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Parents' Guide to

Rainbow Tribe

By Brian Costello, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Tween camp dramedy filled with potty humor, iffy behavior.

Movie PG 2011 90 minutes
Rainbow Tribe Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 11+

Based on 6 parent reviews

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
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

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (6 ):
Kids say (4 ):

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.

Movie Details

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