Ladyhawke

Movie review by Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media
Ladyhawke Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 12+

Messy, dated romantic fantasy is dull and violent.

PG-13 1985 124 minutes
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Parents say

age 10+

Based on 7 reviews

Kids say

age 10+

Based on 4 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Ladyhawke is a dopey 1985 romantic fantasy that will probably bore most kids and sorely try the patience of most grown-ups. Expect the slashing and impaling common to cinematic portrayals of medieval violence. Blood drips from a victim's mouth but is otherwise scarce. Several people are stabbed or pierced with arrows. One falls though ice into a wintry pond. There is a drunk priest and some mild profanity ("hell" and "damn").

Community Reviews

ShannonTR
ShannonTR Adult
July 22, 2021
age 9+

A fun 80s fantasy romance

Surprised at the negative review, maybe the reviewer was a bit grumpy that day. My siblings and I watched this movie over and over. A neat story, a really good bad guy, amusing Matthew Broderick, and Michelle Pfeiffer at her most beautiful. Rutger Hauer is appropriately brooding. The early scenes with the wolf are a bit scary, but overall fairly bloodless.
1 person found this helpful.
dee P.
dee P. Adult
June 4, 2022
age 9+

Still a fun watch

I'm really confused by the Commonsense review on this one. I loved this movie as a kid but actually resisted showing it to my own because of this review and thinking maybe I misremembered it. Finally did tonight, and he enjoyed it a lot. Sure, some of the cinematography is dated, and the music is SO 80s, but the plot is still engrossing and touching, the violence is pretty minimal without being infantalizing, the jokes are funny, and if it won't become a household favorite these days it still makes for a nice family movie night with slightly older kids.
See all 7 parent reviews

What's the Story?

A bishop (John Wood) with passionate designs on Isabeau (Michelle Pfeiffer) curses her and the captain she loves (Rutger Hauer) to lifelong misery: He becomes a wolf every night, she becomes a hawk every day. Unable to be together as a couple, they travel in limbo until Philippe, a nimble pickpocket (Matthew Broderick), stumbles on their plight. With the help of a hermetic monk (Leo McKern), who figures out how to end the curse, they evade the bishop's murderous soldiers until day and night somehow intermingle and the good guys prevail.

Is It Any Good?

This overblown, overlong, overacted romantic fantasy is dull and devoid of both wit and good taste. Rock music more suited to an episode of Miami Vice competes with lute melodies without any good reason. In one inexplicable sequence, we view the hawk flying in slow motion to an accompanying heavy rock beat. The characters bear French names, but the accents range from Brooklynese (Broderick says, "I gotta be outta my mind"), faintly Dutch (Hauer), and Californian (Pfeiffer) to legitimately Shakespearean (Wood and McKern). Broderick plays the role with the same ironic detachment as he played Ferris Bueller, a modernity utterly out of place in a tale set during the Middle Ages.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether there is such a thing as a curse. What do you think?

  • The bishop is evil and selfish. How in real life can you fight powerful people who are not doing the right thing?

  • A pickpocket is scheduled to be executed for his crime. What crime, if any, do you think would merit the punishment of death?

Movie Details

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