Parents' Guide to

Sahara (2017)

By Andrea Beach, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Cartoon adventure with iffy stoner character falls flat.

Movie NR 2017 86 minutes
Sahara (2017) Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 13+

Based on 52 parent reviews

age 18+

Terrible messaging for kids

Referencing eating disorders as a joke. Male characters making unwanted advances towards female characters. I didn’t even see much of the movie before I had to turn it off. Netflix should do better.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
1 person found this helpful.
age 16+

Unbelievable

I’m pretty gobsmacked that this is rated for children. Swap the snakes out for humans and the rating would immediately be for mature audiences only. Very strong drug references and trafficking.

This title has:

Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
1 person found this helpful.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (52):
Kids say (32):

Interesting visuals and engaging characters aren't enough to save what could have been a fun, slightly romantic adventure. Sahara's downfall is the weak story. The plot clips along at a pretty good pace, but nothing's explored in any depth, the characters don't change or grow, and anything that needs to happen to move the story along appears conveniently from out of nowhere.

The abrupt ending doesn't reveal what becomes of the characters or provide any resolution or reinforcement of weak messages about friendship or perseverance, and using a funny character to acknowledge that doesn't help. Gary, the drug-seeking "stoner" character, makes this inappropriate for little kids, but it's also too juvenile and shallow to hold the interest of kids who can handle the no-big-deal attitude toward his "pollen" fixation.

Movie Details

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