Carolyn F.'s Profile
Reviews
July 3, 2022
Fun look at culture clash through DR eyes
Watched it with my daughter (age 10) and loved it! Very tight 30 minute episodes have multiple storylines focusing on mom Elena at home, dad Victor at his advertising job, and daughters Cucu and Emilia at middle school. Most of the episodes focus on aspects of American life that the family was unfamiliar with before coming to America - sleepovers, Halloween, driving laws, etc. Everyone is also dealing with stereotypes - the dad at work and the two girls at middle school. None of it is really mean-spirited, just non-immigrant Americans making ignorant mistakes. A grim-faced social studies teacher enforcing Dade county's "only English in public buildings" law pops up in a single episode. Emilia also gets involved in some Mean Girls drama, and Cucu has a crush that she doesn't know what to do with. LANGUAGE: No swear words. Cucu is presented with a chalkboard of English swears on a chalkboard but they are blurred out. She says bullsh*t later in that episode and gets detention for it. VIOLENCE: Mostly just kids sniping at each other. A third grader threatens to shave off another kid's eyebrows. There is a reference to drug cartels having people murdered. SEX: Kissing. Talk about boobs and male interest in them. There is an episode where the dad is freaking out about a business meeting taking place in a strip club. The mom reminds him that her cousin was a stripper for a while, and gives him tips on how to act. It turns out to be a club with male dancers, who rip off their pants to reveal sparkly boxer briefs. OCCULT: When Emilia wants to get back at a boy, she and the other girls in her squad get out a spellbook and try to curse him. GENDER: A very nice Gloria Estefan drag queen makes an appearance in the first episode. Cucu resists the home ec vs shop class requirement. DIVERSITY: Could have been addressed better. There is one Black American character, Barbara, who works in Victor's office and is called Whoopi by their boss because he can't keep anyone's names straight. But there aren't any Black kids at the girls' school (African Americans or Afro-Latinos) or any Haitian immigrants in the show. Which is weird because a ton of Haitians came to Miami in the late 70s and early 80s. None of the episodes address skin color at all.
1 person found this helpful.
June 5, 2022
Entertaining in places, but contains mixed messages.
I watched this with my 10 year old. While she enjoyed it, a lot went over her head. The movie is set in 2049 and the best part of it is the dry commentary from various robots, saying things like "Enclosing humans in small spaces either results in more humans or less humans." She didn't get any of those. The verbal references to sex went over her head too:
- Walt meets Ginny and makes a joke about along the lines of her shipping out in the morning so tonight being their "only chance."
- Sophie and Walt discussing when each will be allowed to use their shared room for masturbation (referred to euphemistically). Sophie rather scathingly sneers at Walt and tells him that he just needs to use "self-control," only to have Walt accuse her of breaking her own rule later.
- A reoccurring joke in which Sophie claims that Walt once got an erection while giving a speech and this this was extremely debilitating for him. This causes him to become popular on the ship somehow? Female characters sympathetically questioning Walt about the current state of his penis is played for laughs, and Sophie has no remorse about this. This bit did cause my daughter is ask what an erection was, but she lost interest in the question even before we could answer her.
- Walt suggesting to Sophie that he could have sex with the ship's female captain in order to get to stay on board, referring to this as a honeypot scheme.
In addition there were two visual references to sex. One occurs when the two main characters change out of their spacesuits. Walt and Sophie both are briefly in their underwear (him in a white T and boxers, her in shorts and a plain camisole). They peak over their shoulder at each other and quickly turn away, and then look back again and make lingering eye contact. It is one of the many times in the movie when they almost kiss but don't. At another point in the movie Sophie is getting ready to do a sexy video call with her boyfriend. She positions herself carefully on her bed and unzips her spacesuit to reveal a lacy camisole underneath. Before the boyfriend has a chance to react to this, Walt comes into the room unexpectedly. Sophie slams the laptop shut and acts mortified. This is when Walt acts excessively indignant and calls her a hypocrite for planning to break her own no masturbation" rule.
