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

Paradise Hills

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Beautiful visuals, muddled logic in moody sci-fi drama.

Movie NR 2019 95 minutes
Paradise Hills Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 16+

Based on 1 parent review

age 16+

It’s more of a fantasy than a thriller

There is a lot of fantasies depicted that it will take one a long time to catch up with the plot.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (2 ):

This movie is so eye-poppingly gorgeous and unusual that it will take you a while to notice that it doesn't make a lot of logical sense, but it's sure diverting to watch. "Girls in captivity" is an old setup that's been explored in particularly seamy detail in many vintage B exploitation films. But no girls' prison has ever looked like this one: In a Versailles-ish mansion surrounded by an Alice in Wonderland-esque rose garden, the Paradise Hills inmates languidly do floor exercises or submit to makeovers, clad in all-white uniforms that look like Edwardian bondage gear. They sleep soundly in rows of beds swathed with pink netting -- so very soundly, in fact, that Uma and Amarna soon get suspicious and wonder just what's happening to them at night while they do.

There's a hazy side plot about "Uppers" and "Lowers," the castes of the dystopian YA-like futuristic society in which these characters live -- as well as a few narrative twists that throw into doubt what viewers may have figured out by the film's final third. But the jumbled plot passes by pleasantly enough, not distracting from the movie's key pleasure: great young female actors in absolutely stunning costumes on a transcendently gorgeous set. It's not enough to turn this movie into a great one, but it's wild, weird fun while it lasts.

Movie Details

Inclusion information powered by

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