up parent movie review

"Delightful, Terrific & Heartwarming Adventure"

What You Need To Know:

(CCC, BBB, V, M) Very strong Christian, moral worldview promoting letting go of your sins and burdens to find new life, loving and caring relationships, heroic action, sacrifice to help others, marriage, and other Christian, biblical values, with references to getting married in a church, having a funeral in a church and an afterlife in Heaven; no foul language but a couple of “darn” words; light action cartoon violence such as child and animals in peril, a scary thunderstorm, snarling leader of a pack of dogs whose frightfulness is undercut by some very funny comedy, dogs chase giant bird, dogs chase characters, dog bites bird’s leg, villain tries to kill protagonist with a sword, villain chases protagonist and his new friend, characters in danger of falling from great height, a villain is shown falling, villain and three of his canine minions try to shoot down floating house with boy in it, boy almost falls from open ramp of dirigible balloon, protagonist gets angry and injures a man with his cane, and characters often attached precariously to a hose which swings wildly at dangerous heights; no sex; no nudity; no alcohol; no smoking or drugs; and, light miscellaneous problems such as protagonist lies to send annoying boy on a wild goose chase, crotchety old man and boy’s sadness that his father has become too busy for boy’s scouting activities is not resolved.

More Detail:

A floating house. A crotchety old man. A young scout who hasn’t been camping. A giant bird that craves chocolate. Talking dogs!!!

These are just a few of the delightful ingredients to Pixar and Disney’s great new comedy adventure, UP, one of the most entertaining, hilarious and poignant animated features they’ve ever made (or anyone else for that matter).

The story starts in the 1930s. Little Carl Fredricksen meets precocious Ellie in a ramshackle, abandoned old house. They discover they are both big fans of the explorer Charles “Adventure is out there!” Muntz, but their hero has been disgraced and has disappeared in the jungle mountaintop of Paradise Falls in Venezuela to find proof of a giant bird he believes exists. Ellie and Carl plan to go there someday to explore.

[Warning – possible spoilers follow] A lovely montage shows that Carl and Ellie grow up and fall in love. They get married and rebuild the ramshackle old house where they pretended to go on great adventures together as children. They keep saving for their trip to Paradise Falls, but every time they get ahead, something happens. Like a flat tire. Or a broken leg. Before they know it, they are getting old, past middle age. Carl finally decides to go ahead and buy airplane tickets to Venezuela, but Ellie suddenly gets deathly ill and passes away.

Cut to elderly Carl still living in their house. He is surrounded by the massive construction of a bunch of skyscrapers. He refuses to sell their beloved house to the developer.

One day, Russell, a young Wilderness Explorer knocks on Carl’s door. All Russell needs is one more badge to become a Senior Wilderness Explorer, a badge showing that he has assisted an elderly person. Carl can’t be bothered, however, so he sends Russell on a wild goose chase – to capture an annoying bird that does not exist, a snipe.

Then, another bad thing happens. One of the construction men has accidentally nearly broken the beloved mailbox that Carl built with his wife Ellie. When the man tries to fix it, Carl hits him with his cane, causing the man’s head to bleed. The judge sentences Carl to the local retirement home.

Instead of going, Carl attaches hundreds of helium-filled balloons to the chimney of his house. He plans to fly to Paradise Falls and fulfill the dream that inspired he and his beloved Ellie. Once high in the air, he discovers that Russell was under the porch looking for the snipe. It looked strangely like a mouse, Russell says.

Carl tries to drop Russell back on the ground and take off again, but Providence intervenes and they are whisked to Paradise Falls, where they find the adventure of a lifetime. They also may just lose their lives in the process!

UP is a terrific movie full of crazy hilarity, hairbreadth escapes, enchanting characters, thrilling suspense, brilliant wit, and incredibly poignant, touching moments that remind one of the most heartfelt moments in one’s favorite movies. In fact, UP has one of the most adorable, winsome and extraordinarily tender openings ever seen in a movie. And, did we mention that there are talking dogs?

UP is also one of the funniest animated movies ever made. There are a couple moments in this movie that are so funny that the laughter in the audience drowned out the dialogue for almost a minute, or maybe more. There are also a few jokes that are laugh-out-loud hilarious, very clever and even totally unexpected.

Like every Pixar movie, UP breaks new ground. Instead of seeking photorealism, UP has an intentional symbolist style that is reminiscent of Antoine de Saint-Exupery classic tale of THE LITTLE PRINCE.

Furthermore, like the MISSION, it has a clear allegory of letting go of your burdens and sins so you can accept the gift of new life. In many ways, Carl is born again when he lets go and crosses his heart.

Pete Docter and Bob Peterson have written a great script that’s beautifully directed by Docter, with help from Peterson as co-director. They’ve been associated with many other Pixar movies, but especially with the TOY STORY movies, MONSTERS INC. and FINDING NEMO.

Best of all, UP is another family-friendly classic movie from the magnificent team at Pixar and Disney. Ultimately, its message is that the best, most wonderful adventures we have are the ones we find with the people we love.

Pixar is at the top of its game here. Even when it ventures into situations that might be too scary or too intense for younger children, such as a pack of snarling (and talking) dogs or a villain trying to shoot down Carl’s house with Russell in it, the Pixar filmmakers show great taste and creativity by undercutting and relieving the moment with hilarious comedy or a heartfelt action.

All that said, UP is not absolutely perfect. At one point, Russell mentions to Carl that his father has become too busy to go to every one of Russell’s Wilderness Explorer meetings, or to take him camping. This plot point is not resolved, but it easily could have been, without making the movie seem overlong. Apparently, the filmmakers felt that doing this might take away from the relationship the movie is building between Russell and his new friend, Carl.

Also, some critics or viewers may think that the movie’s action-filled third act is slightly too frenetic or goes on slightly too long. This is a very minor, highly debatable flaw, however.

The good news is that there will probably not be a more entertaining, more heartfelt, more exciting, more creative, or funnier movie than UP this year. It has almost everything anyone could possibly want to see when they spend their hard-earned bucks at the local multiplex. And, did we mention that it has talking dogs!?

