 | 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. |
Independence Day
- PG-13
- Genre: Science Fiction
- 1996
Common Sense Media says
Non-stop campy fun. For teens and up.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this popular film might attract kids due to the promise of excessive destruction effects and Will Smith's universal appeal. The film's CGI images of global devastation could prove too graphic for kids and some teens. One scary scene involves a vicious alien attempting to murder the President. The movie's outmoded depictions of traditional gender roles might also provide negative instruction for impressionable teens. Some jokes may also be considered homophobic.
What's the story?
INDEPENDENCE DAY follows the plotline of several previous Hollywood sci-fi disaster movies. The story features a wide variety of social types reacting to the arrival of aliens and the aliens' eventual attack on the planet Earth, which include: The President (Bill Pullman) and Press Secretary (Margaret Colin) in D.C.; the First Lady (Mary McDonnell) on a publicity junket; a marine pilot (Will Smith) and his stripper girlfriend (Vivica A. Fox) in Los Angeles; a cable technician (Jeff Goldblum), his father (Judd Hirsch) and boss (Harvey Fierstein) in New York City; and an alcoholic crop duster (Randy Quaid) and his family in rural CA. After the initial spectacular deluge, in which the alien attackers lay waste to LA and NYC, a majority of this diverse crew collaborates to survive and eventually vanquish the invaders.
Is it any good?
Independence Day harkens back to the classic alien invasion movies of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the disaster movies of the 1970s. These sources provide campy material for the film to quote from as well as slick clean-up and advanced special effects technology. References to The War of the Worlds (1953), The Day the Earth Stood Still, and imagery from Earthquake and The Towering Inferno provide chuckles to knowing audiences. Overblown performances by Smith, Brent Spiner (as an addled scientist from Area 54), Hirsch, and Fierstein will no doubt tease a few guffaws as well.
This is the film that sky-rocketed Smith to blockbuster action hero status. It's clever, intensely thrilling, and if you can recognize the stock stereotypes and movie plots, very funny.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about stereotypes associated with action-disaster movies as well as how race, class, and gender is represented in the film.
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- Teens & kids
AGE
great movie, some swearing
Really good movie w/ too much swearing. Nothing too strong, but I'd like to get the TV-edited movie becasue you could get all the action w/o the swearing.
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AGE
great for teens, ok for tweens
a great movie for teens, but is too mature for kids. there is violence throughout, and some scary images of aliens. a women and man are in bed wit meager clothing, implying they had slept together. a man gets drunk and acts irrationaly. however, this movie is excellent for those who won't be scared from the excessive violence.
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AGE
perfect for tweens.
I loved this movie, it's one of the best UFO movies I've seen, and i recommend it to ages 11+. I think a lot of people thought that it was too violent, but there really wasn't much gore. Yes, I agree that there was a lot of explosions, and people were killed, but that was one of the things that made the movie so good. The aliens may frighten young ones, but for the most part they weren't too freaky looking. the mostly looked really fake, like they were plastic or some thing. the also was a lot of language, but the "f-word" wasn't used, it was mostly just s**t, b**ch, and hell.
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AGE
Awesome Movie!!
Independence Day is really good. It has a bit of humor in it, and it looks great when the White House is blown up. There really isn't that much violence, because it isn't shown. There is a little bit of language, but not that much for an alien invasion movie. All in all it is a really good movie, and anyone who isn't frightened by an alien invasion.
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AGE
Independance Day
A fabulous movie for the whole family. Has some intense action and peril, but nothing too bad. All in all, a grand alien flick.
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AGE
Unbelievable.
Well sci-fi films and disaster movies tend to follow the same story line, for example independence day seems to follow an almost identical story line to films such as 2012 and the war of the worlds. You get the same old boring characters, meeting up in unlikely situations throughout the film and for the 'climax' you get a unrealistic survival to top it all off. I suppose if you like special effects then this is the film for you, however when you see the alien, it makes the whole film even tackier and kind of like a stupid comedy, you know the ones where you see somebody like simon pegg running away from a massive slimy alien with tenticles. Put it this way, if independence day was meant to be a comedy, well worth watching, however it is meant to be a serious film, so unless you're looking for a laugh and to poke some fun at a film, then this is the one to watch. If not, then seriously, don't bother.
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AGE
Good for 12+
•Movie Review: Independence Day
•Recommended Age: 12
•Sexual Content:
Two unmarried characters are shown lying in bed.
There is a brief club scene, where a character, along with many other women, are shown in revealing clothing; the woman dances suggestively.
•Violence:
Lots of destruction; buildings collapse, crushing people. Cities light on fire, many people are shown injured or dead.
A character is strangled.
An alien is shot and killed.
An alien telepathically tortures a man, before they shoot the alien.
Lots of other violence concerning an alien invasion; aliens fire big lasers, crush buildings, shoot down planes, etc.
•Profanity:
B*stard,
Son of a b**ch,
Sh*t,
Other mild language (h*ll, d*mn, etc.)
•Positive Messages:
Self-sacrifice to save others you love, standing up for yourself (or in this case your entire planet), etc.
•Consumerism:
None.
•Drugs, Smoking, Drinking:
None.
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Kid, 12 years old
March 9, 2010
AGE
Not to realistic(I've seen to much new movies). Good movie tho.
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AGE
Action hero type of movie. I think my kid can handle it.
I watched this movie and wondered if my 9 year old could see it. It's very human motivating. There are some obvious curse words but ones I think my 9 year old understands is "adult language". My true concern is that it's scary. Lots of people die but off screen like in an okay action movie. But it is human motivating. We beat the bad guys by uniting the world and joining together.
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AGE
We Still Haven't Learned our Lesson
This was a good movie in my opinion. It was saying that you shouldn't judge aliens just because they're aliens and their 93,000,000,000,000 mile trip to Earth. Boy was that message wrong because the aliens just start attacking, but in a way, it kind've shows the way we humans act. For example, the aliens said that they were a traveling race, probably because they left their planet uninhabitable, which is what we're doing right this minute. It also means that we always judge a book by its cover most of the time.
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| Topics: | space and aliens |
| Studio: | Twentieth Century Fox |
| Director: | Roland Emmerich |
| Cast: | Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Will Smith |
| Genre: | Science Fiction |
| Run time: | 153 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | July 2, 1996 |
| DVD release date: | May 11, 2004 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | sci-fi destruction and violence |
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