Sophie has much more of story arc than Walt. At the beginning of the movie she shares her impossibly perfect boyfriend checklist and insists that she belongs with Calvin because he literally checks all her boxes. Up until one month prior, she had been living with his family since age 14 and dating Calvin since 9th grade, which is a little ew - basically she's been dating her adoptive brother for the past 9 years. Sophie realizes that she's been going along with all of Calvin's wishes regarding their future without making any plans for herself. She also realizes that while he is perfectly nice, he never going to put his plans on hold or shape them to suit what she wants out of life.
The movie is less interested in developing Walt as a character. In spite of wanting to go to space since a very young age, he has very little knowledge in or aptitude for science. But because he is willing to lie, steal, and use people, he does manage to eventually reach his goal. He's still lying and sneaking around at the very end of the movie. It is also disappointing that Walt is repeatedly called "dumb" by other characters and by himself. I was really hoping that he'd eventually find something he was good at or that he'd realize that science-smart isn't the only kind of intelligence, but no. The captain of the ship makes this worse by repeatedly telling him that because he is so earthshatteringly dumb it is a good thing that he is so pretty. At the same time, Sophie criticizes Walt for not having a six-pack, one of the things on her personal boyfriend checklist. When he says that his girlfriend Ginny doesn't care if he doesn't work out, Sophie sneers that of course she does and the audience is supposed to agree with her. Walt is very much treated like a bimbo throughout the movie, self-centered and skating by on his good looks.
While the film has racial diversity in the leads and a brief subplot involving a lesbian couple, racial and sexual identity is not actually referenced in any way in the film. Sophie is Asian and Calvin is Black and both are super smart and skilled in their field, but the movie sort of misfires when it comes to Walt's identify. At one point Walt meets his Elon Musk inspired hero (a white guy) who says that he sees a lot of himself in Walt (another white guy) and instead of punishing him for stowing away on the rocket decides to randomly offer him a job. Walt realizes at the end of the movie that he isn't going to suddenly become a better version of himself just by living in space, but never really articulates how he intends to be a better person back on Earth.
There are a few cuss words, but only rarely are they used in anger at another person - mostly directed toward Walt for being self-centered. For a PG-13 movie this isn't that much sex at all, but what little there is is treated as shameful. There is zero violence other than Walt and Sophie working out with a boxing bag. The superficiality of the characters bothered me a lot more than the little bit of cursing or sex.
2 people found this helpful.
September 25, 2020
Fun and empowering, though with bad science
I watched this movie with my eight year old, and she enjoyed it. Not as good as the Descendants movies, and about as harmless. A bunch of kids learn to work together and save the day. They are all princes and princesses, second in line to the throne, and so are candidates for a super secret society of crime fighters. Meanwhile some people are protesting the idea of still living in a monarchy, and oppose the idea of having a royal family at all.
The bad science was a little annoying for me. The premise is that all second born royals inherit a gene that gives them superpowers when they reach puberty. And the bad guy's weapon is a device that can detect and target only the DNA of first born royals somehow. I guess if the monarchy finally does step down everyone's DNA would suddenly mutate as well?
There is zero swearing and zero sex. There are a few fight scenes but they are just choreographed martial arts - very short and totally bloodless. I saw some other review talking about a dad getting murdered and someone getting killed with a shovel. Neither happens in this movie at all.
4 people found this helpful.
August 13, 2020
Great for adults, fine (just a little boring) for kids.
This documentary is the story of an inspiring and talented lyricist and composer, who is responsible for not only the musical version of Little Shop of Horrors but also the 90s movies that launched the Disney animation renaissance. The documentary is child appropriate, although adults will find it more interesting.
In this documentary we see Howard's early years in theater and interest in directing, and then his efforts to create successful stage musicals. This is a difficult business but he perseveres in spite of some failures. He eventually works for Disney, articulates the "I Wish" song that had been a staple of animated Disney features all along, and stays true to his creative vision.
And he was also gay. In the documentary this is addressed directly, through verbal references and photos of Howard with his college boyfriend and with his partner later. The most gratuitous photos are of two men leaning into each other. There no other physical contact is mentioned, or depicted in photos. These are positive relationships.
And yes, Howard died of AIDS. The disease is mentioned as a "gay cancer" in the terminology of the time, and we see protest signs held by some very hateful people. Howard at times looks a bit run down, and there are verbal descriptions of white patches on his throat, but there is certainly nothing scary or graphic. Unless your child was distressed by the polio cases in "An American Girl Story - Maryellen 1955: Extraordinary Christmas," there is no reason why they can't watch this.
