IN CINEMAS DEC 4th
Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY loosely based on the book with the same name by Judith Viorst, begins with an average day in the life of Alexander (Ed Oxenbould) – days filled with clumsy trip ups and disasters!
Meanwhile his family including Mum (Jennifer Garner), Dad (Steve Carell), older sister (Kerris Dorsey) and brother (Dylan Minnette) lives seem to be just perfect and they seem to have very little sympathy for Alexander. So at the stroke of midnight on his 11th birthday, Alexander wishes for his family to see what is like to have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!
And of course in true Disney style Alexander gets his wish. I particularly loved when the day started, the alarm didn’t go off and the whole family is running around trying to rush out the house – the baby pees everywhere, the orange juice falls out of the fridge without the lid on, the rubbish bin liner breaks, as a parent with school age kids the morning rush out the door scene is very relate-able. Funny thing is nearly every morning feels like this in the world of parenthood!
As the day unfolds things go from bad to worse (for everyone except Alexander). If your kids loved Diary of a Wimpy Kid they’ll love this movie too, although it’s probably more relate-able for older kids as the majority of the movie is about everything that goes wrong for Alexander’s older siblings and parents.
This movie is just as much for the parents as it is for the kids. Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner do an amazing job of representing the average parents and you realise you are laughing at yourself, as this is just the stuff that happens ithat you have to deal with in the world of parenting… just maybe a little exaggerated of course!
There is some mild language with some potty type humour, and there is one scene where the Mum, after walking in on her teenage son reminds them all that she has seen the penis of everyone in the family (very funny). There is some inappropriate behaviour – with the Dad accidentally ordering cowboy strippers for Alexander’s 11th Australian themed birthday party (also very funny) but it’s all kept under control in the nick of time.
If this was a movie just for adults I’d give it 10 out of 10, it was fun to have a laugh about parenthood and I could certainly relate to many of the things that went wrong and how the parents dealt with it – most of the scenes had me in tears of laughter. But for overall family value I think it would be lost on kids around 8 years and under. My 4.5 yr old was engaged in some of the scenes and of course found the butt jokes funny, but most of the movie was lost on him.
There are some great messages about family sticking together no matter how bad things get, and putting family first. Aside from some very mild language and inappropriate behaviour this is a fun movie to watch as a family.
8/10!
* Recommended for kids 8 years+ * mild language * mild inappropriate behaviour * some kissing * lots of laughs for parents
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