Reviews by Genre
Movie Reviews by Genre
The Book Of Life-Kids Movie Review
Who will Maria (voice of Zoe Saldana) marry? Manolo (voice of Diego Luna), a sensitive guitar player whose family wants him to be a ruthless bullfighter, or Joaquin (voice of Channing Tatum) Manolo’s best friend. Both men are madly in love with Maria, however things dramatically change when Manolo is bitten by a poisonous snake. He travels through the underworld on a Mexican holiday called The Day of the Dead. This is a magical day when the spirits of the departed return to earth to receive gifts from living family members. Now Manolo sees a whole new world, but the only thing he really wants is to return to his true love and win her heart. Narrated by a museum tour guide, The Book of Life is an animated film about death, the afterlife and true love.
Rating: 3 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: October 17, 2014
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 7+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
Will it Appeal to kids? No
Talking Point:
- The characters are good people who strive to do right thing. One character says that true hero’s are selfless. The story highlights the importance friendship and love.
- The animation is great with cute and colorful characters.
- With the mature and deep subject matter of death and the afterlife of the Mexican culture, kids may get bored. There’s also a romantic element to the story, which may not appeal to kids.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Two couples kiss.
Violent Content: Moderate
- Though this is a story about death, we only see on person die.
- We see characters pounded and beaten.
- We see prayers for the dead, skeletons, afterlife worlds, and a godlike Candle Maker. Though animated, parts may scare young kids.
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
- Characters are shown drinking wine.
- A stumbling character says he was at four different bars.
Will it Appeal to kids? No
- This is an animated film with an adult storyline. Overall I don’t think it will appeal most kids.
Pirates Code: The Adventures of Mickey Matson-Kids Movie Review
Mickey Matson (Derek Brandon) and his best friend Sully (Francesca Derosa) are back in the exciting sequel to Mickey Matson and the Copperhead Treasure. In this film Mickey and Sully take on a dangerous mission to save the country from the evil villains, Admiral Ironsides (Frank Collison) and his crew of modern day pirates. Ironsides and company have a plan to destroy every electronic device on earth, which would change the world forever. Now the two young heroes must work together and prevent Ironsides from succeeding in his evil mission. Pirates Code: The Adventures of Mickey Matson is an action packed, adventurous film, one for the whole family.
Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: October 17, 2014
MPAA Rating: NR
Best Age Group: 7+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
Will it Appeal to kids? Yes
Talking Points:
There is a wonderful message from Grandpa Jack (Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future) as he stresses the importance of team work, and that working together is the most powerful weapon. Great parent/child conversations.
The film is a Michigan based movie which is exciting for Grand Rapids residents. The cast visited the DeVos Children’s Hospital and had a special showing for the patients. The producers plan to have many showings of the movie at children’s hospitals nationwide.
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Excessive
- We see characters hitting and punching each others. They also use “battle sticks” to fight one another.
- Pirates use ray guns to shoot kids and adults.
- We see character’s throwing knives and other weapons at one another.
- A character with brass knuckles punches another character.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- Name calling such as “snot nosed kids.”
Drugs and Alcohol: None
Will it Appeal to kids? Yes
Overall this is a fun entertaining movie. Depending on the child, I recommend this for kids ages 7 and up. Parents need to be aware of some of the violent scenes that my scare young kids.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good…Kids movie review
We all have bad days, some worse than others. It’s the day before Alexander’s 12th birthday and it’s not a good day; he slips on a skateboard, gets gum in his hair, a funny picture is taken of him which travels all around the school, and he finds out no one is going to his birthday party because the most popular boy in school is having a big bash. When Alexander comes home, his parents and siblings have all had amazing days, and his baby brother can do no wrong. So at 12:01 AM, Alexander’s 12th birthday, he wishes a bad day upon his family. Now the comedic tragedies begin as we see a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for the Cooper family…but not Alexander! Based on a popular children’s book, Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a terrific film for the whole family!
Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: February 10, 2015
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 6+
Sexual Content: Moderate
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
Will it Appeal to kids? Yes
Talking Points:
- There’s a wonderful message about the importance of family and loved ones. Alexander comes to realize that no matter how bad your day can be, or no matter how bad life can get, if you’re surrounded by family and loved ones, it’s not that bad.
- Steve Carell (the dad) and Jennifer Garner (the mom) are very funny and entertaining. The kids in the film are also likable, fun characters, ones that kids in the audience can relate to.
- There is some potty humor for example, the baby urinates on the kitchen floor and oven, kids in the theater thought that was funny. Also, the daughter vomits on her dad.
Sexual Content: Moderate
- The mom walks in on her teenage son as he’s naked in the bathroom. We don’t see anything, however later she comments saying, “It’s not the first time I’ve seen your penis.”
- There’s a discussion of Anthony and his girlfriend making out.
- The parents hire three “Australian cowboys,” for Alexander’s birthday party, not realizing their strippers.
Violent Content: Moderate
- Alexander accidentally starts a fire in his Chemistry class.
