Parents' Guide to

Battle of the Year

By S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Passable drama has great dancers but no originality.

Movie PG-13 2013 109 minutes
Battle of the Year Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 12+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 13+

13 and up.

this dance drama movie battle of the year is an average movie stars with chris brown this movie is good enough for your older teens and parents battle of the year has some mild violence like fist fights there's some mild language used and some drinking used this movie has a positive message about Teamwork, above all, prevails and check your ego at the door the role model is that although Coach Blake is an alcoholic, he's trying to stop drinking while putting the team together. Almost everyone on the crew is well-intentioned and determined, though some are arrogant and aggressive. They're weeded out pretty quickly.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much violence
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
age 10+

Boring but harmless

For me as an adult this movie was incredibly heavy-handed on the cliches, boring and badly made. The kids loved it though. I took a 9-year-old, who's really into break-dancing, and two 11-year-olds. If you don't mind hearing the odd "sh*t" and "*ss" this movie is just fine for that age group. The coach's drinking problem is barely noticeable to kids - it's restricted to him taking the occasional swig out of a nondescript flask when he's home alone. He never acts drunk or rowdy, and is never seen drinking in bars. I honestly think my 9-year-old probably didn't even realize he was supposed to be an alcoholic. The sexual innuendo was very minimal. There is one woman in the movie and she is treated as one of the gang (after a couple of little jokes at the beginning).

This title has:

Great messages

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (4 ):

The dancing in BATTLE OF THE YEAR is mind-bendingly good, with limbs and bodies flying around so fast that they seem to defy gravity. No doubt the men who make up the B-boy crew are talented and eminently watchable -- essential in a dance movie. What else works? The story's quick ramp-up, which dispenses with the prologue in 10 efficient minutes.

But let's be clear: Battle of the Year isn't memorable. And it isn't innovative. (Sample dialogue: "There's no 'I' in team.") It can be fun to watch, and you may even laugh at its unoriginal jokes, but you'll recover from this battle in no time flat, forgetting what was at stake in the first place.

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