I watched this documentary with my eight year old daughter. She was delighted by the footage of behind the scenes tapings of Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, especially when she saw Angela Lansbury and recognized her from Murder She Wrote. She liked seeing how hand-drawn animation was done, and the scenes from Little Shop of Horrors film. She's had homosexual people in her life since forever, but this film provided an opportunity to discuss the AIDS crisis in a safe way, as well as the distressing way that other people reacted to it. Some of the movie moved a little slower than she would like, but it certainly wasn't inappropriate in any way. Yes, he does die at the end, but "Anne Frank Remembered" is rated as 9+ and this is much less intense.
August 13, 2020
Beautiful, artistic, passionate
As a former AP Art History instructor I had to watch this and it did not disappoint. Shot after shot was not only beautiful but also meaningful, with connections to the history and cultures of Africa. Plus there is a lot about just parenthood in general.
I watched it with my 8 year old and she enjoyed seeing the connections to The Lion King. She was also amazed and interested in the costumes and settings. It was not quite active enough for her, but she drifted in and out of the room and thought that Blue Ivy had a lovely singing voice.
In the entire 1.5 hour film there are maybe five blink-and-you'll-miss-it sexually suggestive dance moves. And that is a generous estimate, for those who see any arched back and hip sway as sexual. The segment about 15 minutes in where young Simba gets lost is a tiny bit scary, but certainly less so than in the live action Lion King, which was only rated as for kids 8+.
The 13+ recommendation is just baffling to me.
September 22, 2019
FORMER Dora fans will like it. Current ones may be confused.
This movie uses all the elements of the TV show (the original one, not the teenage Dora in the city) - Boots, Diego, Baby Jaguar, Dora's grandma, Swiper, Map, and Backpack. She even sings a lot of the songs from the TV show. Even as a teen is as perky and enthusiastic as ever. But parents should be aware that the movie is not so subtly mocking Dora as much as it is celebrating her.
It starts with Dora and Diego as children in the jungle. Dora acts just like she does in the cartoon, causing her parents to look at her like she is deranged after she addresses the audience repeatedly to do her "Can you say..." bit from the show. After sixteen years in the jungles of Peru, Dora is sent to southern California to go to high school with Diego, and has some fish out of water experiences there. She sticks out horribly, culminating in an animal inspired dance routine that had my daughter pulling her shirt over her face so she wouldn't have to watch. Diego yells at her for being so weird, and Dora sticks up for herself but is at the same time so distraught that she goes and cries in the closet.
Way too far into the movie, Dora, Diego, and two other kids (all of whom hate each other), get kidnapped from a school field trip when they decide to follow a fake museum guards advice and go into the off limits basement area of the museum. They manage to escape, and then race the bad guys to try to find Dora's parents and the lost city. While in the jungle there are some fun action sequences, creative use of tools, and solving of "jungle puzzles." There are also jokes about mating behavior, a song about pooping, and several people (including Dora) get high from plant spores and have trippy hallucinations about being cartoon characters (which is one of the things that I think makes this movie more for the older end of the PG audience). While Dora stays pretty cool throughout, several adults become overwhelmed sob really loudly for a really long time. The end of the movie shows Dora being smarter and braver than everyone, including her parents. Her dad, by the way, is portrayed as a lovable buffoon throughout, and both Dora and her mom are constantly giving him "ok shut up now" looks.
In short, this is not a loving extension of the original show. It is a smug satire of it.
December 2, 2018
Great production, too intense for younger kids
My six year old daughter was begging me to watch one of the new DC or Marvel super hero movies. I opted for Blank Panther since I've seen it many times, and knew how each scene would go. She liked it, but wanted to clown around and chatter for much of it, since most of the plot and dialogue went over her head even with my explanations. She didn't mind the big climactic final battle, though I think there was too much happening on the scene for her to focus on. The only parts she did find disturbing were the two combat for the crown scenes. The first one made her hide her eyes and scream, and she asked me to fast forward the second. She didn't have any nightmares but since the best elements of film didn't make any impression on her it will be a few years before we try another one.
