Parents' Guide to

National Lampoon's Animal House

By Heather Boerner, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

John Belushi's raucous toga party has sex, cursing, drinking

Movie R 1978 109 minutes
National Lampoon's Animal House Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 13+

Based on 7 parent reviews

age 2+
age 12+

It's a comedy. Lighten up.

I think if you raised your kids right,they can the actions in this movie as harmless fun. It's spoofing movies like American graffiti with an updated version of marx brothers humor pushed to the max at that time. There's much worse films like the Porky's franchise. I would let my children 12 or plus with me there.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (7):
Kids say (15):

For any guy who's ever had the figurative sand kicked in his face by a jock or been placed in the "dweeb corner" at the cool-guy party, John Landis' film is wish fulfillment. Don't bother trying to find the plot, though. It's more fun to go along for the prank-playing, wild ride while singing along with the amazingly energetic soundtrack. If you think too hard about it, Animal House isn't a whole lot better than today's teen sexploitation films like American Pie. Note that there's a lot of dated humor; you may need to explain to teens why jokes about things like having sex with a minor were considered funny back in the day.

Movie Details

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