Alice Upside Down (NR)
New-girl story with appealing Disney cast.
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Seen the movie?
Movie details
- Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
- Directed By: Sandy Tung
- Cast: Luke Perry, Lucas Grabeel, Alyson Stoner
- Running Time: 90 minutes
- Release Date: 07/25/2008
- Video/DVD Release Date: 07/28/2008
- Genre: Family and Kids
- MPAA Rating: NR
Parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie is about an 11-year-old girl whose mother died five years earlier trying to negotiate a new school and find the right role model. A cherished teacher must leave school for heart surgery, but recovers. The tween heroine suffers what she considers incredible social embarrassment, repeatedly.
Families can talk about Alice's efforts to get assigned to a new classroom. Why is the choice of her teacher so important to her? Discuss some of the events that Alice considers humiliating -- are they really so bad? Have you ever had a teacher like Mrs. Plotkin, and was there anything you appreciated about her afterwards?
Families can talk about Alice's efforts to get assigned to a new classroom. Why is the choice of her teacher so important to her? Discuss some of the events that Alice considers humiliating -- are they really so bad? Have you ever had a teacher like Mrs. Plotkin, and was there anything you appreciated about her afterwards?
Message
Social Behavior:
Positive messages about the need to discover one's talents and gifts, and not feeling discouraged if you are not always the star of the show. A close and supportive extended family is depicted. Alice lies to her teacher and is sent to the principal's office, and is rude to her father at times. Siblings snip but are generally supportive of each other.
Consumerism:
Build-A-Bear boxes and bears are heavily featured. Gateway computers show up in a few scenes.
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
Violence
Sex
Mild innuendo from teen son to widowed father about his "needs." The same teen sings in a band called Naked Nomads and is pursued by female fans. Adults talk to kids about someone being "hot" in high school, and the father and his new girlfriend share one romantic on-screen kiss.
Language
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by Nancy Davis Kho
In ALICE UPSIDE DOWN, 11-year-old Alice McKinley (Alyson Stoner) has a double challenge: to adjust to life as the new kid in school in Silver Spring, and to find a female role model who can help negotiate the mysteries of growing up in the absence of her deceased mom. Her father (Luke Perry) and brother Lester (Lucas Grabeel) are well-meaning but clueless about Alice's inner turmoil, which reaches a fever pitch as the curtain rises on the school play. Will Alice learn to value her true gifts instead of coveting the successes of her classmates?
Is it any good?
The movie, based on the book The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, strikes the right note about the trials and tribulations of the middle school years. Girls from age 10 to 13 will relate not only to Alice's anxieties, but to her rich inner fantasy life in which she is rich, popular, beautiful, and favored by her teachers. It's nice to have a movie aimed at tweens where the pining is not for a cute boy, but for a friendly teacher.
The studio put together a cast sure to tap into Disney's audience, combining High School Musical's Grabeel with Camp Rock's Stoner. Both are appealing in their roles, and Grabeel gets a chance to sing again, albeit shirtless as part of his band's shtick. Alice's evolving relationship with her tough-as-nails teacher Mrs. Plotkin (Penny Marshall) rings true. Perry acquits himself nicely as the father dipping a toe in the dating waters again, though he doesn't quite seem old enough to have a teenaged son.
Other choices
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Akeelah and the Bee
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by Jennifer Holm
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by Jerry Spinelli
Akeelah and the Bee
The book Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf
by Jennifer Holm
The book Stargirl
by Jerry Spinelli
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Parents and kids say
All Reviews
There are 1 reviews.
Posted on 07/25/08 by Anonymous Kid contributor, age 14
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There are 1 reviews.
Posted on 07/25/08 by Anonymous Kid contributor, age 14
Which fantasy book creature has the best name?
Fluffy (3-headed dog, Harry Potter)
33%
Mister Grin (giant crocodile, Peter and the Starcatchers)
33%
Vermicious Knid (shapeshifting monster, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator)
0%
The Incredibly Deadly Viper (harmless snake, Series of Unfortunate Events)
0%
Bunnicula (vampire bunny, Bunnicula series)
33%
6 votes