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Short takes

Not suitable under 5; parental guidance to 8 (scary scenes, themes)

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Up
• a review of Up completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 3 September 2009 .

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie.

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

In his late seventies, and following the death of his wife Ellie, Carl Fredricksen (voice of Ed Asner) decides to fulfil the dream he and his wife had shared since childhood, of going to exotic Paradise Falls in South America. Their hero, the once-famous explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) had claimed this was the most beautiful place in the world. Carl ties thousands of helium balloons to his house and takes off. Some time into the journey he discovers that a visiting scout Russell (Justin Nagai) has accidentally stowed away. They are joined in their adventures by a rare bird called Kevin and a dog called Dug (Bob Peterson). When Carl finally meets Muntz, his hero is not the person he thought he would be.

Themes info

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Death and separation, animal cruelty

Use of violence info

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

• Carl hits a construction worker in the head with his pronged walker leaving a bloody injury requiring the ambulance to attend
• In self-defence, Kevin runs at Dug to subdue him and tackles him to the ground.
• Carl hits a croaking frog on the head mistaking it for an alarm clock
• Dug is attacked and thrown by a bite to the neck from Alpha (head dog of the pack)
• Alpha lunges at and bites Kevin’s leg drawing blood
• Muntz captures Kevin in a net and drags her into his aircraft
• Muntz torches Carl’s house before making his escape
• Russell is tied to a chair by the dog pack and slid out of the ramp of the flying aircraft
• Pack dogs attack Russell from their aeroplanes as he dangles from the flying house
• Dug bites Muntz’ leg before being thrown out of the room by Muntz
• Carl and Muntz engage in a fight with a sword and walking aid including hitting each other in the face.
• Dug is again attacked by Alpha and thrown
• A second fight occurs between Carl and Muntz on top of the aircraft and in the house. Muntz jumps out and falls, presumably to his death, through the clouds.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under five info.

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• as a child, Carl falls suddenly out of sight through the attic floor, breaking his arm
• old Carl ties thousands of balloons to his house and the house lifts off and soars through the city into the sky, connecting with some objects on the way
• the house crashes to and over the ground on several occasions
• menacing dogs chase the bird, Kevin through the jungle. Threatening shadows are sometimes used throughout the movie during chase scenes.
• Kevin is rather large and can be frightening - for example towards Carl on their first meeting
• the dogs leap up out of hiding in the bushes, growling and running at Carl
• the dogs have scary red eyes for most of the movie. With special collars they can also “talk” which could be unnerving for young children.
• there are a number of large dinosaur skeletons on display in the aircraft
• a number of flying helmets and goggles are kept atop wooden manikin heads that, when thrown to the floor, could be mistaken by young children as real heads.

Aged five to eight info

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• themes of death and separation are interwoven into the movie with the miscarriage of Ellie’s baby, the death of Ellie, the separation of Russell from his family and its prior breakdown ending in divorce, and Kevin’s continual separation from her baby chicks.
• in the opening scenes, Ellie (as a child) keeps a hamster in a bare cage with nothing but a rat wheel to entertain it.
• Russell wedges his foot into Carl’s front door so that Carl accidentally slams the door against it causing Russell to exclaim “ow”.
• in Carl’s imagination, Russell is seen dangling from a rope from the window of the flying house looking for a bus stop when he is accidentally dropped.
• the house flies into a violent lightening storm. Both Carl and Russell, along with the furniture and belongings, crash around the house. Russell almost slides out the front door.
• both Russell and Carl fall out of the house as it descends, grab onto an attached hose, and end up on the precipice of a cliff.
• Russell gives up and, whilst still tied to the house, falls over and allows himself to be dragged face-down along in the dirt.
• Kevin picks up Russell in her beak and wings and plays with him like a toy somewhat like a cat plays with its prey; which is the initial expectation.
• the pack dogs take Carl and friends hostage and surround them. They seem in great danger for a while.
• whilst escaping Muntz and the dogs, Carl and Russell are dragged through rocks and over cliffs by the still afloat house
• dogs fall off a cliff into a river below
• Russell flies away on his own with several balloons attached.  He is captured and tied to a chair.
• Kevin is locked up in a cage after being captured in a net
• Russell threatens to fall off the ramp of the aircraft before he is saved by Carl.  He does, however, fall out of the house and, grabbing onto the hose, is dragged by the house along the windows of the aircraft.
• dogs regularly surround various characters in a threatening and menacing way
• Russell is fired upon by three dogs in aeroplanes with machine gun darts.  The aeroplanes eventually crash and the dogs escape in parachutes.
• Muntz uses a gun to pop the balloons on the house. The house disappears through the clouds.

Aged eight to thirteen info

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

No further scenes of concern

Thirteen and over info

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Nothing of concern

Product placement

Sexual references.

None of concern

Nudity and sexual activity

A passionate kiss is exchanged between Ellie and Carl on their wedding day

Use of substances

Muntz arranges for his dogs to pour himself and Carl an alcoholic beverage before dinner

Coarse language

In a nutshell.

Up is an animated 3D fantasy comedy with some scary scenes that make it unsuitable for under 5s and some slightly older children. It is a funny, yet poignant, critique of the human character.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• perseverance and courage
• kindness and respect

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as.

• putting their faith in the wrong role models and heroes
• procrastination and regrets
• bullying and victimisation

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Movie Review: “Up”

by Kelly Nelson

May 29, 2009

MPAA Rating: PG 

    “Up” is the story of balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner), an elderly widower holding on to the memories of a long and happy life with his late wife and partner in adventure, Ellie. When circumstances threaten to move him from his quiet life at the home he loves to a retirement home, he hatches a plan to float his house with balloons to Paradise Falls in South America, a place that he and Ellie had planned to go their whole lives. With the help of a young and eager Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai) who is mistakenly brought along, Carl experiences the adventure of his lifetime complete with a flying house, talking dogs with human skills, a crazy scientist from Carl’s past and a large and colorful bird named Kevin.

