In Search of Family-Friendly Movies
What does the phrase Family-Friendly mean?
First off, I want to point out that we do review all genres of movies. We screen everything from Rated G straight through to Rated R. While we don’t screen every Rated R movie that comes out, we do screen them if they’re interesting to us. Just because a movie carries an R rating, does not mean we will stay away from it. If there happens to be an actor or actress we really like appearing in the movie, we will screen it. But, we usually avoid horror movies and slasher movies. We realize right out of the gate they are not family-friendly. Of course we also realize Rated R movies aren’t family-friendly either. However, as for the slasher-horror movies, there are enough people already reviewing those. As a result, they simply don’t hit our radar.
That being said, what exactly do we mean by Family-Friendly?
As parents, we’re fully aware of what it’s like to go to a movie, trusting the MPAA rating, and suddenly finding ourselves shocked over content. Reality is, many times the MPAA ratings are simply wrong. Also, depending on who you are inside the movie industry, if you rally hard enough, you can actually have the MPAA board give you a rating that’s simply not appropriate for your movie.
We’re not movie cops, and we’re not prudes. But, we are parents who review movies with one question at the forefront of our mind at all times – Is this movie family-friendly? With that in mind, we end up with three basic categories when rating movies. Keep in mind, while we tend to eject the MPAA rating system, when we tag a movie with one of our family-friendly ratings, we’re doing so taking into account the MPAA rating.
We end up with three family-friendly rating categories;
Family-Friendly
Cautionary Family-Friendly
Not Family-Friendly
Of course, those categories are self-explanatory. However, when we give our family-friendly rating, we’re doing so with the MPAA rating in mind. For example, just because a movie is rated PG-13, does not mean it’s automatically appropriate for the suggested age group. Studies show that up until the age of 12-14, kids have a difficult time distinguishing between fantasy and reality. As a result, if a movie blurs those lines, and carries a PG-13 rating, we are more apt to say it’s Cautionary Family-Friendly, instead of Family-Friendly. Many times we will also say, “Know your own kids.” Or even better, “Make it a family outing. See the movie with your family, so you can talk about it later.”
There have been times when we’ve actually given a Disney G rated movie, a Cautionary Family-Friendly rating. Another important aspect of our reviews to keep in mind is that we usually screen movies with an audience. That means we gage audience reaction. Disney’s 2005 Chicken Little was rated G. However, in the middle of the movie the scriptwriters included a War of the Worlds type sequence where a space ship was zapping up the animated characters. The smaller kids in the audience started screaming and crying. The images on the screen were too instense for the kids.
As a result, we said Chicken Little, while it is rated G, falls into the category of Cautionary Family-Friendly. We then warned parents of content for a couple reasons.
- To let parents know what to expect, so they’re not suddenly blind-sided while watching the movie.
- To let parents know what’s coming up, so they can in turn prepare their kids for what they’re about to see.
In the end, it’s a happy ending for the Chicken Little movie. But, when the scenes are suddenly flashing on the screen, you don’t know that.
Now that we’ve explained the Family-Friendly system lets quickly look at our Lloyd rating system. We rate movies here on Frame by Frame with what we call a 5 Lloyd rating system. Here’s a breakdown of what the Lloyd logos mean.
No Lloyds! – Really bad movie.
Half a Lloyd
1 Lloyd
1.5 Lloyds
2 Lloyds
2.5 Lloyds
3 Lloyds
3.5 Lloyds
4 Lloyds
4.5 Lloyds
5 Lloyds – A Perfect Score!
Hopefully this information has helped explain our Family-Friendly Movie Guide approach. We’ve tried to briefly explain our system in this information page. For the most part, we also explain in the midst of a review why any given movie receives a Family-Friendly, Cautionary, or Not Family-Friendly rating too.
Enjoy the show!
Dr. Rus has 30+ years experience in the field of communication. He takes this experience, and his passion to encourage others to positively effect their environment, when providing insight and movie reviews. 
LOL! Whew! I’m glad to see I’m not alone in my thoughts about Avatar here! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comments!
WOW… Completely saw the movie from a different perspective and felt that the merger of CGI and real life were seamless and world he created was breath taking! I see your point on the money hungry war-mongers, however it was well depicted and made sense to me! My take is that this movie will do very well, and I for one will be anxious to see it again.
Hey Dr Rus. Good insights. Here’s my take.
