Parents' Guide to

Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer

By Brian Costello, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 11+

Jumbled fantasy story has lots of iffy behavior.

Movie PG 2011 85 minutes
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Part King Arthur, part card game Magic: The Gathering, and part Harry Potter: If ADVENTURES OF A TEENAGE DRAGONSLAYER had picked just one of these to parody, perhaps this would have worked. But, on the other hand, there is so much bullying, disobeying parents, hotwiring vehicles, name-calling, and constant potty humor, even a story that was less of a jumbled mishmash of better-known fantasy stories probably would have worn thin within 15 minutes. The end result is puerile tween behavior and bullying with no consequences for their actions, combined with a confusing mess of a story.

To their credit, Lea Thompson and Wendie Malick make the best of what little they're given -- the former plays a single mom to Arthur, and the latter an over-the-top authoritarian antagonist of a school principal. Nonetheless, their talents fail to overcome the movie's myriad shortcomings. If kids laugh at this one, know that it's for all the wrong reasons.

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