Parents' Guide to Crusade: A March Through Time

This movie reminds you why sometimes a series makes a better format for an ambitious story than a feature film does. There's simply too much potential material in Crusade: A March Through Time to do it justice in under two hours, which says great things about the original idea, but means the final product is light on details and character development. More time would have allowed a better set-up to explain why Dolf makes such a drastic and potentially life-threatening decision to go back in time, not to mention how the science behind the time traveling (and DNA pills Dolf has to take) supposedly work. The film also gives short shrift to Dolf's emotional reckoning with the possibility of being stuck for the rest of his life in the Middle Ages as well as to Jenne's decision to abandon her world and jump ahead several centuries.

The vast differences between a child's life in 1212 versus today and the profound religious convictions of the 13th century characters offer meaty topics for deeper exploration, but also the possibility for more historical inaccuracies. And maybe such detail is unnecessary in a film aimed at a tween audience anyway: Crusade certainly succeeds in conveying its age-appropriate messages about teamwork, friendship and selfless service, thanks in no small part to the convincing and likable performances of its young cast, especially Flynn. The outcome is that Crusade is just enticing enough to leave discerning viewers wanting, if not annoyed by the absence of, more.