The film is about a man who sees a race of people being treated poorly and he does something about it. He’s fighting injustice. I don’t see it as specifically anti-American. Sure, Cameron probably was commenting on America. But once he sent the film out into the world, we can interpret it however we want. For me, it’s about Philippians 2. Jake was looking out for the interest of others more than his own interest. I would hope that if I were in Jake’s situation, I’d do the same thing.
As far as the spiritual element – I didn’t expect anything less from someone who isn’t a Christian. It’s a fantasy.
Just imagine I read it twice. While I am not as proficient on this issue, I tally with your closings because they create sense. Thanks and goodluck to you.
So sad that so many people who have touched our lives have passed away…
I normally dont stop to drop a comment, but it is hard to find actual thoughts on this subject today. You did a wonderful job in this blog post and I am going to look at the rest of your blog. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hmmm, don’t they know when to stop?
While MaGuire and Dunst don’t make the movie what it is, four is a bit much. I won’t be chomping at the bit to watch Spiderman 4. Besides, isn’t the world going to end in 2012?
Exactly! That’s why I was never in big on a #4 Spider-Man in the first place. Honestly, I didn’t even really like #3. My wife loved it, but I found it somewhat mediocre. As for the world ending in 2012 – Well, not quite – We’ll end up on cool arks with Keuna Reeves.
Hollywood needs to learn when to just LET IT GO!
Certainly sounds interesting. When I first heard about the movie I was only interested because it was film with the RED One Camera (that being my Dream camera)
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! The camera work is wonderful in this movie too.
I just finished watching this movie…and Wow is right. I really enjoyed your review. Keeping family in mind…no not a family movie. But I think that this is a movie that if you have children who are young adults and you’re wondering if you should let them watch this movie that is is definitely ok. The violence, while very violent, and the language should not dissuade you from watching this movie. The message is so great and the story is so good. A rare movie from Hollywood, I think that many PG and PG-13 movies are less acceptable for young people to watch than this movie. Like I said I thought your review was excellent…thank you.
Hey Adam!
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comments. I appreciate it. I also just read your review it certainly sounds like you really liked the movie as well.
Take care and thanks again!
Dr. Rus
And yet another apocalyptic movie, i am really wondering where this is heading. Oh, nice blog by the way
I see that Jackie Chan has decided to use twitter to promote the film
yes, I did start following him, but I think he’s pretty cool
Yay, this one is my favorite!!! I love it!
Actually you have given one other 5 lloyd rating from your best of list 2007:
August Rush – PG – Family-Friendly – 5 Lloyds
That’s right! I forgot about that 5 Lloyd rating on “August Rush”.
That’s really interesting. Here was i thinking that this was the best movie ever made, if i were to believe all the hype. It is a great movie though. There’s so many factors to take into account though when doing these kind of comparisons.
Thanks for your review, Dr. Rus! I am also a Mel Gibson fan and plan to check this movie out!
Hi, good day. Wonderful post. You have gained a new subscriber. Pleasee continue this great work and I look forward to more of your great blog posts.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comment too! Let me know what you think of the movie when you see it.
and he thoroughly deserves both those spots!
Precisely clean info on the subject. I discovered your site while researching . I altogether loved the read.
Too funny! I never would have guessed that the answer was going to be in her bathroom!
I love Twilight! I can’t wait for Twilight Eclipse! I’m so infatuated with taylor, lol.
I still believe that the first movie was the best, but New Moon definitely wins in eye candy lol
shame: Worst Actress of 2009 – Sandra Bullock, All About Steve
must have been a really bad movie. I suppose she’ll just laugh about this after The Blind Side
LOL! Yes, All About Steve was very bad. But what makes Bullock stand out above the usual Hollywood crowd is the fact she can laugh at herself!
I was curious to see what you thought about the violent portions of this movie and it’s rating. Great review – thanks!
I hope the review helps. Thanks for your comment. I appreciate it.
RIP Peter Graves !
I worked w/Mr Graves on a mini series called “War & Remembrance” a sequel to the “Winds of War” filmed in Washington DC It had a huge cast Peter Graves, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Jane Seymour just to name a few & Peter was funny,personable & kind man. He will be missed !!! Also great in Airplane !!!
I also liked his voice-over and narrating work. Great talent who willed be missed.
A couple things – 1. I’m surprised they had to spend that much on the Green Zone’s budget (100 million) and 2. Alice will go on to makes lots and lots more money, but I think its stroy will still leave people underwhelmed. There’s a movie like that every year.