February 19, 2019
Tragedy, Trauma, and Hellfire Theology
I saw this movie ages ago and thought my six year old would like it, but in the first half there was one horrible event after another. First little Dolly goes to church in make-up and gets spanked by her mom afterward. For older kids this would just be funny but for little ones spankings are serious business. Then Dolly gets caught stealing paints from school and gets ferruled by the teacher. You don't see it but you hear the smacks of the ruler and Dolly crying out each time, and see the smirks of the bullies, and later on Dolly shows her hands all red and sore. Then Dolly's little brother is born too early, and you not only see her mom hysterical, but the dad is looking down into a blanket with little spindly arms sticking out of it and going still. My daughter knows her little cousin was a premie, and even though she was born over a year ago she was seriously freaked out by a little baby dying in a movie. Dolly's mom is depressed for a good long time and then finally sews her the titluar coat, which leads to the bullies at school cornering Dolly, ripping it off, and locking her alone and almost naked in a dark closet.
At that point my daughter called it quits and wouldn't watch anymore, and I'm just as glad because I had remembered Dolly persevering due to the love of her family. Instead the second half of the movie is all about how people need to be saved so that they can see their dead relatives in heaven. And about how if you pray hard enough God make it rain and save the crops. And how married people need to keep sleeping together and let the babies come as they may, regardless of anyone's health or your ability to support them. None of these are theological discussions that my six year old is ready for.
From an adult standpoint, the movie is cute. But Dolly's dialogue is not at true to her age, and it makes Hallmark movies look like Spike TV.
March 9, 2019
Younger kids will like it too!
I've tried reading chapter books with my six year old daughter before - things like the new Amelia Bedelia books and some mermaid adventure stories. She'd be into it for a chapter or two and then done. But for some reason I picked up our copy of Treasure Island and she was riveted throughout. We read three chapters a night every night until it was done, which took about a week. I'm sure that most of it went over her head, which is why we will be rereading this when she is 8 or so. But she still found the story really interesting, and was very worried about whether the pirates would win and whether Long John Silver was actually a good guy or bad guy.
We learned lots of new words, and Jim Hawkins demonstrated the importance of sticking to your word even if other people don't.
September 3, 2019
Best for upper elementary, doable with younger kids
I watched this movie with my daughter, mostly because we were waiting for Hurricane Dorian to hit and bored out of our minds. She just turned seven recently. A small amount of the movie was a little boring for her. She wanted to stay in the room but was doing gymnastics for some of the dialogue. I did a bit of translating as well, about "Now they are going to go find the missing tablet" and "Now they have to go get the diary back." In the process she learned what a tank was, that not all tablets are electronic, and that the Nazis burned books of people they didn't like. The zeppelin was amazing and thanks to Renaissance Festival she appreciated how that one motorcycle guy was dispatched. Most of the violence was low key - people shot with a perfect tiny bullet hole, severed heads without actually seeing a beheading, etc. She was very interested in the final half hour, when Indy is trying to get past the booby traps. Before Donovan chooses the wrong cup, I paused the movie and warned her that this is the scary part and explained exactly what was going to happen. She asked for me to let it play and I did, and she hid her eyes behind a blanket as much as she felt was necessary. An older kid would not have required as much explanation and prep, but this movie is perfectly find for younger kids with support. After the movie she insisted on playing Indiana Jones, and I had to hide things around the house and give her cryptic clues on where to find them. She had a great time. Honestly if kids can manage Goonies, and are warned about the ending, they can manage this.
Great role models - iffy since Indy is smart and brave but also obviously a terrible archeologist, never measuring anything and smashing up churches and skeletons willy nilly.
Too much violence - Meh. I'd say manageable violence. She was most disturbed by Sean Connery sacrificing a flock of innocent seagulls.
Too much sex - okay there are two kissing scenes and both are played for laughs, easily dismissable as gross by younger kids. The implied sex and jokes about it later were subtle enough to go straight over her head.
Too much swearing - people say damn a few times. That's about it.
Drinking and smoking - The rich dude serves champagne, and they barely sip at it. Dr Schneider smokes after being revealed as an evil Nazi.