Parents' Guide to

Sunshine

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Grim, intellectual space adventure. Not for kids.

Movie R 2007 107 minutes
Sunshine Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

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age 14+

Based on 3 parent reviews

Mokkadaddy
Mokkadaddy Parent of 3 and 12-year-old
July 25, 2016
age 15+

Scary stuff

I saw this movie a couple of years ago and remember being thrilled and chilled by it. I am definitely not showing this to my mature almost thirteen year old son for a while yet.
watching_my_kids_movies
watching_my_kids_movies Parent of 11 and 13-year-old
June 30, 2010
age 13+

Very good sci-fi movie. Although R, it's more appropriate for a 13-yr-old than many "PG-13" movies.

My 13-year-old daughter wanted to watch this after I did. (I'm not sure if she wanted to watch it because she likes science fiction or because she wanted to tell her friends that she watched an R movie.) We watched it together, The scene I was concerned about was when the crew finds a crew member who has committed suicide. It's pretty horrifying, although my daughter seemed to be OK with it. It's appropriate for 12-13 plus, I think, and I'm conservative. A classic example of an R-rated movie that is far less offensive (and far more worthwhile!!) than many, many so-called "PG-13" movies.
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What's the Story?

It's 2057, and, as narrator Capa (Cillian Murphy) puts it, "Our sun is dying." In order save the earth, Capa and seven other astronauts board the spaceship Icarus II on a mission involving a stellar bomb. After a 16 month journey, they enter the "dead zone" (no more communication with earth) and discover the first Icarus, lost seven years earlier: Should they check it out, recover the ship's bomb, or just pass it by? The decisions they make are shaped by errors in calculations and guesses at their own futures. Arguments increase as options dwindle. Engineer Mace (Chris Evans) gets into psychical altercations with Capa; biologist Corazon (Michelle Yeoh) guards her greenhouse, and comm officer Harvey (Troy Garity) blames others for what goes wrong. As Captain Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada) tries to keep the crew on track, the pilot Cassie (Rose Byrne) complains of the occasional "excess of manliness." Yet they need to work together if they want to survive.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3):
Kids say (8):

The premise might make Danny Boyle's SUNSHINE sound like another coming of Armageddon; it is, in fact, not an action flick at all. Rather, it's a study of personalities, philosophies, and ethics, with a bit of Alien-like horror in the mix as well. The utter vastness of the space around them is contrasted repeatedly with shots of their narrow interiors -- long, white-walled walkways; close, dark sleeping quarters; the observation deck, where the sun, viewed even at only 1 percent strength, is overwhelmingly bright.

Knowing they are "expendable" in pursuit of saving the world, the crew begins to see each other differently. And this is the beauty of the film, its mediation on seeing and visual poetry. Though the plot turns a little silly by the end, the imagery remains magnificent.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the difficulties of traveling in space for long periods: How do these astronauts contend with their loneliness, competition, rising tensions, and difficult decisions? How does the film show the structure among the crewmembers, across race, age, and gender differences? What do you think about the possibility of the mission succeeding? They can also talk about science fiction in general and what makes a good sci-fi flick.

Movie Details

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