Belle and Sebastian: Friends for Life

Parents need to know that Belle and Sebastian: Friends for Life continues the heartwarming story of a boy and his dog in the French Alps, this time as they face the threat of a sadistic gravedigger who will stop at nothing to make Belle and her puppies his own. The dangers Sebastian faces are intense, especially as the gravedigger pursues the boy and his dog, Belle, with a rifle and a knife, runs down Sebastian's grandfather in a tank-like vehicle, sends the boy into a blizzard where he nearly freezes to death and later into a graveyard to hide, and finally is sent to his own watery grave in a frozen lake. Sebastian's farewell to his grandfather at the film's end is a tearjerker, but only because it builds on the tender relationship between the two characters. The boy's mother is also seen in visions and flashbacks, including a scene where she dies birthing Sebastian. Language includes "stubborn as an ass." Sebastian asks his dad on his wedding night: "You already slept with her?" He replies: "You bet." Sebastian later wonders whether they'll "make babies." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.