Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this riveting adventure show depicts a trained survival expert escaping from dangerous natural locations. Viewers see him attempting dangerous maneuvers while describing the reasons for his choices, as well as the proper technique for achieving success. His actions are never rash, though at times he takes risks to demonstrate something particularly interesting, like how to escape quicksand. Occasionally Grylls appears naked, but his genitals are always blurred and the nudity is never sexual. In at least one episode, viewers see him urinate. It's worth noting that the show came under some controversy when it was discovered that Grylls didn't always "rough it" quite as much as the footage indicates. But that doesn't detract from the show's entertainment value.
Families can discuss dangerous situations. What's the scariest place that parents and kids have ever been in? Has there ever been a situation you wondered how you'd get out of? What did you do? Have you taken any training to prepare for dangerous situations (first aid, self-defense, wilderness training)? Would you like to? What would you do if you found yourself in one of the situations that Grylls demonstrates?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Sierra Filucci
In MAN VS. WILD, survival expert Bear Grylls helicopter drops into some of the world's harshest terrain and then fights his way back to safety. With only a few basic instruments, Grylls demonstrates survival techniques and teaches skills like finding water in the desert, climbing out of quicksand, catching fish without a pole, and fighting hypothermia after falling into a frozen lake.
The idea is to provide help to adventure tourists who might find themselves stranded in inhospitable circumstances and would otherwise die or create a search-and-rescue nightmare. Throughout Grylls' adventures, he relates recent real-life tragedies of people stuck in similar situations.
The combination of gorgeous locales -- like Utah's Moab Desert, the Costa Rican rainforest, and the Swiss Alps -- and Grylls' considerable British charm make Man vs. Wild a pleasure to watch. Whether or not an average tourist could recreate some of his feats (his first name is Bear, after all) is disputable, but it's certainly nail-biting to watch him scale a slippery desert wall and swim across the swift Colorado River. He even subjects himself to unnecessary pain to demonstrate a technique, like when he jumps into an icy lake to show viewers how to escape the frosty waters (breathe slowly, exit where you entered, take off your wet clothes asap).
Throughout each gnarly adventure, Grylls is able to narrate his experience surprisingly well. While in the lake, he treads water for a bit while describing the most common reasons people die when they fall into freezing water. If it weren't impossible to stage some of the show's scenarios, it would be hard to believe that Grylls didn't get frequent help from his production crew. But our fearless host did survive three years in the British Special Forces, where he broke his back and lived to scale Mount Everest.
Tweens and up will enjoy Grylls' adventures, though parents may want to do a reality check with younger viewers to make sure they know that Grylls is highly trained -- and that kids shouldn't try any of his techniques, even for fun, without checking with an adult first (frying an egg on a rock is probably harmless, but catching a snake with a rock and a stick, not so much).
Fans might also enjoy I Shouldn't Be Alive, Everest: Beyond the Limit, and Survivor. Books with a similar theme are the Worst-Case Scenario Survival series and Into Thin Air.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentNone; some non-sexual nudity -- with genitals blurred but butt exposed. |
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ViolenceSome moderate peril; encounters with dangerous animals. |
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LanguageOccasional "hell." |
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Social BehaviorGrylls teaches responsible behavior in the outdoors. Includes information about endangered species. |
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