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The Half of It-Kids Movie Reviews

“How many people find perfect love?” That’s what teenager Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) often wonders. Ellie is a very bright and intelligent teen who lives in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Ellie not only studies hard but also takes care of her widowed Chinese father, who barely speaks English. Money is tight for Ellie and her father so Ellie secretly writes school papers for other kids, and makes a nice income doing it. Though when Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) asks her to write a paper, it’s not for school. It’s a love letter to Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire), the girl of his dreams. However, things get complicated when Ellie discovers that she’s attracted to Aster as well. Is that her perfect love?

Rating: 4 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: May 1, 2020
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 11+
Sexual Content: Moderate
Violent/Disturbing Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

The movie will spark some great parent/child conversations regarding relationships between friends and lovers.

Sexual Content: Moderate

Characters kiss…same sex and opposite
There are conversations about being gay.
A lesbian relationship emerges.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Mild

A character is slapped.

Crude or Profane Language: Mild

We hear “hell,” “damn,” “s–t,” and “crap.”

Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate

We see teens drinking at a party. One character drinks too much and vomits.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall, this is a funny and insightful movie for pre-teens and teens.

Extraction-Kids Movie Review

Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is a mercenary who lives in the Australian Outback. He drinks too much while trying to forget his sordid past. Howe er, when the son of an of an imprisoned Indian drug kingpin is kidnapped, Tyler is hired to rescue the teenage boy and bring him back to safety. Extraction is a very violent film based on a graphic novel.

Rating: 2 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: April 10, 2020
MPAA Rating: R
Best Age Group: 17+
Sexual Content: None
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? No

Talking Points:

Sexual Content: None

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

A teenage boy is shot in the head.
There’s is fighting with automatic weapons, rifles, grenades and rockets..
We see open bloody wounds.
A teen is thrown off a building.
A teen boy cuts off one of his fingers (though not shown), wraps it in gauze, and then gives it to the kingpin.

Crude or Profane Language: Excessive

We hear “f–k,” “s–t,” “ass,” “bastard,” “bulls–t,”and “son of a bitch.”

Drug and Alcohol Content: None

We see teenagers smoking marijuana and drinking in a bar.

Will Kids Like It? No

Overall, this is an extremely violent film with not much of a storyline.

Trolls World Tour-Kids Movie Review

Best friends and love interests Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake) are back, and Poppy is now the queen of the Trolls. She loves being queen and wants to handle the trolls’ problems with love and hugs. However, her life changes when she receives an invitation from the Queen Barb, the queen of the hard Rock Trolls. Poppy is optimistic and excited about the invitation, however she eventually discovers that Queen Barb wants to destroy any kind of music that’s not her beloved Hard Rock. Now Poppy and her friends try to save all the Trolls. Trolls World Tour is the sequel to the popular 2016 animated musical, Trolls.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: April 10, 2020
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 6+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

There is a lot of fun music that kids will enjoy. We hear Hard Rock, Country, Funk, Classical and Techno.
The film highlights themes of love and accepting people who are different. We don’t always have to agree with each other, but we should respect each other’s differences.

Sexual Content: Mild

Flirting between two Trolls.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate

The Hard Rock Trolls have attacked other troll territories and kidnapped their leaders.
Bounty hunters are sent out to find Poppy and Branch.

Crude or Profane Language: Mild

We hear “you suck,” “dang,” and “we’re screwed.”

Drug and Alcohol Content: None

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall, this is a fun and entertaining film for kids and 6 and up. Parents need to be aware of the moderate violence.

Sierra Burgess is a Loser-Kids Movie Review

Sierra Burgess is NOT a loser, in fact she’s smart, funny and talented. She might not be the most fashionable girl in high school, and she’s a little overweight, but she doesn’t care. She doesn’t want to be in the popular group, and is content being in the band and hanging out with her best friend. Sierra’s life dramatically changes the day a popular girl named Veronica gives the very adorable starting quarterback, Jamey (Noah Centineo) Sierra’s cell number pretending it’s hers. The brilliant texts and phone calls begin. Sierra has to figure out a way to tell the boy she’s falling in love with that she’s not Veronica. This is a wonderful romantic comedy for teens and pre-teens.

Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: September 7, 2018
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 12+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: None
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

Sexual Content: Mild

Kissing.
Discussions about sex, however no sexual activity.

Violent/Disturbing Content: None

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

We hear “s–t,” “damn,” “ass, “bitch,” and “bastard.”

Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate

We see underage drinking at a high school party.
A teenager gets drunk and vomits.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall, this is an entertaining romantic comedy, appropriate for pre-teens and teens.

The Willoughbys- Kids Movie Review

Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby are not the best parents. They love each dearly, in fact so much they ignore their four kids. The children are not allowed to sing, play or do anything that might disturb their mother’s knitting. They eat whatever they want, and strangely enough the set of twins have the same name and share one sweater between themselves. The Willoughby children decide to send their parents away on a trip, hoping they’ll eventually be orphaned. However, Mr. Willoughby says, “We’ll hire a not-good nanny! For cheap!” Luckily for the children the nanny (Maya Rudolph) is kind and loving, and actually cares about the kids. When the nanny befriends Commander Melanoff (Terry Crews), the Willoughby’s candy maker neighbor, the children discover the true meaning of family.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: April 22, 2020
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 8+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

Sexual Content: Mild

Kissing.
Several references to Mrs. Willoughby’s balls of yarn and joking about male anatomy.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate

There is some cartoon violence. Characters get thrown out of windows, they get electric shocks, and fall from big heights.
Character’s nearly freeze to death.
When the parents are on vacation, the Willoughby kids destroy some of the knickknacks in their house.

Crude or Profane Language: None
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

Character’s drink wine.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall this is a fun and entertaining film for the whole family.