Twelve-year-old Barbara Thorson flees from reality, leaving in the imaginary world of fantasy and magic, where she fights with giants. Her family does not understand her, peers do not like her, and she irritates teachers. And only recently moved here Sofia, her same age, trying to make friends with her.
This review contains SOME spoilers as I mention juts the opening three scenes, but I don't speak about the entire movie. If you don't mind reading about the first 8 minutes of the film, read on.
Just when you thought Harry Potter and Disney movies held the title for promoting witchcraft and teaching it to our young, this movie opens with the main character, a little girl named Barbara, whipping up "potions" and applying it to trees in a forest. The next scene shows her writing in a book in which it shows various potions of different colors and their ingredients. After this, she removes her heart shaped purse, sprinkles glitter all over it, kisses it, then closes her eyes and incants "Long Be Unbroken" before blowing the excess glitter onto the desk.
Next scene has her brother playing video games and telling his friend that he would not get "laid" with his haricut, comparing it to his own. Barbara, sitting at the dining table playing what looks like a Dungeons and Dragons board game, tells him that he should play a real game, use some imagination and save electricity. She gets so frustrated with her brothers swearing and loud gaming that she rolls the dice and then unplugs the TV stating that she "cast" a blackout spell to see if her brother would survive it then says "See? Isn't that fun?" to which he proceeds to grab the dice off the table and shoves it in the food just prepared by the sister. So far, this has proven to be a movie I would not show to my own child.
The next scene shows Barbara sitting by herself outside, staring at the ocean. Her sister comes out and says that she would play her "dragons" game if she asked. Then she tells her that it wouldn't kill her to wash a dish every now and then. Just when you thought that the two sisters were going to bond and poor Barbara was going to have love shown to her, the sister receives a phone call and walks away from Barbara, complaining about her brother and sister, leaving Barbara all alone again. Barbara mutters "Dishes. You really need to prioritize" meaning that dishes were not a priority. Then takes out a device that she unfolds into a mini telescope, in which she uses it to look out at sea at one of the "giants" in the water. I'll mention here that the device looks like it is made of various shaped and sized crystals, which would further denote the witchcraft in this movie. My recommendation is to keep your children far from this movie. It is bad enough we have kids running around with wands and reciting various Harry Potter spells out there.
The premise of the movie is clear. A young girl who can't cope with her own life of woes, escape into a fantasy world, which is unhealthy, and thus a school counselor/psychologist gets involved to help with her with her issues head on. Needing to see a psychiatrist at such a young age tells me that Barabara's family just isn't there for her, takes no notice of her, doesn't love her enough to spend time with her and talk with her about her issues in life, which should be very small due to her young age. Everything from bullies in school to her home life with her siblings. Barbara herself is not a very nice or sociable person herself. When she meets a new friend, Sophia, she treats her like dirt, as well as Mrs. Molle, the school counselor. I can understand why this girl doesn't have any friends and people treat her indifferently or bully her. She brings it upon herself by her "shut-in" attitude and thus having this high and mighty air about her as she counts off various "talisman's" she left in various places in school, supposedly to ward off evil or these "giants."
Barbara is constantly reciting various spells and incantations as she performs various things like sewing a baseball glove. And when asked by Sophia "what's with the ears?" the bunny ears she wears throughout the film, Barbara replies "Tribute to my spirit guide." Not only is there a lot of witchcraft in the movie there is now a mention of Indian folklore. I suppose the writer wanted to push several ideas into the movie to reach our children and call it fun and adventure and fantasy.
I cannot recommend this film to anyone and I wasn't surprised to find out that the film was produced by the same people who produced Harry Potter. Witchcraft and magic seems so prevalent in our society and in Hollywood these days and it is such a shame that these writers, directors, producers and film studios continuously push the issue and even worse, push it on our youth. I expect it from Disney because they have been promoting witchcraft, magic, wishes and dreaming, a far escape from reality, since day one. If you're going to show your young ones this movie, keep in mind the content or watch it first and then judge for yourself whether it is right for your children.
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