The beginning of this film is heartwarming and mature enough to touch even adults with a montage of memories from Carl and Ellie’s long and happy life together and a man’s commitment to maintaining the home he cherishes. The second part of the movie, which takes place when Carl and Russell finally land in South America, possesses both the quick pace and silliness to keep children laughing and entertained. A happy ending keeps the movie light enough for young kids. The combination of brilliant and colorful animation, an inspiring soundtrack and an unlikely duo of lovable heroes makes “Up” a worthwhile movie to see with the whole family. However, with some scary images of dogs, a sword fight and references to death, this movie might be best for children in Kindergarten and up. According to many, “Up” will be a shoe-in for a Best Animated Feature nomination for this year.

Kelly Nelson is an intern for KC Parent Magazine. She will be a junior at the University of Missouri in the fall and is studying Journalism and Spanish there. She has lived in Kansas City her whole life and enjoys being home for the summer.

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Watch Up with a subscription on Disney+, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

An exciting, funny, and poignant adventure, Up offers an impeccably crafted story told with wit and arranged with depth, as well as yet another visual Pixar treat.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Pete Docter

Bob Peterson

Carl Fredericksen

Christopher Plummer

Charles Muntz

Jordan Nagai

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"Up" is a wonderful film, with characters who are as believable as any characters can be who spend much of their time floating above the rain forests of Venezuela. They have tempers, problems and obsessions. They are cute and goofy, but they aren't cute in the treacly way of little cartoon animals. They're cute in the human way of the animation master Hayao Miyazaki . Two of the three central characters are cranky old men, which is a wonder in this youth-obsessed era. "Up" doesn't think all heroes must be young or sweet, although the third important character is a nervy kid.

This is another masterwork from Pixar, which is leading the charge in modern animation. The movie was directed by Pete Docter , who also directed " Monsters, Inc. ," wrote " Toy Story " and was a co-writer on "WALL-E" before leaving to devote full time to this project. So Docter's one of the leading artists of this latest renaissance of animation.

The movie will be shown in 3-D in some theaters, about which I will say nothing, except to advise you to save the extra money and see it in 2-D. One of the film's qualities that is likely to be diminished by 3-D is its subtle and beautiful color palette. "Up," like " Finding Nemo ," "Toy Story," " Shrek " and " The Lion King ," uses colors in a way particularly suited to its content.

"Up" tells a story as tickling to the imagination as the magical animated films of my childhood, when I naively thought that because their colors were brighter, their character outlines more defined and their plots simpler, they were actually more realistic than regular films.

It begins with a romance as sweet and lovely as any I can recall in feature animation. Two children named Carl and Ellie meet and discover they share the same dream of someday being explorers. In newsreels, they see the exploits of a daring adventurer named Charles Muntz ( Christopher Plummer ), who uses his gigantic airship to explore a lost world on a plateau in Venezuela and then bring back the bones of fantastic creatures previously unknown to man. When his discoveries are accused of being faked, he flies off enraged to South America again, vowing to bring back living creatures to prove his claims.

Nothing is heard from him for years. Ellie and Carl ( Edward Asner ) grow up, have a courtship, marry, buy a ramshackle house and turn it into their dream home, are happy together and grow old. This process is silent, except for music (the elder Ellie doesn't even have a voice credit). It's shown by Docter in a lovely sequence, without dialogue, that deals with the life experience in a way that is almost never found in family animation. The lovebirds save their loose change in a gallon jug intended to finance their trip to the legendary Paradise Falls, but real life gets in the way: flat tires, home repairs, medical bills. Then they make a heartbreaking discovery. This interlude is poetic and touching.

The focus of the film is on Carl's life after Ellie. He becomes a recluse, holds out against the world, keeps his home as a memorial, talks to the absent Ellie. One day he decides to pack up and fly away -- literally. Having worked all his life as a balloon man, he has the equipment on hand to suspend the house from countless helium-filled balloons and fulfill his dream of seeking Paradise Falls. What he wasn't counting on was an inadvertent stowaway, Russell ( Jordan Nagai ), a dutiful Wilderness Explorer Scout, who looks Asian American.

What they find at Paradise Falls and what happens there I will not say. But I will describe Charles Muntz's gigantic airship that is hovering there. It's a triumph of design, and perhaps owes its inspiration, though not its appearance, to Miyazaki's "Castle in the Sky." The exterior is nothing special: a really big zeppelin. But the interior is one of those movie spaces you have the feeling you'll remember.

With vast inside spaces, the airship is outfitted like a great ocean liner from the golden age, with a stately dining room, long corridors, a display space rivaling the Natural History Museum and an attic spacious enough to harbor fighter planes. Muntz, who must be a centenarian by now, is hale, hearty and mean, his solitary life shared only by robotic dogs.

The adventures on the jungle plateau are satisfying in a Mummy/Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones sort of way. But they aren't the whole point of the film. This isn't a movie like " Monsters vs. Aliens ," which is mostly just frenetic action. There are stakes here, and personalities involved, and two old men battling for meaning in their lives. And a kid who, for once, isn't smarter than all the adults. And a loyal dog. And an animal sidekick. And always that house and those balloons.

A longer version is here: http://blogs.suntimes.com/eber...

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Rated PG for some peril and action.

Edward Asner as Carl

Jordan Nagai as Russell

Christopher Plummer as Muntz

Bob Peterson as Dug

Delroy Lindo as Beta

Jerome Raft as Gamma

John Ratzenberger as Tom

• Pete Docter

Co-director

• Bob Peterson

Writer (story by)

• Tom McCarthy

Cinematographer

• Patrick Lin
• Kevin Nolting
• Michael Giacchino

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A parent's guide to 'Challengers': Is Zendaya's new movie appropriate for tweens or teens?

As a former Disney Channel kid, Zendaya has a fanbase that's grown up with her as an actress and she appeals to a younger generation. The 27-year-old is also beginning to take on more mature roles, like in HBO's "Euphoria," that may not be appropriate for everyone.

Which brings us to " Challengers " (in theaters now), her new R-rated tennis drama co-starring Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor. The trailer shows Zendaya's character when she's 18, so tweens and teens might think, "Hey, this is for me!" It also shows her in her 30s, as the movie tracks three people in a sporty love triangle that unfolds over more than a decade, so it's a little complicated.

Here's what parents of Zendaya-loving youngsters need to know about "Challengers":

What is the new Zendaya movie 'Challengers' about?

Zendaya has her most adult role yet in director Luca Guadagnino's sports movie: The film opens with her character Tashi as the 31-year-old coach, manager and wife of pro tennis player Art (Faist). After recent losses, he needs a confidence boost and she enters him in a lower-level tournament, where he faces rival Patrick (O'Connor), a financially struggling athlete from their past.

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The movie then flashes back to the trio as teens, when the prodigal Tashi and doubles partners/friends Art and Patrick have a three-way makeout session in a hotel room that sparks evolving relationships between them.

Why is 'Challengers' rated R?

The movie is officially rated R for "language throughout, some sexual content and graphic nudity." Let's break that down: Yes, there are plenty of four-letter curse words and also sexual situations, though the latter aren't too steamy. O'Connor and Zendaya are in their underwear for one intimate scene, but that stuff on the whole veers more PG-13.

What parents might be more concerned by is the male nudity. After the aforementioned hotel hookup, Art has an erection in his boxer shorts that Patrick playfully smacks, while in a locker room scene, there are a couple of moments of full-frontal male genitalia, though not in a sexual context.

Is Zendaya's tennis film appropriate for children?

Not really, especially in regard to younger teens and under. Aside from the language, sexual content and nudity, "Challengers" explores a lot of headier themes that older teens might understand and appreciate more – among them, identity, sexuality, power dynamics and how people use strong feelings to manipulate one another. If your son or daughter is dying to see it, the official R-rated restriction applies nicely: Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. Even if they've already snuck in a "Euphoria" binge watch.

What are some kid-friendly movies featuring the 'Challengers' cast?

The littlest Zendaya fans can stream her earlier Disney Channel comedy series "Shake It Up" and "K.C. Undercover" on Disney+. As for her film output, the musical "The Greatest Showman" (also starring Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron) has a wide appeal; the Marvel Spider-Man movies with her boyfriend Tom Holland ("Homecoming," "Far From Home" and "No Way Home") are all top-notch; and a "Dune" double feature would be good for tween and teen sci-fi fans.

Faist played Jets leader Riff in Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated "West Side Story" redo – and was in the best supporting actor conversation – plus stars in the Amazon streaming series "Panic." While it might not be for your whole household, at least your royals-loving teens might want to check out his co-star O'Connor as a young Prince Charles in the third and fourth seasons of Netflix's " The Crown ."

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Unfrosted isn't fun for the whole family (but it's still fun and flavorful)

By reed gaudens | may 3, 2024.

While promoting his feature directorial debut Unfrosted for Netflix, comedian Jerry Seinfeld made some comments about the state of comedy that inevitably made headlines and created ire. Although others might have agreed with his statements, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Rob McElhenney understandably, and rather casually, did not .

Seinfeld said during a podcast interview with The New Yorker said television comedy isn't what it once was and couldn't be the same as it was, which according to the Seinfeld star and creator is "the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people." (It's worth noting that Seinfeld has not created or starred in a scripted TV sitcom since his ended in 1998.)

It's slightly ironic then that Seinfeld's film Unfrosted, which at face value appears to be a colorful and silly family-friendly comedy about the race to get Pop-Tarts on shelves in the 1960s, features visual gags and innuendos that don't seem to have been sanitized for the sake of worrying about offending younger audiences. Sure, the off-color cereal jokes will save comedy.

All being told, Unfrosted earns its PG-13 rating, which has been given to the film for suggestive references and language. Wondering whether it's the right pick for family movie night? Wondering whether it's worth the watch at all? Here's what you need to know about the content of the film along with a spoiler-free vibe check before adding it to your watch list.

Unfrosted glazes over maturity, misses family-friendly

While the movie isn't a nearly as inappropriate as an R-rated spoof comedy with profanity flying left and right (think star Melissa McCarthy's hilarious cop comedy The Heat co-starring Sandra Bullock), some of the innuendo-laced language definitely walks the line. There's nothing explicitly distasteful that children will understand, but for that reason, kids probably won't be totally captivated by every scene.

For instance, there's a sequence where an "in memoriam" is held for cereals that are no longer in circulation, and there's an image of a cereal box featuring an older woman under the name "Grandma's Holes." Obviously, children will not fully comprehend what the joke is or what it means, but some parents likely won't want their kids repeating that particular fake cereal name. Again, comparatively to other movies, this joke is rather tame.

As the rating explanation alludes, there are lines of dialogue and other visual gags that walk the line of double meaning, which is very emblematic of Seinfeld's style of comedy as seen in his eponymous sitcom. In one scene, Max Greenfield's character says to Jim Gaffigan's, "I have been eating you for years." He means his food, but... yeah.

Another scene features Gaffigan's character explaining milking cows, which he said farmers did for fun. "It was just a gross white liquid," he says over an image of a farmer milking a cow and the milk spraying on another man. The innuendo there is apparent and funny to some audiences, though, as Seinfeld himself claimed in his New Yorker interview, to others not.

Those are just two early examples of the film's sense of humor, and if those jokes don't align with your particular sense of humor, it's probably best to skip Unfrosted . On the other hand, the movie as a whole is extremely fun and makes good on its silly, quirky, and colorful promise. The cast, which is chock full of top comedy talents, succeeds in seeing Seinfeld's vision through.

Overall consensus: Unfrosted lives up to being an easily digestible comedy film, even if its target audience isn't as easily identifiable as that of the breakfast treats it's based upon. Kids won't get the jokes adults will, and the little ones might find the film forgettable, but it's an entertaining way to spend an hour and a half for a light chuckle care of tried-and-true comedy greats.

Stay tuned for more movie news and updates from Netflix Life!

Next. 15 most highly anticipated Netflix shows coming in 2024. 15 most highly anticipated Netflix shows coming in 2024. dark

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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for a... Read all Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike. Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

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Is The Fall Guy OK for Kids? What to Know Before Seeing the PG-13 Action-Comedy

Violence and some strong language have earned ‘The Fall Guy’ a PG-13 rating from the MPA

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Moviegoers have been hearing a lot about Ryan Gosling ’s new movie The Fall Guy . But ahead of its May 3 release, parents may want to know: Is it appropriate viewing for kids?

The David Leitch -directed Universal Pictures blockbuster, loosely based on Lee Majors ’ 1980s TV drama of the same name, stars Gosling, 43, as stunt performer Colt Seavers. Tasked with tracking down the missing leading man he’s a stunt double for, Tom Ryder (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson ), Colt must save the sci-fi epic directed by his former flame Jody Moreno ( Emily Blunt ) at the behest of producer Gail Meyer ( Hannah Waddingham ). 

Colt’s investigation results in several action sequences that make it clear The Fall Guy is meant to honor the character’s line of work. Assisted by stunt doubles who take brutal punches, drive obscenely fast and fall from awe-inspiring heights, Gosling and company pay homage to the action stars and their doubles who have come before . 

Because it falls well within that genre, the primary reason for the Motion Picture Association’s PG-13 rating is “action and violence.” Read on for the other considerations that gave The Fall Guy that classification, including drug use and some suggestive language. 

The Fall Guy features plenty of action and violence 

As with the 1980s TV show that inspired it, The Fall Guy is an irreverent, action-packed spectacle. Characters are frequently in peril, fighting each other and becoming injured. Many things explode. 

Because it centers on Gosling’s stunt man, the audience is clued into the fact that Leitch’s movie is meant to celebrate moviemaking itself and those who craft its most spectacular moments. Although many of the high-stakes stunts convincingly depict danger, it’s clearly executed with a level of care that meant all of the performers on screen were kept safe. 

Among the stunts The Fall Guy wraps its romantic comedy around are high falls (those averse to heights may be uncomfortable watching Gosling swing from a helicopter), hand-to-hand combat and a world-record-breaking vehicular stunt involving a Jeep’s 8.5 cannon rolls, or head-over-head flips. An extended sequence features Colt enduring being set on fire several times, another impressive yet safe stunt that younger viewers may find alarming. 

Guns also feature in The Fall Guy enough that parents and children who are sensitive to their depiction should be wary. It should be noted that one sequence centers on a prop gun Colt grabs that’s full of blanks instead of live rounds. He’s even shot with the fake weapon and pretends to fall dead, a knowing wink to the fact that all of the guns featured in the movie are props. 

There is a sequence involving drug use 

Some characters drink and make references to alcohol in The Fall Guy . But the main reason the MPA included “drug content” in their PG-13 rating is a scene in which Colt’s hunt takes him to a nightclub. There, a drug dealer gives him a Shirley Temple that is laced with something hallucinatory. 

Colt spends the next several scenes facing off with a unicorn, which he’s told will appear in his vision as long as the drug trip lasts. Although taken against his will, Colt’s drug use is presented as harmlessly silly.

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Some strong language is uttered

The Fall Guy ’s dialogue is peppered with mildly strong language. Screenwriter Drew Pearce strikes a balance between squeaky-clean, PG-rated innocence and harsh R-rated obscenity, putting the movie exactly in between: its mild profanity is in keeping with a high-stakes, but primarily heartfelt story designed to thrill rather than offend. 

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While the MPA indicated a classification of “some strong language,” parents who don’t want their children learning swear words shouldn’t worry too much — the kids will likely be too in awe of the spectacular stunts and laughing at jokes to notice. 

Sexuality is only vaguely alluded to 

At the center of all its action-hero homages is what drives The Fall Guy forward emotionally: the romance between Colt and Jody. Their will-they-won’t-they dynamic includes flashbacks to when they first met and launched a passionate fling, as well as several reminiscences of that time — and tantalizing hope for a rekindling of their relationship. 

As such, Gosling and Blunt share a smooch or three throughout the course of the movie. But while there’s some sexiness between the duo, there is no actual sex. The only references to intimacy are vague, as when Gosling’s Colt compliments his director on what she’s wearing, then stammers that she looks great in everything or even nothing. 

Critics are giving its story and spectacle a thumbs-up

The Fall Guy “aims first and foremost to be pure entertainment, and it succeeds,” according to PEOPLE reviewer Tom Gliatto, who calls it “an exceptionally nimble, clever movie about the people who make movies, as well as a valentine to Hollywood's small but tough population of stunt artists.”

Of the movie’s stunts, NPR’s Bob Mondello said that Leitch “is like a really confident magician saying, you want to see that up close? ... knowing that you'll always fall for the trick, always fall for the fall guys.”

“The film is designed to educate audiences about all the things — fighting, crashing, jumping, swinging, falling — doubles do,” wrote Variety ’s Peter Debruge . “If the movie feels overstuffed, that’s because Leitch wants to give audiences more than just a taste, but the full buffet of what his trade is capable of. By the end, we can’t help appreciating just how hard it is to make action look easy.”

The Fall Guy is in theaters now. 

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‘Unfrosted’ Review: What’s the Deal With Pop-Tarts?

Starring Jerry Seinfeld in his feature directing debut, “Unfrosted: The Pop-Tarts Story” is the only corporate saga whose main ingredient is high-fructose sarcasm.

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By Amy Nicholson

Pop-Tarts were invented over four hectic months in 1964. Jerry Seinfeld has been developing jokes about them for over 10 years , first in his stand-up act, and now as a full-fledged, fully ridiculous feature comedy targeted to the audience’s sweet-and-salty dopamine receptors. “Unfrosted,” directed by Seinfeld with a script by him and longtime collaborators Spike Feresten, Andy Robin and Barry Marder, gives the comic his first-ever live action leading film role as Bob Cabana, a fictional cereal flack who revolutionizes the breakfast industry. (William Post, the real-life person who helped create Pop-Tarts, died in February at the age of 96.) Cinema has endured branded biopics on everything from Air Jordans to the BlackBerry to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos . This is the only corporate saga whose main ingredient is high-fructose sarcasm.

