Great Funny
Cool Runnings
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Is it age appropriate?
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Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
Delightful story of Jamaican bobsledders.
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 8 and Up
The good stuff
What to watch out for
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Violence & scariness:
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Sexy stuff:
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Language:
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Consumerism:
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of Cool Runnings was written by Charles Cassady Jr.
Parents need to know that bobsledding, at least here, won't be as engaging a sport for the under-eight crowd as, say football, baseball or basketball. Preteens and teens are more likely to appreciate this lively underdog movie about an unusual topic. Expect some hokey cliches, but a valid point is made about the spirit of sportsmanship.
Families Can Talk About
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- Families can talk about sportsmanship and the spirit of the Olympic Games.
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More on Cool Runnings
What’s the Story?
COOL RUNNINGS is loosely based on the real-life Jamaican bobsled team. When an accident prevents Derice Bannock (Leon) from making Jamaica's Olympic track team, he searches for another way to compete. Derice convinces Irv Blitzer (John Candy), a former gold-medalist, to coach his team. The team overcomes some serious setbacks to make it to the Olympic games.
Is It Any Good?
You've seen this underdog material done before, from the sublime Rocky to the embarrassingly cliched (virtually any Rocky sequel). Cool Runnings taps both qualities. At one end you've got the Jamaican team, a colorful, contrived bunch of squabblers who predictably learn to pull together and defy their detractors (mainly a rival team of stereotyped East German Nazi-Commie storm troopers). But then comes the real-world finale, when the heroes lose the race but achieve a much greater goal, symbolizing what the Olympics truly mean to athletes around the globe. Seldom in sports movies has defeat looked so noble.
Younger viewers may want to learn more about Olympic bobsledding, or Jamaica, if only to sort out the facts from the fiction. The novice 1988 Jamaican bobsledders were actually conceived by a businessman and an ex-diplomat, and they did wipe out in the midst of a spectacular performance. "Irv," however, and the other characters are screenwriter inventions, and they seem like it.
Movie Details
Studio: Disney, Director: Jon Turteltaub
Run time: 98 minutes
Theatrical release: 10/10/1993, DVD release: 7/20/1999
MPAA Rating: PG for brief language
Run time: 98 minutes
Theatrical release: 10/10/1993, DVD release: 7/20/1999
MPAA Rating: PG for brief language
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I rate this title on for age 2 and give it
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Great for any age
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Loved it
This is a great movie!!! I loved it! they do swear in this movie though!
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Great movie
Five words: hilarious clean uplifting watch it
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Great
Probubly the only clean comady out there any more not that much languge
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