Father and child sit together smiling while looking at a smart phone.

Want more recommendations for your family?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for entertainment inspiration

Parents' Guide to

Going for Gold

By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Predictable underdog cheerleading tale set in Australia.

Movie NR 2018 93 minutes
Going for Gold Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 8+

Based on 3 parent reviews

age 8+

Teamwork makes the dream work

Romance, teamwork and drama. This movie perfectly captures a competitive cheer squad through the ups and downs of their team.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
age 8+

Fun movie for the gymnastics, dance and cheer lover. My eight year old is really into gymnastics right now and was going to watch this as a compromise. We were really happy to see that it has a ton of gymnastics along with cheer. Yes there were some mean girls but the main character was positive. The outfits weren't too revealing and she and I both had fun watching it.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (4 ):

This movie feels like it was dumped straight out of the Lifetime-Nickelodeon-Disney teenage angst Jell-O mold straight onto Netflix. The mold reflects the thinking of some calculating engineering department's checklist: A teen moves somewhere new and has to prove her/his worth and talent through a series of tests and competitions. There is always a villainous rival, a sympathetic new friend, a love interest and, often, a clueless and uninvolved single parent. Going for Gold checks every box, which means not much imagination or creativity was required in the making of this thing. The big decisions? Is the protagonist a boy or a girl, does he/she move to another state or another country, is it gymnastics, bull riding, equestrian jumping, or cheerleading? It doesn't much matter, which is why this movie doesn't much matter, either. Note that the same writer-director, Clay Glen, also created two other movies in the same mold: Raising the Bar and A 2nd Chance.

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.

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