Should we care about the history of the Pop-Tart? Seinfeld postures that the Kellogg’s launch of a mylar-wrapped, shelf-stable, heatable pastry is a technological innovation on the scale of the space race and the Manhattan Project. One pivotal move comes when Cabana hires Donna Stankowski (Melissa McCarthy) away from NASA’s beakers of Tang. As the launch date nears, the cinematographer William Pope shoots close-ups of scorching toaster springs with the drama of a roiling booster rocket.

The film is as estranged from the facts as Pop-Tarts are from genuine fruit. Still, it’s true that Battle Creek, Mich. — “cereal’s Silicon Valley,” Seinfeld once cracked — was ground zero of a Cold War rivalry between Kellogg’s and General Foods to sell a breakfast that broke free from the need for a bowl and spoon. Here, the General Foods’ owner Marjorie Post (Amy Schumer), once the richest woman in America, swans about in jewel-toned turbans and jets off to Moscow to enlist Nikita Khrushchev (Dean Norris) in her cause. At the same time, the dimwitted head of Kellogg’s (Jim Gaffigan) allows his company to align with President John F. Kennedy (Bill Burr), Chef Boy Ardee (Bobby Moynihan), the celebrity fitness guru Jack LaLanne (James Marsden), and the early computer Univac who acts up in ways that recall Bing’s sexually charged A.I. chatbot . Things take an even darker turn with the entrance of a vengeful milkman (Christian Slater) and a threatening figure named El Sucre (Felix Solis) who’s aware that millions of dollars hinge on access to his addictive white powder.

As junk food goes, “Unfrosted” is delightful with a sprinkle of morbidity. Building on last December’s publicity stunt where an anthropomorphic Pop-Tart cooked and served itself to the Kansas State Wildcats, we’re here treated to a funeral where the deceased is given Full Cereal Honors. I will spoil nothing except to say Snap, Crackle and Pop have a ceremonial duty.

The jokes spill forth so fast that there’s no time for the shtick to get soggy. Yet, the film also crams its running time with goofy detours, like a subplot where the voice of Tony the Tiger (Hugh Grant, once again seizing any opportunity to wear a fatuous cravat) leads his fellow mascots in a rebellion. Despite all these famous faces splashing into the frame, the scene stealer is the child actor Eleanor Sweeney making her debut as an opinionated taste tester. She’s g-r-r-reat.

Unfrosted Rated PG-13 for some suggestive references and language. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. Watch on Netflix.

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‘The People’s Joker’ Review: A Trans Journey Through Gotham City

Shot over five days, this very indie movie stars writer-director vera drew as joker the harlequin and borrows liberally from the batman universe to tell a story of personal discovery..

The People’s Joker might be the most unexpected indie darling to hit art houses in recent memory. Originally premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 before being pulled from the schedule , The People’s Joker is a crowdfunded comedy in which transgender writer-director Vera Drew stars as Joker the Harlequin, an aspiring comedian living in a dystopian metropolis where performing comedy without a license is punishable by death. When she arrives in town, she hasn’t yet embraced her gender or sexual identity, and instead smothers her misery with prescription laughing gas that’s been pushed on her since childhood. Through her community of anti-comedians and a whirlwind romance with a fellow queer clown, Joker comes into her own and leads a siege against the comedic establishment.

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I’ve buried the lede here: The film takes place in a bastardized version of Gotham City, and most of the characters are styled and/or named after figures from Batman stories. The People’s Joker riffs on just about every Batman movie ever made as well as a fair share of comics, cartoons, and games, but it’s not so much a parody as it is a personal reflection and power fantasy. The film pitches itself as autobiographical and uses familiar superhero iconography to dress up the characters in the author’s life, telling a sensationalized version of her own story and piling on layers of subtext from the pirated source material.

Vera Drew’s allusions rank from the obvious to the remarkably obscure. Some are pointed out directly to the audience by the lead character, who breaks the fourth wall for occasional narration and asides. Her relationship with her boyfriend, for instance, is based on the romance between Joker and Harley Quinn, which has been fetishized by some fans despite being textually abusive, and Joker the Harlequin chastises her past self for not recognizing the signs of her emotional captivity. Others require the audience to match the author’s level of obsession. One of the film’s several animated sequences (each created in a different style by different animators) is a climactic battle between Vera’s Joker and Batman, who is depicted as an abusive closeted gay man. This scene appears to have been traced over a dream sequence from Batman: The Animated Series in which Bruce Wayne is fighting himself, subtly evoking the idea of Joker triumphing over the self-loathing version of herself that she’s left behind.

Fans have always reappropriated corporately-owned comics characters to express themselves and tell their own stories, particularly in a queer context. (Gay Romance is the predominant genre in fanfiction the way Superhero is the predominant genre in American comics.) What’s audacious is to do so at the scale of a feature film and to dare the rights holders to stop you. The People’s Joker is anti-authoritarian in a way that even, say, the animated Harley Quinn series that features a bisexual antiheroine who explicitly voted for Bernie, can never be. No authorities were involved in the making of this motion picture and, if its initial but ambiguous removal from TIFF is any indication, said authorities would prefer you didn’t see it. Between its transgressive nature and its chaotic structure, that makes it the most Joker-like of any film to star the character. (Grant Morrison, a comics writer who wrote some of the best Joker stories and who loves weird metatextual experiments, would be proud.)

The fact that The People’s Joker’s very existence is transgressive accounts for a lot of its appeal, but even if you strip away the Batman of it all, you’d be left with a charming and weird mixed-media super-indie. The People’s Joker is shot primarily and very obviously on a green screen with a production quality just a hair above a Neil Breen movie. Some characters are lo-res 3D models, some scenes are performed with action figures, and everything feels cheap and handmade in a playful sort of way. This, the film seems to assert, is what it takes to create undiluted queer art. You can’t count on the support of people with money, i.e. the straights. Just call your friend who knows AfterEffects and work something out.

