scene.
- We see injured characters, bloody with open wounds.
- Bane is an awful, cruel character, he wears a mask which covers his mouth, and has a creepy voice.
- Bane destroys a football stadium with thousands of people in it.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- One character says to another character, ” you dumb b–ch.
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
Overall this is a suspenseful, action packed movie. Parents need to be aware of the violent, dark and disturbing scenes. As I previously mentioned, depending on the child, I would say this is appropriate for kids ages 13 and up.
Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Review
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third film in the CS Lewis series. It’s about Edmund and Lucy, the two younger siblings in the Pevensie family. In England, during WWll, the children are staying with their obnoxious cousin Eustace. While looking at an ocean painting on the wall in their cousin’s bedroom, the children are swept away to Narnia; in the ocean beside the Dawn Treader, which is commanded by Caspian who is now King. The three children, accompanied by King Caspian, have many adventures as they sail to find the source of an evil green mist.
Rating: Five out of five buckets
Release Date: April 8 , 2011
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: Any age
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol Content: None
Talking Points:
It’s interesting because as King Caspian and the three kids are trying to find the source of this evil mist, a magician tells them “to defeat the darkness out there, you must defeat the darkness inside yourself.” So now they each have their own personnel things to conquer.
- Lucy is jealous of her beautiful sister, and wants to look like her.
- Edmund, has to accept Caspian as their King.
- Eustace, has many issues, particularly that he’s an obnoxious pest and a coward.
The kids in the audience may be able to relate to some of their own insecurities, and how to cope with them.
The transformation of the cousin was one of my favorite parts. In Narnia, unable to resist a certain temptation, he turns into a dragon. Ironically, this mean boy turns into a nice, brace, noble dragon. By the grace of Aslan (In Narnia Aslan is a lion, who is the Savior), Eustace turns back into a boy. In this transformation scene Eustace states that he couldn’t do it by himself no matter how hard he tried, he needed the help of the Savior. This could be a good parent child discussion after the movie.
I read, “There are deep spiritual underpinnings in the movie. And it marks Dawn Treader as a voyage of faith and belief.” As the mouse says, “We have nothing, if not belief.”
Violent Content: Mild
- There’s a scary serpent that attacks the Dawn Treader as it sails toward a dark island, this may scare younger kids.
- In the beginning they’re at an island, some of the children were captured by evil guys.
Profanity: None
Sexual Content: None
I interviewed kids ages 5 to 14 after the movie. They all enjoyed it. The five year olds liked the dragon, while the older kids seemed to like the adventurous parts of the movie. Parents liked the spiritual meaning behind the movie.
Overall this is a wonderful, entertaining movie, with valuable life lessons we can all learn from. Like I said earlier, this is a the type of movie that could spark some great parent-child discussions.
Beastly Review
“People like people who look good, whoever doesn’t is either dumb or ugly.” That’s what teenage hunk Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) believes; he says, image is everything. Kyle’s got it all, (so he thinks); he’s popular, cute, comes from a wealthy family, and is now running for class president. Things change dramatically for Kyle when he insults his classmate, Kendra, who’s a witch. She casts a spell on him; and transforms him into a bald, tattooed and scar covered teenage boy. The witch tells him that he has a year for someone to fall in love with him, and then the spell will be permanent. Now we see how this once arrogant boy turns into a humble, considerate person who seeks out love.
Rating: Three out of five buckets
Release Date: March 4, 2011
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 11+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
See a clip of my review here, along with the Rango review too!
Talking Points
• This is a teen version of the classic fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. There are many nice messages, that teens could learn from. Kyle begins to truly care for people, even his housekeeper, Zola, whom he was initially very disrespectful to. He feels sorry for his tutor, who’s blind, and eventually wants to help him. He also falls in love with Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), who comes from a dysfunctional family. Kyle protects her from her dad’s drug dealer.
• Even though the movie was a little sappy and predictable, there were some humorous parts. Kyle’s tutor (Neil Patrick Harris), had a lot of funny one-liners.
Sexual Content: Mild
This is a PG13 movie, and in my opinion, parents won’t feel uncomfortable with their pre-teens/teens going to this movie.
• Initially, when Kyle is good-looking we learn from Facebook that he’s promiscuous. He writes on his profile that he’s interested in “anything that’s bangable.”
• There’s some kissing, but that’s about it.
Violent Content: Mild
• In one scene we see Lindy’s father in a confrontation with his drug dealer, they get into a fight, but nothing too scary or violent.
Crude and Profane Language: Excessive
• There are bits of profanity throughout the movie; such as “s*#t” , “a$$”, “d%$m” and “b$%&h”.
Here are some fun quotes that I got from kids that I interviewed after the movie:
• “That movie made me want to barf, eat it, and barf again.” (Eleven year-old boy).
• “I loved it because of the guy.” (Teenage girl).
• “It was funny, cute and romantic.” (Teenage girl).
Clearly this is a teenage girl movie, the girls even clapped at the end of the movie. Overall this teen romance is about humility, and caring for others. I read that, “Beastly tells us that humility is a virtue, that true love is a nifty thing and that beauty is far more than what you see in the mirror. These values are like the story, timeless”. That sums it up! I recommend Beastly for girls ages 11 and up.