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Stargirl-Kids Movie Review: Kids’ Movie Review

There’s a new girl in school, and her name is Stargirl (Grace VanderWaal, 2016 America’s Got Talent winner) . Stargirl enrolls in a small-town high school; she was previously home schooled. Initially, the free-spirited teen has a hard time making friends. She dresses and acts differently from all the other kids. However, things change during a Friday night football game. At halftime Stargirl sings a folk song with her ukulele. The team scores a touchdown immediately after hearing the beautiful sound of the new girls’ voice. Stargirl becomes the good luck charm for the entire school. Stargirl is based on a Young Adult novel of the same name.

Rating: 5 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: March 13, 2020
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 10+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

The film highlights the importance for tweens and teens to “be yourself.”

Sexual Content: Mild

Teens kiss.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Mild

A character’s father dies.
A football player is injured during a game and is carried off in an ambulance.
It’s mentioned that a teen’s younger brother was permanently injured from a bike crash.

Crude or Profane Language: Mild

We hear “dumb.”

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

We see an adult drinking a glass of wine.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall this is a fun and entertaining movie. Depending on the child , this is appropriate for kids ages 10 and up.

Dumplin-Kids’ Movie Review

“A swimsuit body is a body with a swimsuit.” That’s what Willowdean “Will” Dickson (Danielle Macdonald) says when her mother is shocked when she wants to enter a beauty pageant. Will’s mom, Rosie (Jennifer Aniston), is in charge of the “Miss Teen Bluebonnet” pageant and was once a beauty queen herself. She loves her daughter but disappointed that Willowdean is not beauty queen material; she even calls her daughter “Dumplin,” as Willowdean is an overweight girl and doesn’t particulary care about her appearance. Will decides to rebel so she and her best friend sign up for the pageant along with a few other atypical girls. Dumplin is based on the 2015 Young Adult novel.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: December 7, 2018
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 10+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: None
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

The film will spark some great parent/child conversations regarding body image, self confidence and mother/daughter relationships.

Sexual Content: Mild

Kissing

Violent/Disturbing Content: Mild

Bullying and name calling to an overweight teenage girl.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

We hear “f–k,” “s–t,” “hell,” “damn,” “ta-tas,” and “butts.”
Name calling such as “whale,” “pig,” and “fat ass.”

Drug and Alcohol Content: None

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall this is a fun and entertaining comedy with a dramatic element.

The Call of the Wild-Kids’ Movie Review

Life is good for Buck, a St. Bernard/Scotch Collie dog. His owner is Judge Miller, he lives in a beautiful California home, and everyone in town knows the beloved dog. However, Buck’s life dramatically changes when he is stolen from his family and is sent to the Yukon to work as a sled dog. Luckily, John Thornton (Harrison Ford), comes across the poorly treated dog and saves his life. Together the man/dog duo go on an adventure to the exotic wilds of the Alaskan Yukon in the 1890’s during the Klondike Gold Rush. The Call of the Wild is a family-friendly adaptation of Jack London’s classic novel.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: February 21, 2020
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 8+
Sexual Content: None
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

Sexual Content: None

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

There are physical fights between men, and also men and dogs.
A dog is beaten by a man with a baton.
Animals are killed by other animals.
Dogs are pushed to extreme, they are even whipped to keep working.
A character bleeds to death.
A character is trapped in a burning cabin.

Crude or Profane Language: Mild

We hear “hell,” and “damit.”

Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate

Characters are shown drinking alcohol in bars.
A man frequently drinks whiskey and it’s clear he has a drinking problem.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall this is a wonderful family film. Parents need to be aware of the excessive violence and drug and alcohol content.

Fantasy Island-Kids’ Movie Review

Be careful what you wish for. The brochures say that it’s a place where “anything and everything can come true,” The tropical resort is absolutely beautiful, and the lucky guests dreams are promised to come true. However, when the fantasies become nightmares it’s not that pleasant, in fact it’s terrifying!!! Now the guests must try and solve the island’s mystery in order to escape alive. Fantasy Island is loosely based on television show which aired from 1978-1984.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: February 13, 2020
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

Sexual Content: Mild

We see male and female models in skimpy swimsuits.
We see a married couple in bed. The woman is shown waking up bare-shouldered, under the covers.
It’s mentioned that many of the guests have sex related fantasies.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

Characters are shot, stabbed, blown, drown, fall from high locations and die from explosives.
A character is tortured-bound to a chair and gagged.
There are creepy creatures that may scare young kids.
A woman is shown losing a lot of blood through her mouth and nose.
Other people are captured by masked men.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

We hear the f-word once. We also hear “sh-t,” “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” and “h–.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

Characters are shown drinking wine, martinis, champagne and other alcoholic beverages.
There’s a discussion about cocaine on the island.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall this is a horror film. Parents need to be aware of the violent content and profane language.

Sonic The Hedgehog-kids’ Movie Review

Sonic is a blue hedgehog with supersonic speed powers. Though life gets complicated for the beloved hedgehog as Dr. Ivo Robotinik (Jim Carrey) is after Sonic and wants to steal his supersonic speed powers to take over the world. Luckily Sonic has some help from Tom “Donut Lord” Wachowski (James Marsden), though Sonic still manages to get into plenty of mischief as he’s on the run. Sonic The Hedgehog is a kid friendly film based on the video game franchise published by Sega.

Rating: 4 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: February 13, 2020
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 8+
Sexual Content: None
Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points

Sexual Content: None

Violent/Disturbing Content: Moderate

Cartoonish, slapstick fantasy violence.
We see drones that shoot lasers, bullets and explosives.
Characters punch one another.
Two people fall off a building.
A tranquilizer gun is used.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

We hear “hell,” “fart,” and “freak.” We also hear expressions that start but get cut off: “son of a …” and “what the…”

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

We see a character drinking a beer.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall this is a fun and entertaining. Depending on the child