Movie Reviews and How to Use Them

Okay, today I'm going to talk about how you can use movie reviews to judge a film's appropriateness. In my previous post, I talked about Kids-in-Mind, and how this website can help you judge a film's content. Before you look at a film and think it's okay just because there's little or no objectionable content, don't forget to check the reviews. The reviews can give you an idea about the attitude and themes of the movie, which may not show up in a content review. For instance, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire received a 3.6.3 from Kids-in-Mind. The Bourne Ultimatum received a similar content rating of 3.6.4. According to the content, The Bourne Ultimatum has just a little bit more language than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. So does that make it appropriate for children?


This is where critic reviews come in handy. Rotten Tomatoes is a website that offers a collection of several hundred critics, allowing you to access a variety of reviews very quickly. Here's what I like to do: after reading a content analysis from Kids-in-Mind, I generally head over to Rotten Tomatoes and read several reviews about the movie to see what the critics have to say. Using the above examples, you can read that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is "an action film for children," and also "exciting and faster-paced...visually, it is by far the most splendid." On the other hand, The Bourne Ultimatum is described by critics as "faster, grittier and more brutal," "crunchingly violent," as well as containing "larynx-crushing martial arts." Even though the levels of violence receive the same rating, the attitude behind these two films is wildly different. While Harry Potter contains fantasy violence (some of which is used for humorous purposes), The Bourne Ultimatum contains realistic violence. Using the reviews, gain as much information as you can before making a final decision about whether to see a movie or not.

You can learn a lot just from the headlines of various reviews. "Heartwarming," "Splendid," "Charming," may clue you in to the tone of the film. Watch the trailer for the movie if you can, and see if those words seem to match the trailer--does it really look "heartwarming?" Other words used by the critics can tip you off about things you may want to think twice about: "Provocative," "Disturbing," "Brutal," "Gritty," "Obscene," "Sensuous," etc. Still read the reviews before you make your final decision--these are simply things that I have found to be useful.

And on that note, my next post will be a small review of WALL-E, Pixar's latest film.