Reviews

About Our Ratings

Common Sense Media rates media based on developmental criteria recommendations from some of the nation's leading authorities. Our ON, OFF, and PAUSE buttons act as quick guides to help you figure out what media is right for your kids.

We know that kids and families are different. Our goal is to give you enough reliable information to determine what works for you. In all cases, there's no substitute for knowing your kids -- each one is different, and all families have their own preferences.

Here's How to Understand Our Ratings

  1. ON, OFF, and PAUSE

    means the offering is age appropriate.

    means we don't recommend it for the age of kids most likely to want to play it, see it, or hear it.

    means "know your kid." What's right for one 7-year-old may be all wrong for another.

    We know that every family and every kid is different, so these symbols are suggestions based on the developmental criteria our reviewers use in rating media. We still give you in-depth content information and show you what other adult and kid members say.

  2. Age Appropriateness:

    There's an age next to every button. That age represents the minimum age for which the content is appropriate or the age that the producer of the medium has targeted as its audience. There are times that a PG-13 movie, aimed at a thirteen-year-old, has content that is too graphic, sexual, or negative to be appropriate for the age.

    View Our Content Based Criteria for Determining Age Appropriateness

  3. One Star? Five Stars?

    Finally, we rate media on its quality. Sometimes age-appropriate media can be absolutely deadly. We think you want to know how enjoyable something is before plunking down those twenties for something that will bore you to tears.

    No Stars

    Beyond bad

    Bad

    Pretty bad

    Fine

    Very good

    Terrific

  4. Content Grid

    On each review page you will see a content grid. Our reviewers will give you in depth information on: Sex, Language, Violence (including scariness), and Message which includes information on social behavior, commercialism, and drugs/alcohol/tobacco use. For Games and Web sites there is also information on Educational Value.


    If you want to know about our reviewers, you can click on their names and find out about who they are.

Here's How to Use Our Site

Sort Reviews by Age

We know that all families are different and that most families have kids of different ages with different media interests. If you have a two and six-year-old child you're probably only interested in media specific for those age groups--and not for media for a twelve or fourteen-year-old child. All of the reviews on our website are assigned an age that represents the minimum age for which the content is appropriate. You can easily sort all of our reviews, in any media category, by these distinct age groupings.

On the top of each media review page, you'll see a bar with different age groupings ranging from 2-4 years to 17+. Click on the button that represents the age group for the media reviews you're interested in viewing, and then browse through the list of titles within that age group only. This way, you can quickly view the media titles that are right for your family!

If you're looking for a specific title, you can always type in the name of the title (or any specific author or artist) into the search box located on the top of every page.

Adult and Kid Reviews

Each media review contains an in-depth review of the content, message, and quality of the media with a specific focus on how kids may relate to and interpret that piece of media. But that's just our opinion--what do others think?

Thousands of adults and kids have added their opinions about the media listed on our site. On the top of each review page, you'll see three buttons, "CSM Review", "Adult Reviews", and "Kid Reviews". Click on the adult or kid reviews buttons to see a full list of the reviews submitted by other concerned parents and kids. Read what they have to say in addition to our reviews. We know that all kids are different--so the more information you know, the better equipped you'll be to make the best media choices for your family.

Rate Media

You and your kids can rate everything they watch, play, surf, read or listen to. Common sense member ratings are a great way to raise media-savvy kids...and have fun together. On every media review page, you'll see an orange box on the right-hand side of the page just under the content grid box. Complete this simple form, hit submit, and then write any detailed information you think will be of help to other parents and kids. Write as many reviews as you want...we want your voice to be heard!

You must be a registered member to submit your review, so if you're not already a member, please sign-up and join the hundreds of thousands of parents, educators and kids that are sharing common sense information and ideas to improve their media and entertainment choices.