Rainbow Tribe

Movie review by Brian Costello, Common Sense Media
Rainbow Tribe Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 10+

Tween camp dramedy filled with potty humor, iffy behavior.

PG 2011 90 minutes
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Parents say

age 11+

Based on 6 reviews

Kids say

age 11+

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 The Rainbow Tribe is a summer camp dramedy filled with potty humor and inappropriate behavior. In the first five minutes of the film, a boy wakes up in his underwear, scratches his backside, passes gas on his dog, shoves his brother's head in a toilet, and whips him with a towel in the crotch, causing the little brother to fall to the floor writhing in agony. The behavior doesn't improve in the following 85 minutes. The drama aspect of the movie centers on a middle-aged man sick with cancer who returns to the summer camp of his youth to find peace, but this story is overwhelmed by the awful shenanigans of the unlikable camp kids.

Community Reviews

Gchandmom
Gchandmom Adult
July 26, 2019
age 13+

Too many references to male genitalia for a so called "Family Movie"

I didn't watch the movie, I listened to it while my children watched on the DVD player in our mini van.... I am very particular about reading reviews before purchasing a movie for my family. I was utterly shocked at how this is considered a family movie with a direct reference to sperm in a "silly" song one of the campers sang, and the many references to male genitalia. For example when one kid was teasing another kid how he had not yet gone through puberty he said " you don't even have hair on your pecker yet." He then go wants to explain what puberty is: "it's the point in a child's development where they are physically capable of sexual reproduction ." This was one of many references throughout the movie. I am not a prude and I have no problem watching a movie with foul language with a plot that is trying to give a true-to-life feeling of what it's like in a summer camp with young boys. But when there is mature content I think that it is only responsible to put a PG-13 rating on it. Reading the synopsis and the reviews gives no indication that this movie is so foul. I unwittingly play this for my 6 and 8 year old and I was taken completely off guard. This is literally the first movie review I have ever written. I would hate for other parents to be caught off-guard the way I was. This was not at all what I had in mind. This is the second family movie in a matter of two days that I have watched that was a perfectly well thought out movie and plot that was ruined with foul language they could have easily been avoided and still produced an interesting and entertaining family movie.

This title has:

Too much sex
bruce H.
bruce H. Adult
June 23, 2017
age 11+

the rainbow tribe ... a 2nd opinion

Good for kids struggling to fit in, including the shy, so called "well behaved" ones in that it shows how and why kids act out. AND how it's not permanent. Yes, lots of booger, fart, and potty humor...but seriously you're not gonna relate to the majority with church school jokes. Good for parents and kids. If you do get to watch with your kids, I wonder how the interplay between you will work out. By the way, succeeds VERY WELL as both a comedy and a drama. Made me want to return to camp after 40 years to try counseling again.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
See all 6 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Morgan Roberts, aka "Chief" (David James Elliott), is a middle-aged man sick from cancer. In the hopes of returning to a happier time and place, he goes back to the summer camp of his youth, where he will work as a camp counselor. He renews his friendship with childhood camp friend Sunny (Ed Quinn) and looks forward to a tranquil summer of counseling by day, then staring at the Northern Lights by night. Instead, what he gets is the ragtag obnoxious kids of Camp Apache, an out-of-control bunch who would rather pass gas and start food fights than ride in canoes or sing campfire songs. As Chief learns to tame this wild bunch, he grows to like them, and as he teaches them, he finds that they are teaching him about life, growing up, and growing old.

Is It Any Good?

The problem with THE RAINBOW TRIBE is that it's trying to be both a drama and a comedy, and fails at both. While Chief returns to the summer camp of his childhood to try and make sense of his life at middle-age while he struggles against cancer, you're more inclined to feel sorry for him because he has to deal with such obnoxious and unlikable boys. The serious message of the film is easily overwhelmed by the immature hijinks of the tween boy campers as they wedgie, pass gas, and make one inappropriate reference after another.

Amidst the Rich Kid, the Tough Kid, the Obnoxious Brat, the Hippie Kid, the Asthmatic Kid, and the Silent Kid, only the Silent Kid is the least bit likeable, and that's because he doesn't say anything until, predictably, the end of the movie. The rest of the kids epitomize the term "bad role models," and their actions will fill impressionable tweens and younger kids with iffy ideas and inappropriate jokes to carry them into puberty.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about role models. Does watching characters behave poorly have an influence on you?

  • How does this film compare with other movies set in summer camps?

  • How do the different boys in Camp Apache stand apart from one another? What are their different personality traits, and how are they brought to life through their actions? Do you notice any stereotypes?

Movie Details

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