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Parents' Guide to

The Adventures of the Wilderness Family

By Renee Longstreet, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Great family adventure tale has scary animal battles.

Movie G 1975 100 minutes
The Adventures of the Wilderness Family Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 4+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 4+

family film with some bear & wolf encounters

No sex scenes. Parents do kiss on the lips but quick and not sexual. No violence or bloody scenes. Predator danger is limited to animal growls and chasing the kids/adults but their dog ALWAYS comes to the rescue and ALWAYS comes off unharmed somehow. The daughter also tends to scream a bit much. No alcohol/drug-use. Good message about simplifying life away from consumerism and starting anew together as a family. ......................... My kids love this movie and the 2 following movies. The LA family moves to middle of nowhere wilderness for the sake of the sickly daughter. They all learn how to live in their new surrounding. So some foolish decisions (i.e., not bringing a gun along when they're roaming around bear and wolf country) abound but they're able to escape all animal-predator dangers somehow with shouting, their dog's defense, etc. It's not very realistic but I appreciate that it wasn't gory or violent. For the humans or animals. Well, except for the chickens and goats in movies 2 and 3 but they don't show the scenes. We're just told.

This title has:

Great messages
2 people found this helpful.
age 4+

Great clean movie

Finally a movie for the kids that doesn't have any sort of alternate agenda. The only iffy parts would be for really small kids, maybe 4 and under, if they are scared of wild animals - Some of the wild animal encounters with the wilderness family may frighten young ones a bit. This movie is wonderful and portrays a lot of good character traits.

This title has:

Great messages

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (2 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

The Adventures of the Wilderness Family is a warm-hearted, old-fashioned family film, a crowd-pleaser and box office hit when it was released in the mid-1970s. By today's standards, however, the human acting is only passable; the story is predictable and safe; and the action sequences with teeth-baring, clawing animals fighting for their lives may be too intense for young audiences.

The animals are the stars here -- the bear cubs, the raccoons, the lovable old black bear, and the family dog turn in award-winning "performances" -- without relying on computer enhancements or sophisticated special effects. For families with kids mature enough to watch a lovable family dog contend with a pack of wolves or a grizzly bear, or a young mom and her kids seemingly defenseless as the grizzly wreaks havoc on the cabin in which they're hiding, it's an exciting adventure.

Movie Details

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