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Never Say Never Again

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 11, age appropriate for kids over 14; suggested age 13.

  • Is it any good?

    3.0

  • Common Sense says

    Boobs, bombs, and Bond galore in epic 007 thriller.

Themes in this movie include:   dating/crushes, gender issues, revenge

Why We Rated This iffy for Ages 13–14

The good stuff

  • Messages:

    James Bond fights evil. Even though his boss and the British government seem rather inept, he makes decisions to help keep the world safe based on what's right and wrong. That said, the movie sends stereotypical messages about women and certain ethnic groups.
 

What to watch out for

  • Role models :

    James Bond's behavior is risky (because that's his job) and he's a pleasure seeker (caviar, martinis, sex). In the film, he never seems less than noble, but as a role model for boys, he doesn't demonstrate ideal or even realistic choices. There's nothing wrong with pleasure, but when it comes at the cost of making true connections with people and valuing people for more than sex or what they can do for you, it becomes problematic. The women in the movie are definitely not role models. They're both sex objects, one evil and powerful, one innocent and powerless.

  • Violence:

    Almost non-stop fighting, with guns, knives, spears, bombs, exploding pens, etc. But no blood ever appears and rarely is a person definitely dead -- they might just be unconscious. One brief shot of a dead woman lying face-down in water.

  • Sex:

    Ladies just fall into James Bond's bed without much effort on his part. Though the sex is frequent, and promiscuous (one day he has sex with one woman, fights a few sharks, and then beds the woman who rescues him from the ocean), it's not graphic. One brief scene seems to be Bond thrusting behind a woman, but turns out to be him getting a chiropractic adjustment.

  • Language:

    Occasional mild swearing, like "hell" and "ass."

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Bond enjoys his martinis -- shaken, not stirred. Some smoking in the background. One minor character is a heroin addict.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Never Say Never Again

Parents need to know that this is a classic James Bond movie. The secret agent beds at least four women in the course of the movie (two in one afternoon). He kills countless men and at least one woman (with an exploding pen). Though deaths are bloodless and rarely graphic, one brief scene shows a woman dead, face-down in water, with her eyes still open. The main female character lives with an evil terrorist who threatens to cut her throat if she leaves him. Women's bodies are frequently shown wet, in bikinis, and often without focusing on their faces. In one scene, the main female character is tied to a post, barely dressed, in front of a band of aggressive men on horseback who offer money for her.

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Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about media images of men. What is appealing about James Bond? Can you separate out his honorable qualities from his less noble ones? Why do women seem so attracted to him? Do you know any men like James Bond in real life? If not, what does that tell you about his character?
  • Talk about the women in this movie. What are their motivations for working with the bad guy? What, if anything, is appealing about these women? Do you know any women like the characters in this movie?
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