 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
- Review Date: August 6, 2009
- PG-13
- Genre: Action/Adventure
- 2009
Common Sense Media says
Too violent for kids, too childish for grown-ups.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this relentless action adventure inspired by the '80s cartoon/toy line is filled with extreme (albeit minimally bloody/gory) violence. Kids will want to see it because they're the ones who play with the toys, but there's no end to the parade of characters who are slashed, stabbed, shot, or dispatched invarious other ways (it's important to note that, unlike in the similarly inspired Transformers movies, most of the victims here are people, not machines). There's also a lot of potentially scary medical imagery -- needles, scalpels, painful-looking procedures, and more -- and some intermittent strong language (including "s--t"). And Hasbro, the company that makes G.I. Joe toys, co-produced the movie -- meaning that the story doesn't contain product placement so much as the product placement contains a story.
What's the story?
Set in a hypothetical near-future, G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA pits a multinationalbest-of-the-best fighting force ("the Joes") against a high-tech, highly motivatedterrorist group intent on shattering civilization withnanotechnology-based armaments that can devour metal nearly instantly. As Duke (Channing Tatum) -- the Joes' newest recruit -- gets closer and closerto the evil plotters, he realizes that one of them, the amoral Baroness(Sienna Miller), is actually his long-lost ex fiancee.
Is it any good?
Combining the globe-trotting style of modern techno thrillersand the cartoony, bloodless, high-tech look of modern effectsblockbusters with an unhealthy dose of '80s nostalgia for the originalcartoon, G.I. Joe feels like it's trying -- incredibly hard -- to beall things to all people. And so it fails to be anything to anyone. Tatum tries to invest his between-fights dialogue with emotional meaning and sincerity, but it's like trying to stuff vitamins into cotton candy -- futile and messy.
Director Stephen Sommers proved that he could craft decent PG-13 action withthe Mummy films; he also proved, with Van Helsing, that he can let hislove of effects triumph over the storytelling required to make a real film. Many (infact, almost all) of G.I. Joe's effects-heavy action sequences have theplastic, weightless, meaningless computer-generated emptiness of avideo game. And while the costumed, code-named, stylized characters arefaithful to the original cartoon, they aren't especially engaging orreal beyond their fidelity to the source material. Too cartoony andchildish for grown-up action fans and too violent and grisly for kids,G.I. Joe is an action film whose glossy shine is matched only by itsglib cynicism.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the movie's violence. Despite dozens of on-screen deaths, the movie earned a PG-13 rating -- do you think that's accurate? Do bloodless deaths have less impact than gorier ones?
It's also worth talking about the consumerism side of things. What do kids make of the fact that this is a moviebased on a line of toys? Is the movie's goal to sell more toys? If not, what is it?
Why do you think the movie takes a fantasy-oriented approach to bothviolence and terrorism? Does it make those issues any less scary?
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- Teens & kids
AGE
yo yo yo, my name is G.I Joe!
PLENTY of destruction sequences. the eifel tower is dissentegrated and falls and crushes paris. car chases, smashes, explosions, and ninja combat scenes are quite intense. there are long, sloppy kisses from duke, ana, and mcullen. uses of s*** and d***. one use of a**hole. military violence and guns. a character gores another character, his brother. the theme of a weapon company might be a little too disturbing for some people
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Kid, 12 years old
March 5, 2010
AGE
whatever the critics say i enjoyed this flick!!!!!!!
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AGE
whatever the critics say i enjoyed this flick!!!!!!!
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Kid, 11 years old
March 5, 2010
AGE
whatever the critics say i enjoyed this flick!!!!!!!
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AGE
Enjoyable, Intense, Cartoonish Action Thrill Ride.
I really enjoyed this film; I did. But it was quite violent. Cartoonish; campy, but violent. The Paris action sequence was my favorite. The ending felt a little weak and it was anticlimactic, but that just means there's probably a sequel on the way.
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AGE
Meh.
I'll admit it: I watched this movie solely for Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The most fun I had while watching was trying to figure out which character he was (since I had no idea), joking sarcastically about how he was totally the creepy scientist, and then realizing a few seconds later that-- alsdkfjlkdsf-- he WAS the creepy scientist. Anyway, the movie was otherwise lame jokes and violence. I might have appreciated it more had I not been staring at poor JGL's messed up face.
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AGE
It's pretty violent through out, but none of it is done any sort of a realistic way, so most kids in the 11-13 age range can probably handle it.
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AGE
Violent PG-13 Action Thriler good for 13+
Parents should know that although there's no blood, there's heads getting cut off, and a ton of action scenes throughout. Lots of fights, explosions, weapons, and punches. Weapons include missile launchers, swords, guns, etc. Kids will want to see it, and that's okay for ages 13+, because there's no blood. However, be warned, this stretches the limit of PG-13.
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| Studio: | Paramount Pictures |
| Director: | Stephen Sommers |
| Cast: | Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Sienna Miller |
| Genre: | Action/Adventure |
| Run time: | 107 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | August 7, 2009 |
| DVD release date: | November 3, 2009 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | strong sequences of action violence and mayhem throughout |
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