The aggressive DIY spirit of The People’s Joker makes it difficult to appraise critically. Most of the performances are stilted and amateurish, but that makes sense, given that many of the performers are either non-actors or members of the Tim & Eric anti-comedy oeuvre, where awkward unreality is the aim. There are no interesting photography choices except those borrowed from existing Batman movies, but what should you expect from something shot against a green screen over a span of five days? The narrative is undeniably self-indulgent, and though that’s certainly a criticism you can make of a film made using millions of studio dollars, I’m not sure it really applies to a crowdfunded movie made by a comedian and her friends. 

It’s also clear to me that, even if that’s how it looks from where I’m sitting, Vera Drew is not the only person being indulged by The People’s Joker . I can sympathetically and intellectually appreciate just how rare it is to see a wacky comic-book movie about growing up trans and finding yourself and your people, about coping with a repressive parent who takes your gender dysphoria as a personal affront, of struggling to build a healthy relationship when so many of your peers are similarly traumatized by a society that is hostile to their very existence. As a straight guy who travels in queer circles, I know how common these stories are, but they are not my stories, and seeing them projected on the big screen will never mean the same thing to me as to the people they happen to.

When I shared my initial response to watching my home screener of The People’s Joker , my (trans) colleague Claire Mulkerin said, “Trust me, the film gains a full star if you watched it in a packed theater of screaming trans people.” This is certainly the way it was intended to be seen, but if that experience is unavailable to you, there are still other avenues by which to appreciate it. For you, maybe it’ll be a laugh, maybe it’ll be an anthropological exercise, or maybe it’ll be a life-affirming moment of recognition. 

• SEE ALSO : ‘Under the Bridge’ Review: A Miniseries That Interrogates the True Crime Genre

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‘Unfrosted’ Review: Jerry Seinfeld Directs and Stars in a Biopic of the Pop-Tart. It’s Based on a True Story, but It’s Knowingly Nuts

It's in the genre of movies like "Flamin' Hot" and "The Founder," only this one is an absurd surrealist fruitcake cartoon.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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As a kid growing up in the late ’60s and ’70s, I confess that I never understood Pop-Tarts. My family would buy them, and every so often I would put one in the toaster, wanting it to be a tasty treat. Such is the power of advertising that I always thought it was my fault that I found Pop-Tarts to be…just okay. Twinkies, by contrast, were junky but succulent. And even good old dry cereal, when you were in the mood for it, was pretty great — the delicate crunch of Rice Krispies, the sweet-milk-bath rapture of Sugar Frosted Flakes. To me, though, Pop-Tarts never lived up to their billing. They were bland when untoasted (though a lot of folks ate them that way). Once you toasted them, the hot fruit filling had a soothing tasty tang, but the rectangular pastry was still cardboard pie crust. It wasn’t awful, but it’s not like biting into it gave you a rush of joy. Prefab and a little dull, the Pop-Tart was a “product of the future” that seemed stuck in the past, like astronaut food.

I suspect the answer is that Seinfeld knows the Pop-Tart was a rather bland leftover-’50s concoction, but that he has a primal attachment to it anyway. And maybe it doesn’t even matter, because “Unfrosted,” once you get onto its wavelength, passes 93 minutes in a pleasurably light and nutty way. On some level, Jerry was clearly drawn to the quaint capitalist energy of the film’s essential (true) story: that in the early ’60s, the two reigning cereal companies in America, Kellogg’s and Post, were both based in Battle Creek, Michigan, a town of 50,000, yet they were fighting like rival European fiefdoms of the 14th century.

The movie is told from the point-of-view of Kellogg’s. Seinfeld plays Bob Cabana, the company’s head of development (loosely based on William Post), and Jim Gaffigan is Edsel Kellogg III, the head of the company, who’s still just a blowhard of an empty suit because all his success is inherited. Their rival company, Post, another family dynasty run by a descendent (Marjorie Post, played by Amy Schumer ), are the also-ran losers. They’re Pepsi to Kellogg’s’ Coke, Burger King to their McDonald’s, Avis to their Hertz. At the Bowl and Cereal Awards, a Battle Creek event that’s like the Oscars of boxed breakfast food, Kellogg’s sweeps all the categories (like Easiest to Open Wax Bag). They’re on top. But Post is about to change the game, with a pastry product ripped off from Kellogg’s’ own research.

If “Unfrosted” actually were a movie like “Blackberry,” it might have had a terrific resonance. But Seinfeld stages it like a dramatized series of stand-up-comedy stunts. We first learn how insanely anachronistic the movie is going to be when Bob stumbles on two children who are climbing into Post dumpsters to taste discarded cans of fruit filling. “It’s garbage!” says Bob. “Is it?” says Cathy (Eleanor Sweeney). “Or is it some hot fruit lightning the Man doesn’t want you to have?” What 10-year-old girl in 1963 would use the phrase “the Man”? But that’s the film’s comic aesthetic. “Unfrosted” is a period piece, but it’s as Dada as a Mad satire crossed with a second-half-of-the-show “Saturday Night Live” sketch.

The movie, in its totally kitsch way, frames itself as a thriller, with the competition to create the Pop-Tart likened to the race to the moon shot or the Manhattan Project. Bob takes a meeting with a South American sugar lord named El Sucre (Felix Solis), and the union of milkmen is presented as a Mob faction (presided over by Peter Dinklage) who will kidnap and threaten, since the Pop-Tart, if successful, would end their business: the daily pouring of milk onto America’s cereal. Bob, Stan and Edsel take a meeting in the Oval Office with JFK, played by Bill Burr as the testiest JFK imaginable. He agrees to intervene with the milk union, even as he readies himself for a meeting with the Doublemint Twins. There are jokes about naming a cereal Jackie O’s (even though Jackie is years from being Jackie O). And Jon Hamm pops up as his character from “Mad Men,” pitching a name for the Kellogg’s pastry product — Jelle Jolie — that’s out of the film noir of Don Draper’s dreams.

