DVD Reviews
The Possession Review
Are your kids scared of ghosts? If not, they will be after this movie. Emily is an adorable 10 year old girl who purchased an antique wooden box at a yard sale. She became obsessed with this box, while acting very erratic and strange. Initially her parents, Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick), thought Emily was oddly reacting to their divorce; though after much research, Clyde discovered that the box was built to contain a dibbuk. Dibbuk’s are evil spirit’s that inhabit and destroys it’s human host, according to Jewish legend. Clyde was determined to save his daughter and destroy the dibbuk. Based on a true story, The Possession is a horrific drama, that will scare kids and adults!!!
Rating: 2 out of 5 buckets.
Release Date: January 13, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 14+
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? No
Talking Points:
Emily’s dad is a loving father, however his career obligations get in the way of his family life. When the dibbuk box is at their home and chaos begins, he reevaluates his priorities as he must sacrifice his life to protect his daughter and family. (Spoiler) In the end he realizes the importance of being a devoted husband and father. Even though she was possessed with this box, which initially destroyed the family, love eventually won!!!
Emily’s parents had been divorced for about a year before the dibbuk entered their lives. Emily and her sister treated their father disrespectfully. This could spark a parent/child conversation.
This film has many disturbing, creepy parts. Not only will kids be scared, but adults will be too!!! I had to close my eyes in several several scenes.
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Excessive
- Under the dibbuk’s power, a women suffers from a horrific seizure. This is disturbing as we see her eyeballs roll back, she thrashes about her living room, arching her back until it cracks, and her face crashes through a coffee table.
- We see the dibbuk nearly strangle a man.
- We see the creature’s fingers in Emily’s throat, and later we see him claw his way out of someones mouth.
- When possessed by the dibbuk, a man pulls out all his teeth, we see his mouth covered in blood.
- Emily screams in fear when something strikes her face, she thinks it’s her father so she ends up stabbing her father’s hand with a fork. This is an awful, disturbing scene!!!!
- Emily’s mom walks across a floor covered in broken glass.
- We see a semi collide into a car…this is a surprising and upsetting scene.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- “A–,” “d–n,” and “h—,” are said once or twice.
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
- We see character’s drinking wine.
Will Kids Like It? No
Overall The Possession is a scary, disturbing movie. Since it’s based on a true story, that makes it even more upsetting. Parents do not need to worry about the sexual content, or profane language, however parents need to be aware of the excessive, disturbing violence throughout the movie. If your child likes scary movies, I would say this film is appropriate for mature teenagers, though not for me!!!
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.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Review
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is the fourth movie in the series of Mission: Impossible. The Impossible Mission Force, otherwise known as IMF, is shut down when it’s implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin. That’s when Ghost Protocol begins, as Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his new team go undercover to clear their organization’s name. Without any help or high tech support from …it’s up to this group to save the world! If you like suspenseful, action packed movies, this is the one for you!
Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: April 17, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 12 +
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Talking Points:
I enjoyed the character’s in the film; from newcomer Jeremy Renner as Brandt to Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. They were all entertaining and very captivating.
I loved how the spies worked as team to complete their mission. This could spark some good parent/child conversations.
The movie is very violent, maybe a little too much for a PG13 rating.
Sexual Content: Mild
- Women wear low-cut out, revealing outfits.
- Agent Jane Carter seduces an Indian media mogul as he’s showing her his private art collection.
Violent Content: Excessive
- Throughout the film there are many fist fights, gun shots, explosions and car chases.
- A bad guy kidnaps a weapons expert, while his family is held hostage.
- When Ethan is in prison we see many prisoners beating on each other and on the guards.
- We see several charactera being shot and killed.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- Words such as “sh-t”, “d–n”, and “h–l,” are used several times throughout the film.
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
- Character’s drink alcohol at various points in the film.
Overall this was a very intense, violent and exciting movie; I was on the edge of my seat!!! Depending on whether your child is sensitive to violent scenes, I would say the film is appropriate for kids ages 12 and up.
“Your mission is, should you choose to accept,” see Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.
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.