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Parents' Guide to

Skater Girl

By Jennifer Green, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Uplifting Indian drama has positive messages, some violence.

Movie PG 2021 109 minutes
Skater Girl Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 10+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 10+

Interesting Film

Good movie with about 65% Hindi (with subtitles) and 35% English. Younger children may struggle with keeping up with the subtitles. There are positive messages of friendship, kindness, sacrifice and hope. This is juxtaposed with shocking mistreatment and suppression of women and girls. Because of the point of view from which the story is told, the lessons stand out. Older children will benefit most.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
1 person found this helpful.
age 9+

A good feel movie

An easy to watch with a great inspirational message, can be a little slow in parts and not all in English. Nothing scary.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (3 ):

Uplifting films about kids discovering themselves through sport are not new, but this one takes on deeper significance thanks to its setting. Skater Girl is successful precisely because it's location-specific but has universal messages. Some of those messages may feel obvious -- of course girls deserve equal opportunities and to decide their own destinies -- but the setting gives them a new urgency. When Prerna, played by magnetic newcomer Rachel Saanchita Gupta, rides a skateboard for the first time, the way her eyes and face light up says it all. The freedom, the excitement, the fun she experiences is a complete novelty and wakes her up to a life of new possibilities. It's hard to imagine a film in any other context infusing quite so much meaning to riding a skateboard down a street. When her mother pulls Prerna's red wedding veil down over her face, it's symbolic of a shutting down of those possibilities, a closing off of her dreams, and it represents just how much she now has to lose.

This film isn't based on a true story, but it was inspired by similar ones. The Indian village is depicted as a place where unspoken rules of caste and gender discrimination still reign, but kids everywhere just want to play and explore. Prerna's brother Ankush (adorable Shafin Patel) embodies this innocence -- he's not yet burdened by the rules of society and doesn't fully understand or abide by them. He even puts on a nonviolent, pro-skating protest inspired by Gandhi. The village is decrepit -- houses with holes in the roofs and single beds kids must share, abandoned buildings -- but it has its own beauty that the camera captures in contrasting the luster of the local women's flowing, jewel-toned clothing against white-washed and sun-soaked stone edifices. The film isn't without flaws. Parts of the plot feel rushed to get from point to point, Jessica's story of searching for her roots doesn't feel fully resolved, the fairy godmother character deserved more development, and dialogues, particularly between the White characters, can feel a bit forced. But you'll easily forgive those flaws when you get caught up in the sweetness and positivity of this story.

Movie Details

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