- The dad’s shirt cuffs set fire while eating at a Japanese restaurant.
- The dad gets kicked to the ground by a kangaroo.
- While the teenage son is taking his driver’s test he gets into a car crash, no one is hurt.
- The mom crashes while riding a bike.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- “Idiot,” “sucks,” and “crap,” are said.
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
- Emily, the eight grade daughter, overdoses on cold medicine and acts very silly.
- The dad drinks beer and then slams down another drink while the group he’s with chants his name.
Will it Appeal to kids? Yes
- This is a great film for kids of all ages…elementary kids, middle school age kids and teens may find it appealing as well.
Overall this is a great family movie, one I highly recommend!
Gone Girl- Teen Movie Review
Do you really know someone? Are they happily married or are they pretending to be someone they’re not? Gone Girl is the story about Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy (Rosamund Pike), a married couple approaching their fifth wedding anniversary. Initially their marriage is wonderful, Nick fell in love with “cool Amy” and Amy fell in love with a hard working loving husband. However things change when Nick loses his job and stressful times arise. So on the day of their fifth anniversary, Amy disappears. Did Nick kill her? Was she kidnapped? Where is Amy? No one knows as the disappearance of Amy becomes a nation wide media hype. Based on the New York Times Best Seller by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl is a suspenseful drama, one that would be disturbing for kids.
Rating: 1 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: January 13, 2015
MPAA Rating: R
Best Age Group: 17+
Sexual Content: Excessive
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
Will it Appeal to kids? No
Talking Points:
People of all ages have been very excited for the release of Gone Girl due to the popularity of the book. Reading it is one thing, however there are several graphic violent and sexual scenes (see details below) which are very intense and disturbing and would most likely upset kids; pre-teens and younger.
Sexual Content: Excessive
- There are several graphic sexual scenes showing oral sex, explicit sexual encounters, publicly and privately, breast nudity and full-frontal male nudity.
- There are sexual references regarding oral sex, male/female body parts, incest and masturbation.
Violent Content: Excessive
- We see a couple in a sexual encounter, the woman slits the mans throat, killing him. We see massive amounts of blood pouring from his neck.
- We see a character use a wine bottle (under her nightgown) to fake an injury, she stains her underwear with red wine.
- Amy hits herself in the face with a hammer, bites a lover’s lip drawing blood, and injects a needle in herself and proceeds to spill her blood on the floor.
- Amy and Nick get into an argument, he slams her head against a wall. In another scene we see Nick throwing Amy to the floor.
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
- The f-word, “sh-t,” “a–,” “b–ch,” “p—,” “h—,” “p—y,” and “c—” are used throughout the film.
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
- Character’s are shown drinking beer and wine.
- We see characters smoking cigarettes.
Will it Appeal to kids? No
Overall Gone Girl is a disturbing, violent and sexual film, one I do not recommend for kids.
The Boxtrolls-Kids Movie Review
In an underground world lives a group of subterranean trolls who adopted an infant orphan boy named Eggs (voice of Isaac Hempstead Wright). These trolls look fearsome in their card board box attire, however they are very kind-hearted loving creatures. Things get difficult for the trolls as the evil exterminator, Snatcher (voice of Ben Kingsley) wants to eliminate all them, with hopes to to become a high society man. However it’s not that easy for Snatcher. Eggs and his wealthy friend from above, Winnie (Elle Fanning), will do anything to try and save the loving creatures underground. Based on the children’s novel ‘Here Be Monsters’ by Alan Snow, The Boxtrolls is a dark, animated film that will most likely scare young kids.
Rating: 2 and 1/2 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: January 20, 2015
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Moderate
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol: None
Will it Appeal to kids? No
Talking Points:
Though this is a dark and disturbing film for kids, I did find some redeeming qualities. The importance of a loving father is highlighted as Fish protects and nurtures his adopted orphan son, Egg. The Boxtrolls are kind-hearted creatures who love children.
Egg eventually stands up to Snatcher, saying, “Cheese, hats, boxes they don’t make you who you are. You make you.”
This is an animated film geared towards children. However with the dark and creepy storyline, kids will most likely be frightened by the fact that characters are kidnapped and tortured. See details in violent content below.
Sexual Content: Moderate
- Madame Frou Frou has a seductive, manly voice. Her lyrics are sometimes inappropriate as well.
- When it’s revealed that Madame Frou Frou is also Archibald Snatcher, a character blurts out…”Oh my God, I regret so
- much.”
Violent Content: Excessive
- Snatcher is a dark, evil villain, who enjoys inflicting pain on others. He desperately wants to kill the Boxtrolls and eventually kidnaps several of them. He even invades the Boxtrolls’ underground home by using a huge robot.
- Snatcher uses a crushing press to execute all the creatures he’s captured.
- We see Snatcher’s allergic reaction to cheese, his face swells and looks disgusting.
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol: None
Will it Appeal to kids? No
Overall this is a dark and disturbing animated film, one I don’t recommend for kids. See Dolphin Tale 2 or Rio 2 instead!