Sara Balliett

I rarely ever rate something 1 star. However, I sat down to watch this with my son because it was rated PG. I can handle strange, but this went beyond that. The parents were abusive. CPS and workers were depicted as evil. Should a child ever have need of them that has seen this movie, they would be absolutely terrified. Should a child hear of abuse of a friend or classmate, they would be afraid to report it. In the movie, the nanny refuses to contact CPS for an abandoned baby because they are "the worst thing you can do". Worst of all, the children decide to orphan themselves by sending their parents on a deadly vacation. This crosses a line. To an adult watching, the parents are clear abusers that no reasonable parent would ever come close to matching. To a child, they might consider being encouraged to eat vegetables abuse, or taking away their screens. Sometimes children have a flare for the dramatic but they don't yet comprehend the idea that death is permanent and has far-reaching consequences. I'm just saying that these messages should absolutely not ever be presented to children. It has no qualities about it whatsoever that would lend me to recommend it when there are much more beneficial films (or at least not damaging films) out there to see. Avoid this one.

We loved it. It was never intended to be historically accurate or filled with complex humor. The jokes are obvious, its cheesy, and it's definitely targeted to children. You toddler may decide hitting is funny after watching this movie (punch monkeys) so just know that if you have an aggressive toddler 😅. Mine could barely breathe for laughing during that part. I was really nervous that it would be another feud pitting girl against girl over a guy. But the positive female relationship between Eep and Dawn was awesome. I loved what they had to offer each other and I also loved how Ugga and Hope were able to overcome their relationship difficulties. The journey of the men in this movie was no less important. I think it's great that each character has their own little arch. I would like to see more of Sandy. I would like to have seen her develop a bit more. But she did have a minor role to play.