“Unfrosted” is brimming with Atomic Age ephemera. Like Sea-Monkeys. Bazooka bubblegum. X-Ray specs. G.I. Joe. The Slinky. Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. Wax lips. Silly Putty. The references, though, aren’t limited to kids’ stuff. Walter Cronkite (Kyle Dunnigan) is shown, off camera, to be a babbling alcoholic loon. We see cereal-world versions of the Zapruder film and even the January 6 insurrection, with Hugh Grant , as the haughty British thespian who’s the voice of Tony the Tiger, leading a strike of the Kellogg’s mascots.

The acting is cartoon lite: casually broad sketch-comedy mugging, which is why Jerry (who is great at playing himself, but not really an actor) fits right in. Most of the jokes are LOL rather than guffaw-worthy. But I confess that I chuckled at the sheer insanity of how the movie deals with the naming of the Pop-Tart. The genius name that Bob and his team have come up with is…the Trat-Pop. It will take Walter Cronkite puttering around with Silly Putty to set that right. “Unfrosted,” in its way, is a quintessential comedian’s movie. It thumbs its nose at everything without necessarily believing in anything. Yet it has an agreeable crunch.

Reviewed online, May 1, 2024. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 93 MIN.

• Production: A Netflix release of a Columbus 81, Skyview Entertainment, Good One production. Producers: Jerry Seinfeld, Spike Feresten, Beau Bauman. Executive producers: Andy Robin, Barry Marder, Cherylanne Martin.
• Crew: Director: Jerry Seinfeld. Screenplay: Jerry Seinfeld, Spike Feresten, Andy Robin, Barry Marder. Camera: William Pope. Editor: Evan Henke. Music: Christophe Beck.
• With: Jerry Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Max Greenfield, Hugh Grant, Amy Schumer, Peter Dinklage, Christian Slater, Bill Burr, Dany Levy, James Marsden, Mikey Day, Cedric the Entetertainer, Fred Armisen, Jon Hamm.

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Upgraded Parent Guide

The romance feels like an obligation rather than the driving force of the plot..

Prime Video: An ambitious art gallery intern gets upgraded to first class on a flight to London for an auction and meets a handsome young man who mistakes her for her boss. But one white lie turns into many more as her fib becomes the pathway for an opportunity.

Release date February 9, 2024

Run Time: 104 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by savannah sillito.

Ana (Camila Mendes) is a struggling art auction house intern with dreams of opening her own gallery. To do that you need money and connections, which is why she’s trying desperately to get noticed by her boss, Claire (Marisa Tomei). When an opportunity to go to London pops up, Ana immediately accepts, even though it means taking the lowly position as Claire’s third assistante. As the trip gets off to a rocky start, a sympathetic gate agent upgrades Ana to first class, a perk beyond her dreams. On the plane, she meets the handsome William (Archie Renaux), who mistakes her for the director of the auction house rather than an assistant. Assuming she’ll never see him again, Ana chooses to live in the fantasy for a few hours.

Unfortunately for Ana, she soon finds herself swept up in Will’s circle. Desperately trying to keep all of her lies straight while also getting her work done, Ana finds herself falling for him, while he falls for a version of her that doesn’t exist.

Don’t get me wrong, Upgraded is, for the most part, a paint-by-numbers romance. It’s predictable and fluffy and corny, just as you’d expect. But there are some moments of brilliance as well. The story is essentially a modern Cinderella – with an uninteresting prince. The weakest part of the film is the central romance. Will could have been written out and the story wouldn’t have been much different; the romance feels like an obligation rather than a driving force.

The messages of the film are deeper than the norm for the genre, though they are muddled if you think about them too much. Like yes, lying is bad but also Ana succeeds because of her lies, so does that mean it’s good? Or is the film a critique of the upper class and how the only way to get rich is through family connections or a mix of lying and luck? There’s an anti-rich people thread running subtly in the background which offers moments of snarky fun but it never goes anywhere. (Perhaps the writers snuck that in without the studio executives noticing, which is a real treat to think about.)

The star of the film, far and away, is Marisa Tomei with her wonderfully campy performance as Claire, the evil stepmother, if we’re following the Cinderella tale. She steals every scene with her unplaceable European accent, aloof manner, and silly requests. Yet, there is something deeper there, and one gets the sense that this character has a long history. Amongst the camp, Tomei adds a layer of quiet, a thoughtfulness that a lesser actor wouldn’t have thought to include.

I have mixed feelings about the film, because I do think it amounts to more than just Cinderella-meets- The Devil Wears Prada , but it also fails to fully explore or take a side on the deeper issues it brings up. I’m not generally a huge fan of romance flicks, so perhaps I’m not the target audience. Given the choice between Upgraded and most of the saccharine slop the studios put out this time of year I would choose this. However, the level of negative content is worth noting for fans of the genre. The main concerns here are swearing and drinking. The sexual content is light for a Restricted movie, with no sex on screen and infrequent sexual references and innuendo. The nudity in the film is in classical paintings, so whether you count that as real nudity or not is up to you. Fans of the genre (with no qualms around the aforementioned content concerns) are sure to enjoy this predictable, sweet, story. Viewers with less susceptibility for romance may find themselves drawn in by the deeper issues and themes, which surely counts as an upgrade.

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Savannah sillito, watch the trailer for upgraded.

Upgraded Rating & Content Info

Why is Upgraded rated R? Upgraded is rated R by the MPAA for language and some nude art images.

Violence: None. Sexual Content: Adult couples kiss. Some sexual references and innuendo. Nude paintings are seen in the background of some scenes. Profanity: The script contains six sexual expletives, approximately two dozen, and 20 terms of deity. Alcohol / Drug Use: Adult characters drink socially in many scenes; in some cases to obvious excess. A man is seen smoking in the background.

Page last updated February 9, 2024

Upgraded Parents' Guide

Why does Ana lie about her job to Will in the first place? How does she feel about her life and how does she let that insecurity affect her choices?

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The obvious comparison is The Devil Wears Prada , which stars Meryl Streep as a domineering boss and Anne Hathaway as her cowed assistant. In The Proposal , a despised boss forces her assistant to pretend to be engaged to her so she won’t be deported. A fashion-mad orphan first idolizes and then seeks to destroy her Machiavellian boss in Cruella.