Parents' Guide to

Lucky's Treasure

By Renee Longstreet, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Predictable, slow Christian family drama with some gunplay.

Movie NR 2017 90 minutes
Lucky's Treasure Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

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age 10+

Based on 1 parent review

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CSMContentDefault Adult
October 8, 2017
age 10+

Good CHRISTIAN Movie with some excellent young adult role models

We gave this 5 starts because overall, it was a good, wholesome, “Christian” and family movie demonstrating many truly Christian values. In general, these values include the willingness to actually use the name of Jesus Christ, to pray in the Name of Jesus Christ, strong spiritual male leadership (read more below), sexual purity, a healthy boy/girl romantic relationship, character in relationships and in spite of antagonists, value, perspective and understanding that God uses difficult things to cause us to grow. While there were some “predictable” elements in this movie, they weren’t any more so than in most other contemporary movies. There were, on the other hand, some villain-goons that utilized clown on two occasions. In addition they broken into the home and threatened the lead female at gun point. All of this could be scary for younger children. In addition to these “clowns”, there was the typical mean and jealous “bad girl” vying for the lead male’s affections. I watched this film with my wife and eleven year old daughter. This movie had some great strengths from a Christian point of view. We stopped the movie multiple times to point out teachable moments in the movie for our daughter. Foremost among these moments involved the male lead Jake who showed refreshingly strong spiritual leadership. Spiritual leadership is not dominance or being domineering. It doesn’t demand submission. Christ laid down His life for the church, to present the church to Himself in all her glory. So too husbands are commanded to love their wives the exact same way. Jake did this very thing in appropriate ways, as much as possible, in a dating relationship. This is in my opinion was one of the greatest strengths of the movie. Jake’s obviously growing attraction for Emily was kept in check. Rather than taking advantage of her venerable heart, his spiritual leadership protected her heart. In a similar way, Emily did not try to take advantage of Jake and his growing emotions for her. Together they demonstrated healthy boundaries that allowed a relationship to grow and flourish with time (as much as this could be accomplished in a movie). Their relationship wasn’t based on premature sexual involvement including kissing—although they eventually kiss briefly. But even this as after he had expressed that he loved her, and more importantly, demonstrated that by protecting her emotionally and sexually. All of this was a welcome change of endearing purity. Jake also took the lead in encouraging Emily to persevere. He gave good biblical perspective concerning difficult times and difficult things. Namely, that these are the very things (that God uses) to get us out of our comfort zones, and to cause us to grow. Jake even prayed—albeit quite briefly--for Emily’s grandfather at her request, perceptively asking for both physical and spiritual healing. Beyond this, Emily was a great model of how a young Christian woman can both dress to flatter herself, and to handle herself, without being sensual or seductive. And while both Jake and Emily's roles were both romanticized a bit, it was a breath of fresh air to see a relationship based on attraction of all kinds. This includes, normal physical/sexual attraction between a young man and young woman. There was also attraction to one's character. Both Jake and Emily displayed strong relational character including patience, kindness, and refusing to speak ill towards their antagonists. They also displayed intellectual attraction (as seen in their college classroom), and most refreshingly, they displayed strong sexual purity—something so badly needed in this day and age when even so many Christians compromise God’s explicit standards. While there wasn’t explicit “trust in Jesus Christ alone”—a truly Christian distinctive—the Grandfather’s spiritual journey to repentance, confession and transformation was a welcome rarity in contrast to many “Christian” films. In short, in spite of some minor flaws, we highly commend this movie as a great family movie with many Christian values.
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What's the Story?

College-bound Emily Landis (Delaney) takes a break from city life to attend a rural college and live with her grandfather Henry (Michael Ironside) in LUCKY'S TREASURE. Though Henry loves Emily, he has not recovered from the death of his beloved wife, has given up on God, and may be losing his home. He's reluctant to have Emily with him and, early on, the relationship is strained. But Emily is persistent; her faith and her sense of responsibility keep her there. And, the fact that Emily learns about her late grandmother's decades-long quest to find a buried treasure somewhere on her grandparents' property is intriguing. The first days spent in her college classrooms are a welcome relief from the tensions at home. When Emily meets Jake (J.T. Neal), she finds a friendly, like-minded young man who is clearly interested in her. Complicating their budding relationship, however, is the ongoing interference from Jake's ex-girlfriend. At the same time, two greedy would-be felons are on their own search for the buried treasure, their efforts escalating when they hear about a journal that may lead them to it. Ultimately, Emily finds herself at risk from the villains, the wrath of an old girlfriend, and Henry's increasingly desperate need to save his home.

Is It Any Good?

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

There's nothing to recommend about this plodding, poorly-executed direct-to-DVD movie intended for Christian audiences; a misconceived treasure-hunt mystery only adds to the banality of the tale. Arbitrary plot elements are introduced in Lucky's Treasure; some of them never dealt with, let alone resolved (i.e., a major player's dependence on alcohol; an eviction notice that arrives mid-story and is never explained). Guns show up on random occasions simply because the storytellers think they'll add suspense. Characters have no rationale behind their behavior; they appear and disappear at odd times and in odd places. As with any movie directed at a specific audience, there's an art to telling a successful faith-based story. When the movie is trite, the resolution predictable from the very first scenes, and the production is clumsy and slow, delivering well-meaning spiritual messages simply isn't enough.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about films that are made to appeal to specific audiences (i.e., sports movies, horror films, sci-fi), but usually hope that general audiences might find them, too. What audience were the makers of Lucky's Treasure trying to reach? What, if anything, about this film would make it enjoyable for other than faith-based movie-goers?

  • Did the title of this film, Lucky's Treasure, and the picture of the horse on the poster, motivate your interest in it? Since the story has very little to do with Lucky, or horses, do you feel that the film's marketing was misleading?

  • Define the term "one-dimensional character." Which of the players in this film were "one-dimensional?" Do you find it more satisfying when a character is multifaceted? Why?

Movie Details

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