kids movie review
Frozen-Kids Movie Reviews
Princess Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), soon to be Queen, and Princess Anna (Kristen Bell), are not only sisters, but best friends. Though things gradually change as Elsa developes secret powers. She has the ability to create snow and ice, with a simple touch or even a thought. When her powers get out of hand, their entire kingdom of Arendelle is cast into eternal winter, so Elsa goes into hiding to be alone. Now Anna is on a mission to find her sister and save their kingdom before it is too late. Frozen is a wonderful animated film, one the whole family will enjoy.
Rating: 4 1/2 buckets out of 5
Release Date: March 18, 2014
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 5 +
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
Will It Appeal to Kids? Yes
Talking Points:
What is love? That’s the premise of the film. One character says that love is putting another’s needs before your own. We see sacrificial love demonstrated throughout the film; with Anna sacrificing her life for her sister, the snowman sacrifices his life to help Anna, and the ice salesman, Kristoff, sacrifices his life for Anna.
There are great messages woven throughout the film, a character said that “People make bad choices if they’re mad, or scared, or stressed.” “True love brings out the best.”
In addition to the wonderful messages, the film is fun and entertaining with great music.
The theater was filled with young kids, teenagers and adults. I interviewed people after the movie, they all loved it!!
Sexual Content: Mild
- Character’s are shown kissing.
Violent Content: Moderate
- Characters get hit, thrown around, and even fall off a cliff.
- We saw sword and icicle fights. One character was almost impaled by an icicle.
- Characters were attacked by wolves.
- There’s a large snow monster that may frighten young kids. However he’s only in a few scenes, not the whole film.
Crude or Profane Language: None
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
- Characters are shown drinking champagne at a ball.
Will It Appeal to Kids? Yes
Overall Frozen is an entertaining, heartwarming film. Depending on the child, I recommend this movie for kids ages 5 and up. Parents need to be aware of some of the moderate violent scenes in the film.
Monster’s University-Kids Movie Review
Kids typically have dreams of what they want to be when they grow up, or have a dream college they want to attend. Monster, Michael “Mike” Wazowski, dreams of being a scarer, a monster who is able to make kids scream. Mike eventually attends the Scare Program at Monster’s University, and that’s where he meets James “Sulley” P. Sullivan. The two monster’s have different strengths and weaknesses. Mike is an ambitious hard working monster, though not very scary, and Sulley is a natural scarer (he comes from a family of talented scarers), however he doesn’t have the best work ethic.Together the two monsters face various trials and tribulations, but they learn to work together and use their talents to succeed. Monster’s University is the prequel to the 2001 film Monster’s Inc. It’s a wonderful animated film, one for the whole family!
Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: October 29, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 5+
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
Will It Appeal to Kids? Yes
Talking Points:
The film has wonderful messages of the importance of friendship . Mike and Sulley come to realize that they each have different strengths and weaknesses, they learn how to work together using their own gifts and talents.
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Excessive
- There is a lot of slapstick violence throughout the film. Mike drove a machine while reading a book, and ran over several students.
- Mike and Sulley get spanked with wooden paddles during their fraternity initiation.
- The premise of the film is monsters’ scaring children, which may ultimately scare young kids in the theater.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- Characters say, “what the…?”
Drugs and Alcohol: Mild
- Characters are shown drinking beverages at college parties out of red solo cups.
Will It Appeal to Kids? Yes
Overall Monster’s University is a fun, entertaining film for kids. Depending on the child, I recommend this film for kids ages 5 and up. Kids that scare easily may be frightened by some of the monsters.
The Smurfs 2- Kids Movie Review
The wicked wizard Gargamel (voice of Hank Azaria) is back, and he’s more wicked than ever. This time Gargamel has a new creation; a diminutive race of little stinkers, known as the Naughties. The problem is, he wants to transform them into Smurfs, but he doesn’t know the secret spell. Unfortunately, Smurfette is the only one that knows the spell to make the transformation happen. So Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and takes her to Paris. Now the Smurfs and their human friends go to the City of Light, with hopes to rescue their friend.
Rating: 4 and 1/2 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: December 2, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 5+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will it Appeal to Kids? Yes
Talking Points:
The importance of family is the core message woven throughout the film.
Sexual Content: Mild
- A couple of the Smurfs flirt with each other.
Violent Content: Moderate
- There is some slapstick violence, brought on by Gargamel. He falls off the Eiffel Tower, gets crushed by a falling taxicab, and he’s even thrown to the sky by fireworks.
- Character’s are punched, tripped and hit in the head.
- Gargamel turns humans into animals.
- A gigantic cat tries to eat the Smurfs and humans.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- Character’s don’t swear, but smurf is used in place of profane words such as; “son of a smurf,” “holy smurf,” and “Meryl smurfing Streep.”
- Name calling such as; “moron,” “dim-witted toad,” and “imbeciles” are said.
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
- Character’s are shown drinking wine.
Will it Appeal to Kids? Yes
Overall The Smurfs 2 is a fun, animated film for young kids. Parents may get a little bored, however the kids will be entertained.
Grown Ups 2
Lenny (Adam Sandler), Eric (Kevin James) and Kurt (Chris Rock) are back, and now all living in their hometown. However things get complicated when they come across old bullies, drugged bus drivers, drunk cops and preppie college lacrosse players. Though what’s most important to the gang, is they’re all together; the old buddies with their families, it doesn’t get much better than that!
Rating: 2 and 1/2 out of 5 buckets.
Release Date: November 5, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 11+
Sexual Content: Moderate
Violent Content: Moderate
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will it Appeal to Kids? Yes
Talking Points:
Amongst all the raunchy scenes, the group of men are all loving husbands and fathers. They truly care for their familieswell being.
Lenny’s son was continually bullied, so when Lenny ran into his childhood bully, he eventually confronted him and wanted an apology. Lenny eventually taught his son the importance of standing up for himself.
The film is filled with disgusting, raunchy silly humor; to name a few; we see chocolate ice cream that appears to be excrement, a police officer urinates in a pool (the water turns blue), a guy falls asleep in a bus and kids put Cheetos up his nose (one which he removes and eats), and character’s vomit. One character loved the fact that he can burp, sneeze and pass gas, all in a row. There are also several diaper-related jokes.
Sexual Content: Moderate
- We see several woman in skimpy bikinis and other revealing outfits.
- A janitor pretends to be an aerobic instructor, only to see the woman’s breast jiggle.
- There’s a car wash scene where we see male and female cheerleaders washing cars, very seductively. The men rub their privates up against the cars, and they lick the soap off the vehicle.
- The four male, “grown ups,” are forced to jump off a cliff, naked. We see this from a distance.
- There are sexual comments and references made throughout the film. Comments include male and female body parts, masturbation, erections and gay sex.
- A married woman jokingly asks if she can put her tongue down another man’s throat.
Violent Content: Moderate
- There was a huge slap stick, goofy fight amongst the frat boys and townspeople. Character’s were kicked, punched, stomped on and even hit by a beer keg.
- Nick, the drugged up bus driver, was continually abused. He was hung upside down in a bus, then fell and slid all around.
- One character rolled down a street in a giant tire; he hit several things while rolling, and was continually being hit.
- A character’s teenage son was mean and creepy. He wanted to hurt his dad, and other kids.
- A man pepper sprays himself.
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
- We hear “sh-t,” “d‑‑n,” “h‑‑‑,” “b‑‑ch” and “d‑‑k.” A father refers to his son as “fugly.”
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Moderate
- College students are shown drinking a lot, and some very drunk.
- Two high schoolers are given beer, they pretend to drink the beers to fit in; however they pour the alcohol out.
- We see adults drinking at a party.
Will it Appeal to Kids? Yes
Overall Grown Ups 2 is a raunchy movie, which isn’t even that funny. Parents need to be aware of the sexual references and jokes throughout the film. Depending on the kid, this film may appeal it kids ages 11 and up.
White House Down-Teen Movie Review
John Cale (Channing Tatum) is a Capitol policeman in pursuit of his dream job…Secret Service Agent! There was one problem, John didn’t do that well in the military or get the best grades in college, so he didn’t get the job. After getting rejected, John and his young daughter, Emily, got a tour of the White House. Things started out great, especially since Emily was so enamored with politics and the President, however while on the tour a group of paramilitary invaders bombed the rotunda, killing a lot of innocent people. Now it was up to John to rescue his daughter and save the President from the awful attack. White House Down is an action packed movie one that teenagers will most likely enjoy.
Rating: 3 and 1/2 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: November 4, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 11+
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will it Appeal to Teenagers? Yes
Talking Points:
John is a great character, he risks his life to help others.
There was an all-star cast, to name a few; Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx and Maggie Gyllenhall.
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Excessive
- Initially we see a terrorist acting as a janitor. He blows up the Capital, killing a lot of innocent people.
- The bad guys are precise in their attack. Scores of guards, soldiers, secret service and civilians die during the attack.
- There are explosions as several building blow up.
- The attacker is cruel and evil. He held a lot of people hostage in the White House. A young girl gets slapped and held at gun point by the terrorist.
- There are brawls amongst innocent people and the attackers.
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
- The f-word is said once. We also heard, “d–n,” “b–ch,” h–l” and “a–.”
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
- We see a character drinking an alcoholic beverage.
Will it Appeal to Teenagers? Yes
Overall White House Down is an action packed film. Depending on the kid, I recommend this film for kids ages 11 and up. However, parents need to be aware of the violent content.