Parents' Guide to

Freedom Force

By Grace Montgomery, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 7+

Bizarre animated tale has some violence, lots of fart jokes.

Movie PG 2014 82 minutes
Freedom Force Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

See all
age 4+

Based on 1 parent review

Lebron12James3
Lebron12James3 Parent
November 29, 2021
age 4+

I hate this book

This book is bad
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

Someone has a grudge against Jules Verne and is systematically scrambling his characters and plot points to ruin his novels just in time for Jules Verne Day. With the President furious, the Professor (Christopher Lloyd) sends a troop of gifted kids into Verne's novels using his invention called the Imaginarium. Each kid has something in common with Jules Verne (including a horrible case of flatulence), which will help him or her enter his imagination. But with only 48 hours to reset the stories and a menacing thug on their trail, it's only together that they can find each reset button and set things right before the changes are permanent.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (7):

Watching this horribly executed film will make you wish you could hit your own reset button. Although it has an incredibly clever plot, some cool gadgets, and some great actors voicing some of the characters (Sarah Michelle Geller and Christopher Lloyd), FREEDOM FORCE badly misses the mark. Although everyone talks a lot about Jules Verne, you're only given the most minor details of the plots of any of the stories featured. Instead, a lot of time is taken up focusing on Profiterole's horrible gas and how it can be used to save the day. The subject matter being borrowed from is so rich (Journeys to the moon! Giant squid! Submarines! And more!), but the character development is weak, and too much time is spent on slapstick and gross-out humor. The dialogue is also often really awkward, but some of that may be due to it being overdubbed. It's such a shame, because with some better dialogue and a slightly stronger plot, this could have been a great way to get kids interested in science fiction.

Kids will no doubt be entertained by the gadgets -- and the gross-out humor. But you'd probably be better off doing a double feature of Spy Kids and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea instead.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Jules Verne, who is considered by many to be the father of science fiction. How much do you know about Jules Verne? Have you read any of his books?

  • Why do you think Jules Verne's novels and story lines are still so popular? What makes them so compelling?

  • Freedom Force uses a lot of potty humor. Why do you think the film's creators chose to use so much of it? Why is potty humor funny to many people but not to others?

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

See all recommended movie lists

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate